Scholarship Money-Montana Kids

[Spanky2]

Generally, a walk on from Washington or California would be better than a walk on from Montana. Competition in those states is keener than Montana.

This isn't necessarily true. I will also note that getting a kid from Washington of California to walk-on is much more difficult than getting a kid from Montana to do so.

So take the easy route. Sign all kids from Montana if they’re warm. Good way to compete with Idaho who has 21 Idaho kids on their roster.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

This isn't necessarily true. I will also note that getting a kid from Washington of California to walk-on is much more difficult than getting a kid from Montana to do so.

So take the easy route. Sign all kids from Montana if they’re warm. Good way to compete with Idaho who has 21 Idaho kids on their roster.

Pretty sure that isn't what I said.

 

[ElrodGrizzly]

Spanky, do you think the program would be better with no Montana kids?

Helena, you know I don’t believe that! Over the years the program was fortunate to have many outstanding athletes from Montana. Now we accept every player regardless of talent. I see it as a glaring weakness.

Sir, we absolutely do not "accept every player regardless of talent." There is absolutely no evidence of that. We cut players every year....

 

[Spanky2]

Take a look at the qb position

 

[Spanky2]

Helena, you know I don’t believe that! Over the years the program was fortunate to have many outstanding athletes from Montana. Now we accept every player regardless of talent. I see it as a glaring weakness.

Sir, we absolutely do not "accept every player regardless of talent." There is absolutely no evidence of that. We cut players every year....

So why is half our roster from Montana ? We haven’t cut many.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

Take a look at the qb position

How much do you really think that accounts for?

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

Sir, we absolutely do not "accept every player regardless of talent." There is absolutely no evidence of that. We cut players every year....

So why is half our roster from Montana ? We haven’t cut many.

Because it accounts for very little if any money to fill out the bottom of the roster. Most fall out of the program in a year or two.

 

[ElrodGrizzly]

Sir, we absolutely do not "accept every player regardless of talent." There is absolutely no evidence of that. We cut players every year....

So why is half our roster from Montana ? We haven’t cut many.

Because they are kids with the ability to help the team now or the potential to help the team in the future.

We most certainly cut people, sir. There were numerous players on the roster in the spring that are gone. Of course we don't cut TONS of players because most of those players are recruited, offered, and invited. High school kids without talent can't just walk up to the coaches and get a jersey.

 

[Spanky2]

So why is half our roster from Montana ? We haven’t cut many.

Because it accounts for very little if any money to fill out the bottom of the roster. Most fall out of the program in a year or two.

Nonsense! It’s half our roster, not the bottom.

 

[Spanky2]

Helena, is Kris Brown on a full ride or partial?

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

Because it accounts for very little if any money to fill out the bottom of the roster. Most fall out of the program in a year or two.

Nonsense! It’s half our roster, not the bottom.

So is it the top half then?

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

Helena, is Kris Brown on a full ride or partial?

So you want to base your entire argument on whether or not 1 guy may or may not be getting some scholarship money?

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

Why are we just talking about walk ons? We are using scholarship money on Montana kids that should be going to Rocky. This money should be used to recruit good out of state kids.

Give me an example of kids that we are doing this on right now.

He can't. He just has a screaming hard-on based on the number of Montana kids with zero other information.

 

[uofmman1122]

Spanky, which players other than Kris Brown (who may or may not be getting a scholarship at all) from Montana are we giving scholarships to that should be playing for Rocky?

 

[Spanky2]

Why aren’t we talking about Kris Brown? I don’t have a list of scholarship kids. Do you? There were two partials listed a few days ago. They are legacy recruits so maybe we don’t count them?

 

[Spanky2]

Give me an example of kids that we are doing this on right now.

He can't. He just has a screaming hard-on based on the number of Montana kids with zero other information.

Nice language. And you have more information? If so, please list all Montana kids on the roster and the amount of their scholarship money. Then tell us those funds can’t be used elsewhere to recruit more talented players.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Excellent post. I’m surprised that more Griz dedicated football fans don’t have recruiting concerns.

