Wednesday, November 19, 2008

More on Montpetit

Now that Andy Baggot has given us a little more information on Brock Montpetit's de-commit, there's a few issues I wanted to discuss.

On the decision to back out of UW, Baggot wrote:
John Montpetit said the decision was "100 percent'' his son's. He acknowledged Brock was bothered by the fact he wasn't part of the current freshman class at UW and that the final scholarship offer was less than what was promised when the commitment was made.

"We were told it was a 100 percent full ride,'' John Montpetit said. "Now we're told they don't give out 100 percent rides, that they're 90 percent.''
This doesn't seem right to me. I've heard that pretty much every program short of the Air Force offers a maximum 90% scholarship. Maybe there was a mix-up in communication, but I have kind of a hard time believing Wisconsin dropped his percentage from 100% to 90%.

And really, does that sound like a huge deal-breaker? How much is 10% of in-state tuition at Wisconsin? The Univesity of Wisconsin estimates a year's worth of total expenses at UW-Madison is about $19,000, so we're talking about less than $2000 for a kid that spent two years at an elite prep school.

As far as not playing for Wisconsin this year, I could see that being a concern, but again, I'm fairly sure that when he committed, the commitment was for 2008 or 2009.(Someone can correct me here, since the original article on his commitment disappeared into internet ether, but I'm pretty sure that was the case) In any case, this is a pretty good lesson for all recruits out there. If a coach tells you that they want you either Year X or Year X + 1, you should probably count on starting in Year X + 1.

The bigger issue here, in my estimation, is that Montpetit committed to Wisconsin in June of 2006, and since that commitment, Wisconsin verbally committed to: Craig Smith, Derek Stepan, Jordy Murray, Travis Erstad(who has since decided to play D-III hockey), Tyler Barnes, Derek Lee, Tyler Lapic, Jefferson Dahl, Gavin Hartzog, Michael Mersch, Keegan Meuer, Cody Strang, Matt Paape, and Mark Zengerle. That's 14 other forwards--13 still committed, albeit spread out through 3-4 classes, but that's a lot of promises to a lot of players. You can only dress 12 forwards a night, and usually only 6 play on the powerplay. Make any argument you want about "earning playing time" but the fact is, once you start dividing things that many ways, players are going to get shuffled out. And who is to say that a year or two down the road, Wisconsin won't go after the next big prospect that comes their way?

Then, it's hard to imagine Montpetit finding a better situation than at Wisconsin. Most WCHA schools are likely going to be pretty full for next season. It's probably unlikely that Montpetit would find another 90% scholarship offer at another WCHA school--though again, I don't think the money was a huge issue. And it's not like there won't be a team full of talented players at any other WCHA school.

In any case, like I said last night, this is probably most damaging to Mike Eaves and Wisconsin. People have joked about the Weekly Wisconsin Commitments for a while, and it finally seems to be coming back to bite them. I often hear people say how verbal commitments are non-binding, and there are guarantees and yada yada, but this provides a good example of what can happen if teams don't honor. It should be noted that Wisconsin still sent Montpetit a Letter of Intent that he chose not to sign. But Wisconsin is going to get absolutely hammered in the recruiting world with the perception that they over-recruit and force players out of their program. It's a reputation that no team would risk gaining.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is great..........eaves has been asking for this problen for 3-4 years now. the other wcha coahces laugh at his recruiting actually and know that a few of these of not more will end up at different wcha schools. eaves is a joke. the kids comiiting and the ones hes recruiting now know exactly whats going on and this will stop many verbals to uw. keep losing them eaves and keep choaking your players.........

Anonymous said...

Nice comment anon. Yeah, while other coaches might joke about it, but they still sign Badger "leftovers" don't they? Despite these perceptions, there are alot of kids that are still signing at UW, aren't there?

However, I agree UW must be more careful with the perception that they are overreaching and not keeping promises to their recruits.

I call shizzle on Montpetit for those reasons set forth in Chris' article. UW sent a LOI and his commit was for '08 or '09. He simply chose not to sign it for whatever reason.

Anonymous said...

"This doesn't seem right to me. I've heard that pretty much every program short of the Air Force offers a maximum 90% scholarship."

Are you saying that schools don't offer full scholarships? As a former player, I can attest that they do.

And from experience, Air Force pays full expenses; I know that UConn gives only up to 50%, and I don't think they call them scholarships.

Anonymous said...

thing is if they only give 90% then why wouldn't they tell recruits that when they recruit them. Why not be honest from the start instead when the LOI is sent? Other schools do it.

Anonymous said...

