Re: All Things Denver XXIX
How do you know? It's been done before and scholarships are not necessarily just a whole or a half. Stud recruits get the whole ones, but the rest are divided up in a creative way as to maximize the roster with at least a few decent backups and if it needs to be tweaked from year to year, then that is done. That is how it has been done for quite some time.
The biggest mystery in college hockey is who gets what in scholie money. Certainly there have been guys like Matt Laatsch who walked on, took out loans and then earned a scholie later on at DU. But guys like Julian Marcuzzi and David Carle prove that DU doesn't yank them.
Because DU is so expensive, its almost all scholarships are full rides and then the last 6 or 8 guys are on financial aid, loans and thanks to a new NCAA rule, academic scholarships if they get good grades (DU leads the WCHA in academic performance - this is one reason why). Because DU is a top ten program and Gwozdecky is one of the best coaches, many players will still take this route rather than a full ride at a smaller D-I school. Take Gwozdecky away from DU, and not only do you lose the top recruits, but high quality recruited walk-ons will also disappear (Salazar, Nutini, Jackson).
Its possible that the recruited walk-ons get scholie money later if they play well. So while its doubtful that DU players get scholies reduced, guys can get scholies increased. But even with a "full ride," DU parents need to come up with spending money, clothes, cell phones, electronics, car money, extra expenses, trips home & parent visits. Around $10,000 per year.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess that the Mermis and potential Jones brother situations are probably pretty creative packages.
Wrenn was on a full ride, blue-chip recruit. He read the handwriting on the wall (playing time) and who knows what Portland offered him to entice him.
Around the WCHA Wisconsin's tuition is relatively cheap, so they only offer 90% scholies. This gives them essentially 20 scholarships instead of 18 and this is why they have plenty of depth on their roster. Then you have Minnesota who back in the day ('80s & 90s) would give 25% Freshmen, 50% Sophomores, 75% Jrs and 100% Seniors scholies. This would give the Gophers around 28 players on scholarships. Market forces and competition from Michigan and Sconnie forced the Gophers to give four-year full rides like everybody else.
This is all 100% speculation on my part, but you hear things,