Spanky, do you think the program would be better with no Montana kids?

I know you didn't ask me, but I don't think the program would be better with no MT kids. I do think a hypothetical team with all out of state kids it targeted would be better that another team made up all MT kids it targeted.

I think part of that is weather, dedicated (crazy) parents, and single sport athletes. Take an average kid from Texas or California who starts playing tackle football at 10. First, he's already behind. He has probably a 10-game fall season, probably a short spring season, a couple 7 on 7 tournaments in the summer along with a few camps, and maybe private coaching for the skill positions. By the time he's getting ready to graduate HS, he will have played/practiced a lot more football over his youth than kids who grow up in places where the "norm" is to take time off for winter and/or other sports. I don't necessarily think playing/practicing the same sport all the time is a good thing for the kid, but it 100% happens. Couple that with almost everybody he competes with growing up doing the same thing, and he's probably going to be FCS ready before a kid who played/practiced half as much. Even if the talent is equal, he'll probably be more used to living and breathing FB as required in DI.

Two problems with going that route are (a) Having the best MT players play for the Griz is part of who we are IMO (maybe not so many, but the best we can get), and (b) The financial/scholarship issues many have mentioned.

That said, I know of several kids who would jump at the chance to walk-on at a program like MT to try to earn a scholarship, and their parents would gladly pay the relatively low tuition at UM for a couple years to "buy" that chance. Instead, they might get beat out by the elite players for scholarships at area schools, and nobody else is calling. I think we could strategically use our low tuition and FBS feel to our advantage to lure some of these kids not just for scholarships, but as walk-ons as well. AZ probably sees it even more in TX.

 

[ElrodGrizzly]

He can't. He just has a screaming hard-on based on the number of Montana kids with zero other information.

Nice language. And you have more information? If so, please list all Montana kids on the roster and the amount of their scholarship money. Then tell us those funds can’t be used elsewhere to recruit more talented players.

Who gets a scholarship and how much is not public information.

 

[uofmman1122]

Why aren’t we talking about Kris Brown? I don’t have a list of scholarship kids. Do you? There were two partials listed a few days ago. They are legacy recruits so maybe we don’t count them?

So you're just talking out of your ass here about how we're wasting scholarships on frontier players, and you're too chicken shit to say which players you don't think are good enough to be on the team.

With Vidlak and McDowell coming in, Brown likely is getting a partial at best. If you're basing this (IMO dumb) opinion about Montana kids on anything other than Kris Brown's maybe scholarship, I'm all ears.

Again, we've gone through the "let's get more out of state players" from 2015-2018, and the roster was worse. It's not some magic antidote to losing games.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

People like to use this as a measuring stick, but take the state borders away and just base it on distance, say 250-300 miles, and look at the population and number of high schools compared to the same for UM. Then factor in that most the Dakota schools give the kids in Minnesota discounted tuition. Montana, by geography, is just at a disadvantage.

"If we could offer in-state tuition to Idaho and Washington kids".

So it sounds like a structural problem. Montana is hamstrung by any number of financial and geographic constraints that aren't there for comparable state schools in the region. Is there leadership or the political will to address these challenges/opportunities with the appropriate legislation, or figure out a method of paying for discounted tuition (which shouldn't be an issue of any kind). FCOA would be too much to ask. While it may change the composition of the football team, I'd also suspect discounted tuition would be an attractive option for regional kids who don't play sports and are looking for good schools. Somehow North and South Dakota have this figured out. Minnesota and Wisconsin have a receiprocal agreement. Is Montana able to do so? Or is it just better for everyone to focus on withdrawing from the American Library Association?

Or maybe, just adjust expectations? Which is likely what many have already done.

I'm not sure if they still do it, but in my day, there was the Western Undergraduate Exchange. I think out of staters from WA, ID, OR, and WY(?) paid 150% of in-state tuition instead of double, or something like that. It might've been grades-based.