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Robert Morris dropping men's and women's hockey.

Any idea where the players will be heading? RMU always seemed to have good teams. Will they head to another AHA team? Is it possible the ECAC could pick up some of their better players?
 
Dutchman said:
Any idea where the players will be heading? RMU always seemed to have good teams. Will they head to another AHA team? Is it possible the ECAC could pick up some of their better players?
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Not likely there is any availability for hockey scholarships at any other school this year. With lots of players entering the portal and teams filling up rosters before RMU announced they were dropping hockey there just aren’t any good options. Basically, the admin screwed the team. The better players could be added to a different team, but would likely have to pay their own way for a year unless the school could arrange for an academic or need scholarship.
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
You couldn’t pay RMU to keep the teams, I’m guessing. They’re absolutely DOA.
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This is not a UAH / UAA / UAF kind of situation where more funding or more public support will bring the programs back. There is no dialog taking place with the university leadership regarding D-I hockey and the university leadership doesn't want any dialog regarding D-I hockey. Until there is new leadership at RMU there will be no RMU D-I hockey, period. There will however be men's and women's club teams going forward.

When this whole story eventually comes out, years down the road, people will be shocked to hear just how fast some of these moves happened, how the players and staff were treated after the announcement and just how few people were involved in killing these two programs. What has been posted publicly is just the tip of the iceberg. Anyone close to the situation outside of RMU has signed an NDA to prevent the dirt from going public. How long they have to adhere to those NDAs is unknown. I'm guessing Murry Gunty already has enough material to write a New York Times best seller on the final days of RMU hockey. At least he got one conversation with RMU leadership. That's one more than most people who participated in, or cared about, the program received.
 
I just looked in after a week or two away from USCHO. Very sad to hear about Robert Morris's demise and, particularly, the rather definitive and emphatic decision made when it seemed to come out of nowhere. No lack of issues to consider... Place of athletics in a university, maybe. Expenses, yes. Costly rink upgrades, yes. New league and new benchmarks for comparison, seemingly. Basketball v. hockey: is this town big enough for both of us? Maybe. Impact of COVID, a driver in a lot of conversations, oh yeah.

There's a lot to digest.

Why did the President strike like lightning? Time for transparency, at least for the sake of the coaches and players.
 
Legal claims for what? The loss of a 2 year ECHL career? Look, it sucks. I get it. But the players need to move on to what comes next. If they catch on somewhere and do well it proves they weren't hurt. If they don't catch on it proves they didn't have a future in hockey. And therefor weren't hurt. Contracts should be honored for those that had them, and I'd be a bit surprised if they aren't being honored.
 
UncleRay said:
Legal claims for what? The loss of a 2 year ECHL career? Look, it sucks. I get it. But the players need to move on to what comes next. If they catch on somewhere and do well it proves they weren't hurt. If they don't catch on it proves they didn't have a future in hockey. And therefor weren't hurt. Contracts should be honored for those that had them, and I'd be a bit surprised if they aren't being honored.
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And where do you expect they’ll go? It’s not like there’s a plethora of open roster spots this late into the first offseason of COVID bonus eligibility.
 
UncleRay said:
Legal claims for what? The loss of a 2 year ECHL career? Look, it sucks. I get it. But the players need to move on to what comes next. If they catch on somewhere and do well it proves they weren't hurt. If they don't catch on it proves they didn't have a future in hockey. And therefor weren't hurt. Contracts should be honored for those that had them, and I'd be a bit surprised if they aren't being honored.
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Did you read the article? While the transfer portal was busy with other players trying to put themselves in a better position for their future, RMU was carrying on with business as usual. Even after the decision was made, it was kept from the players and coaches. The school waited until the commotion with the portal basically stopped to announce the cuts. The players remained committed to a program they didn't even know was in trouble, instead of trying to take advantage of the portal. Had the players been told the program was in jeopardy, or even told when the decision was actually made, they would have had a better chance at furthering their careers.
 
I think we all agree those associated with these two programs absolutely got hosed by the RMU administration. But seriously what is their legal case against RMU? No one is stopping them from playing hockey anywhere else after this announcement. Even without the portal, a hockey player can talk to a new program and say "Coach, I want to walk-on and show you what I can do." If they're good, they'll find playing time and earn a scholarship down the road. They can play D1, D3, go back to junior, turn pro, etc. To say these players (and staff) have no options to play hockey now because of RMU's actions is a pretty big stretch.

I doubt the administration's announcement timing had anything to do with transfer portal activity. If they don't care about hockey at RMU why would they care the least bit about how busy the portal was at a given date/time? I also doubt there was any plan to delay the announcement to a certain date. When you don't care about something, there isn't any urgency, so they just got around to the announcement when they felt like it. Lack of caring? Absolutely. A plan to harm the players/staff beyond cutting the programs? I don't think so. If that turns out to actually be the case, well then maybe you have grounds for some monetary damages in court if there was intent to harm players and staff by the RMU administration.
 
pdt1081 said:
Did you read the article? While the transfer portal was busy with other players trying to put themselves in a better position for their future, RMU was carrying on with business as usual. Even after the decision was made, it was kept from the players and coaches. The school waited until the commotion with the portal basically stopped to announce the cuts. The players remained committed to a program they didn't even know was in trouble, instead of trying to take advantage of the portal. Had the players been told the program was in jeopardy, or even told when the decision was actually made, they would have had a better chance at furthering their careers.
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There is no constitutional right to play division I hockey. Scholarships are contracts to provide a certain amount of money to the student for educational expenses, which RMU is honoring. The players have been relieved from their duty to perform their part of the contract (playing ice hockey for RMU), but RMU is still performing their end (providing scholarship money).

I don't know what an RMU player can sue for. If it threw title IX out of whack, maybe, but men's and women's hockey both went.
 
TalonsUpPuckDown said:
There are two courts: legal and public opinion. You only need to win in one.
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A win in court would not reinstate RMU hockey- even if the plaintiffs were successful in arguing that a contract existed between the school and the players and coaches.

I can see the donors getting some compensation.
 
AMC said:
There is no constitutional right to play division I hockey. Scholarships are contracts to provide a certain amount of money to the student for educational expenses, which RMU is honoring. The players have been relieved from their duty to perform their part of the contract (playing ice hockey for RMU), but RMU is still performing their end (providing scholarship money).

I don't know what an RMU player can sue for. If it threw title IX out of whack, maybe, but men's and women's hockey both went.
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Breach of Contract is only one possible claim. One could likely craft a fraud claim (as well as other similar-type claims) assuming the facts in pdt1081's post are accurate. Sorting out the damages portion of the claim might be tricky, but doable.
 
It looks like they're going with "fraud" as RMU allowed the teams to keep recruiting while knowing the programs were on the chopping block. And they're hoping for a quick settlement to restore the teams rather than drawn-out litigation.


In other news, Robert Morris just had three players drafted in the NWHL entry draft, including second overall pick Emilie Harley. What an unsuccessful money sink!



Powers &8^]
 
LtPowers said:
It looks like they're going with "fraud" as RMU allowed the teams to keep recruiting while knowing the programs were on the chopping block. And they're hoping for a quick settlement to restore the teams rather than drawn-out litigation.
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I dunno. If you know that the Target you manage is closing in 60 days is it fraud if you don't tell your employees in time for them to go to a job fair next week?
 
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