End of Verbal Agreements??

[GopherBigGuy911]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

They aren't gentlemanly enough to honor the handshake line, why honor verbals?

Ha - GREAT POINT!!!!!!

[Husky4Life]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

The University of North Dakota hockey program is interested in only one thing . . . The University of North Dakota Hockey program.

[Dirty]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

So, the answer is to steal players from the smaller programs?

Yes. The awesome thing about this is now UND can be blamed for another thing when this happens. Hooray! Everything is UND's fault!

The idea that most of the time any school is out for anyone else but themselves is amusing.

[SCSU Euro]

Yes. The awesome thing about this is now UND can be blamed for another thing when this happens. Hooray! Everything is UND's fault!

The idea that most of the time any school is out for anyone else but themselves is amusing.

True, everything IS UND's fault. Rocco and Dell are the reason Mitch's fantasy team sucks

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

Having collegiate athletes in the family when they were younger I went throught the process with them. A verbal is just that, a verbal agreement by a prospect to play for a program for a given set of conditions, ie scholarsip money. Either side can op out if they so choose, in the kids case a better offer. It's difficult for a coach to counter an offer as their scholarship money has usually been divided among their current players and what's offered to each incoming so there's really nothing left over to counter with. I don't know firsthand of a coach backing out of their verbal without giving reason but it's probally happened, when it does happen for a given reason it's usually because the kid got in legal trouble or didn't come through on the grades. Now once you sign your letter of intent it's no longer a verbal but a contract that is enforced by the NCAA. For a kid to get out of that the school has to release them, they just can't jump ship as they choose as they can when it's still a verbal.

[Dirty]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

True, everything IS UND's fault. Rocco and Dell are the reason Mitch's fantasy team sucks

It's his own fault. Everyone knows:
1. Dells are awesome for the first year and then become bloated pieces of crap.
2. You can never trust a Jesus Freak.

[mnstate0fhockey]

Yes. The awesome thing about this is now UND can be blamed for another thing when this happens. Hooray! Everything is UND's fault!

The idea that most of the time any school is out for anyone else but themselves is amusing.

Pretty hypocritical in my opinion.

[jnacc]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

Pretty hypocritical in my opinion.

It seems that even the top tier hockey powers are starting to suffer from defections to the pros and the CHL....does not surprise me that this would be the result.

[Happy]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

There is on easy partial solution, bump up the number of scholarships to 24, or at least closer to what it takes to actually have a team.

[jnacc]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

There is on easy partial solution, bump up the number of scholarships to 24, or at least closer to what it takes to actually have a team.

What was the reasoning for full scholarships being reduced to 18 from 21??

[Patman]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

Having collegiate athletes in the family when they were younger I went throught the process with them. A verbal is just that, a verbal agreement by a prospect to play for a program for a given set of conditions, ie scholarsip money. Either side can op out if they so choose, in the kids case a better offer. It's difficult for a coach to counter an offer as their scholarship money has usually been divided among their current players and what's offered to each incoming so there's really nothing left over to counter with. I don't know firsthand of a coach backing out of their verbal without giving reason but it's probally happened, when it does happen for a given reason it's usually because the kid got in legal trouble or didn't come through on the grades. Now once you sign your letter of intent it's no longer a verbal but a contract that is enforced by the NCAA. For a kid to get out of that the school has to release them, they just can't jump ship as they choose as they can when it's still a verbal.

The difference here is that, by and large, the coaches have a handshake agreement not to poach from each other and that's what we're talking about. Usually its within the same conference... the usual don't **** where you eat and so on... good neighbors stuff. It may be no coincidence that in the conference shake up and the CHL issues that the issues of "good neighbors" is falling apart... but that begs the question... will the re-constituted conferences do handshakes amongst themselves and is this just an attempt to get ahead on what will be a dissolved gentleman's agreement?

This isn't really about the player as it is about the relationship between the programs.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

“I think we want to continue the gentlemanly side of college hockey and our close-knit community..."

Wait, gentlemanly side of hockey? Is that the part where you sit down and talk with your fellow members about your thoughts on the future of your conference? Oh no wait, that's the part where you back the truck up in the middle of the night, load up your like minded friends and then bail. Maybe the UND recruits are just showing the values they see displayed by the university that recruited them ... Karma is a *****.

Hakstol also went on to blame the CHL for the loss of their Sue mascot who had given a verbal to UND but then also decided not to stay... News Flash: This just in, honor and integrity also just decommitted from UND...
Ryan J

[Dirty]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

Wait, gentlemanly side of hockey? Is that the part where you sit down and talk with your fellow members about your thoughts on the future of your conference? Oh no wait, that's the part where you back the truck up in the middle of the night, load up your like minded friends and then bail. Maybe the UND recruits are just showing the values they see displayed by the university that recruited them ... Karma is a *****.

Hakstol also went on to blame the CHL for the loss of their Sue mascot who had given a verbal to UND but then also decided not to stay... News Flash: This just in, honor and integrity also just decommitted from UND...
Ryan J

*****http://undergroundfreakz.com/s/cwm/cwm/crying.gif******

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

They aren't gentlemanly enough to honor the handshake line, why honor verbals?

FWIW, Lucia does not like the "gentleman's agreement"...

http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/2008/05/r...al-verbal.html

Minnesota’s Don Lucia is one coach who has publicly stated that he wants to do away with verbal commitments.

“And he’s got a few allies,” McLeod said. “It’s not a majority. But the problem is that the three or four guys talking about (recruiting committed players) are the leaders, the more veteran coaches. That’s what has caused a commotion more than anything.”

Lucia said that some Hockey East schools pushed a new gentleman’s agreement that would allow schools to contact verbally committed players until May 1 of their junior year. The thinking is that the recruiting age would go back up under this type of system.

“The whole issue here is ninth- and 10th-graders,” Lucia said. “What’s going on right now is not good for the players, colleges or anybody. It shouldn’t be a race to see who can first discover and get a ninth-grader.”

Gwozdecky, the most veteran coach in the WCHA, is on the other side of the issue. He says he’d hate to see the day when coaches are recruiting committed players.

BTW, here was Hakstol's quote...(link below)

“There are a lot of sides to that issue. It’s a very complicated issue. My opinion has changed over time. I was a very strong proponent of it eight to 10 years ago. I think we need to find a middle ground on verbal commitments.

“I think we want to continue the gentlemanly side of college hockey and our close-knit community. At the same time, I think it’s time we take a real close look at exactly what we’re doing.”

http://www.grandforksherald.com/even...cle/id/228555/

[scsutommyboy]

Re: End of Verbal Agreements??

Yes, the big boys don't like losing on their bets. Sure, they're happy to let a good kid go to a minnow because it won't really affect them... but now that they're getting fewer good kids the market is getting hard and it sounds like they're looking for opportunities.

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FURTHER, this makes me continue to be suspicious of College Hockey Inc. as I'm unsure whose interests they represent. Does he represent the constituent schools or only certain schools?

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The CHL has nothing to do with this discussion other than that the top schools who get players who tease them via the CHL are losing out. Are we arguing that college hockey is only good when certain key programs have routine success? If so, then I think the rest of us need to pay attention and realize that College Hockey Inc. is not in fact serving our interests. If that means no longer making nice in public, so be it. This is an internal matter to college hockey... don't whine that the devil made you do it... unless you want to admit to the horns on your own head.

SCSU just lost a kid mid season to major junior. I know that has nothing to do with recruiting, but any agreement that keeps them away from our players would be huge.