You nitwits can bitch and moan all you want about Wisconsin's recruiting practices. The fact is there is a hell of a lot of talent there and they will be a team to be reckoned with.

Anonymous said...

Mike Eaves is that you?"You nitwits can bitch and moan all you want about Wisconsin's recruiting practices. The fact is there is a hell of a lot of talent there and they will be a team to be reckoned with."

'I do what I want cause I am who I am and I can.'

Anonymous said...

Even if it was ONLY 10% difference, isn't it a fact that they were LIED to?? Maybe they are scared what else might be just 90% true?.....

Anonymous said...

maybe the players who promised 100% effort should only give 90% on the ice, that will probably make Mike Eaves pretty happy

Anonymous said...

You are correct, 90% was NOT the reason to not sign with Wisconsin. Just maybe being talked to when you are 15 years old and told by the coach that you will receive a full ride is one reason and also the fact that they signed just about every wisconsin high school forward in the meantime, is the other reason...he will go somewhere where he will play, not sit behind the logjam of forwards, it was not worth it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not gonna comment on Eaves, but as a Gopher fan I do know that kids that are on "full-rides" at Minnesota are on 90% scholarships not 100%. 90% is considered a full ride in today's world.

Anonymous said...

An actual 100% scholarship is rare in hockey. You're so limited in what you can offer because of the overall limit.

What is common is offering a percentage that allows the recruit to get the rest of his tuition paid for with grants/loans/etc. If the financial aid reaches, say, half of the overall cost, they'll offer that player a 50% ride.

Anyway, I guess I fail to see the big problem here. Kids are leaving early left and right, and it's pretty obvious that Wisconsin is trying to be prepared for that happening.

Nothing wrong with that. Kids are smart enough and tuned-in enough to know what is going on. If they think a program is over-recruiting, the easy answer is to say 'No' to them and go somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

So 90% is a full ride today? And then we sit back and wonder why more and more of the elite talent is choosing to play north of the border in the CHL??????

Anonymous said...

Just for clarity, i posted as anon426

And a full ride is a full ride. The top kids at the UMinn are on full rides (i.e. the Kessels, the EJs), just as they are at the Michigan's and UND's.

However, its after you get past the top 3-5 players or so, does the money get spread around.

Some smaller CHA and AHA schools do not budget the full allotment of scholarships, however.

Playing in the USHL (was recruited before career ending injury, but i still keep up), there were a small percentage of kids that got full rides, but more common that kids got 3/4, 7/8 etc.

I can tell you a story of one college player who was offered a full ride, but had to by a certain date. He publicly committed, but they came back and said they could only offer 3/4, so he asked out and got 1/2 at an instate school (which is a better deal). He was less than a ppg player, who originally was offered a full ride at a ccha school.

Its ridiculous and naive to think that there are no full rides at large schools. How else do they land the big recruits.

Anonymous said...

90% is a full ride. It's that way because in actuality, when combined with other financial aid, a 90% ride is often a better deal than a 100% ride, believe it or not. Or so I've been told.

Also, teams like to make sure that everyone has at least some small percentage of schollie money so they can all partake in the training tables and whatnot. If 90% is just as good or better than 100%, then 5 kids at 90% and one kid at 50% is better than 5 kids at 100%.

Anonymous said...

I saw 2 coaches in the delivery room yesterday. Both had LOI in hand.

Anonymous said...

Pay no attention to that man slapping the kid behind the curtain, The Great and Mighty Eaves commands it.

Anonymous said...

Still has plenty of time , could be sitting in the stands if went to school this year .Over recruit they do just for this reason.Promises, Promises, they tell kids about pp time , sh time, playing time every place, even out east. Just remember your 18 have fun ,hang with your friends, alot of time to make final decision, alot of 19&20 yr old freshmen out there.....

Anonymous said...

parise and toews and oshie and those type of players are on 90% - 95% scollies, that is a full ride in todays age like kessel and EJ and top players for other teams. eaves is a putz, go choke another player eaves, you scumbag

Anonymous said...

I am sure the real reason is they have 5 forwards coming in and only loose 1. They already have to many forwards on the roster and people are not happy, so just think what next year will be like.

Anonymous said...

SCONNIE IS GOING DOWN THE TUBES!!!!!

Anonymous said...

No one has hit the real reason...Monpetit's dad!!!
His personality and ego would greatly clash with Eaves' ego. Not a good combination. But Mr. Monpetit will be a problem for his son no matter where he signs.

Anonymous said...

take it from me, someone who lives in somerset wisconsin (home of brock montpetit) the entire story is not being revealed! u of m, here we come! woo hoo! fu wu