This thing is huge, so I might have to stop and type it in in stages.
 
Taken from Boston Globe, Thursday, June 16, 1994, page 1.
 
Article by Michael Madden.
 
Begin quoted material:
 
   Boston College hockey officials made promises they couldn't keep to hockey
players and their parents about athletic scholarships, creating an atmostphere
of distrust that has plunged the program into turmoil.
 
   The Globe has learned that the scholarship chaos helped convince former
Boston Bruins player and executive Mike Milbury to resign as BC coach just two
months after he gave up a secure future as the designated successor to Bruins
general manager Harry Sinden.
 
   BC even asked its star player, freshman goalie Greg Taylor, to give up his
scholarship because there is no scholarship money for incoming freshmen.
 
   And, said one source, BC "not only has no scholarships for this class coming
in, but possibly none for the class after that [in 1995-96]."
 
   Amid this situation, BC athletic director Chet Gladchuk yesterday appointed
Jerry York the new hockey coach.  York has been the hockey coach for 15 years
at Bowling Green in Ohio and is a 1967 graduate of BC.  No doubt one of the
more daunting tasks for York will be sorting through the scholarship problems
he inherits.
 
   The NCAA allows 18 hockey scholarships, and Gladchuk repeatedly insisted in
a recent interview that BC has adhered to NCAA regulations.  The basic problem,
he said, is that BC's hockey staff - and in particular, former head coach Steve
Cedorchuk, who was forced to resign by Gladchuk in March - had made more
scholarship offers and promises than there were scholarships available.
 
   "You have to rely on the coaches, that they are within the spirit and
guidelines of the NCAA and the integrity of your institution," said Gladchuk.
 
   "We simply could not extend the limitations [of 18 scholarships].  We always
have abided by NCAA regulations.  We found out it was impossible for the
institution to extend the aid [that had been promised].  What some of these
boys had to do was to go through normal financial aid."
 
   Gladchuk said problems with the hockey program were "not reflective of the
way we conduct business in any other field."
 
   Cedorchuk said Monday that, upon advice of his attorney, he would have no
comment.
 
   Said one BC hockey player, who asked to remain anonymous because he feared
repercussions, "We used to sit around the lockey room.  There might be 25 or 26
of us, and we knew there were only 18 scholarships allowed.  One guy'd be
saying, `I've got this,' and another guy would say, `I've got that,' and
everybody was saying they had a scholarship.  It seemed like all of us had a
scholarship or had been promised a scholarship.  Then, later, we'd hear stories
of guys who hadn't gotten what they thought the had."
 
   In his 62 days on the job, Milbury had parents come to him in tears, parents
whose sons had been promised athletic scholarships - scholarships BC no longer
could deliver.  In several cases, parents had written assurances, but despite
that, BC had to backtrack from the commitments.
 
   Indeed, the distrust how is so great that some parents are talking about
lawsuits against the school.  And the feeling that BC's word no longer is its
bond is so pervasive that Milbury's post-resignation talks with BC are not
about returning to the Heights but of obtaining a written, legal
indemnification that he will not be sued for resigning so quickly.
 
   The common thread through this story is that the lives of young men, thier
parents and even Mike Milbury himself have been changed - in many cases not for
the better - because they did not realize BC was making promises it could not
keep.
 
*end quoted material*
 
There is a LOT more to the article, interviews with screwed players and
parents, testimony by Gladchuk, and alumni reaction which I will post section
by section over the next weekend.
 
Tony  BU'92'93
Former Ogre