Wlu 2025

[Fightingscot82]

I taught near Shepherd for seventeen years. It always amazed me that very few kids from Martinsburg football go there and play. I would think that would be awesome. You could live at home and save some money.

Most of our schools struggle from familiarity with locals. They grew up coming to campus for various reasons: family, school, sports, etc. None of our schools are viewed as academically prestigious and mostly considered the local "13th grade." Too close to home. Commuting really only attracts those who must do so to afford college or have other circumstances like age, family, and work.

[Fightingscot82]

Do schools have to post or list the scholarships for the athletes? I would be interested in those numbers.

Nope. Reported in aggregate numbers to the conference and NCAA. Total scholarship dollars awarded, number of recipients, and they calculate the full scholarship equivalency.

[Tdobson]

That always fascinated me. Shepherd football always aledged they were a cut above any other WV DII school so if true, you'd think they would have had their pick of lower D1 and all DII level talent. But year after year they focused on Maryland players. Did they get some WV players? Yep and some turned out to be good players. But that's not where there recruiting focus was. Kind of odd for a state school.

That said, WLU typically brings in a fair shair of basketball players from Ohio.

I taught near Shepherd for seventeen years. It always amazed me that very few kids from Martinsburg football go there and play. I would think that would be awesome. You could live at home and save some money.

[boatcapt]

Shepherd being too good to recruit WV is pretty ridiculous especially when their best player in history came from the state

That always fascinated me. Shepherd football always aledged they were a cut above any other WV DII school so if true, you'd think they would have had their pick of lower D1 and all DII level talent. But year after year they focused on Maryland players. Did they get some WV players? Yep and some turned out to be good players. But that's not where there recruiting focus was. Kind of odd for a state school.

That said, WLU typically brings in a fair shair of basketball players from Ohio.

[Layton]

Shepherd being too good to recruit WV is pretty ridiculous especially when their best player in history came from the state

[Tdobson]

"Athletic scholarship money", per se, is far from the be-all, end-all, when it comes to players getting coin in D2.

There are many paths coaches can take to legally skirt the system.

These come in the form of academic money, room/board waivers, etc.

That's just at the publics. The privates operate with a whole different level of K-Mart Blue Light Special.

We see the PSAC 'scholarship equivalency' numbers from the public programs. That's not nearly the whole story, however. I'd love to see the real numbers. There's not a chance in Hell some of the East teams are building the rosters they are with their reported 5-6 scholarship equivalencies. Makes me laugh every time.

Do schools have to post or list the scholarships for the athletes? I would be interested in those numbers.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Not unique to West Virginia, but WV HS grads have access to PROMISE Grants that pay for their tuition and R&B at state 4-year colleges. Bring in a number of them then use the scholly dollars you do have on out of state recruits.

Good coaches are good at working the money angle. Heck, long time ago but my son received a more comprehensive (read BIGGER) "offer" from a non-athletic Scholly D3 than he did at WLU.

Years back on one of Joe's big teams he allegedly had the full 10 equivalencies plus his son was at IUP for free and they had another on academic money. So, 12 full rides for the price of 10. No surprise that was one of his better teams.

If you have the resources (i.e. basically a salary cap nerd) ... there are a lot of loopholes to find. For a football program with its big roster, it's a time-consuming ordeal, but well worth it.

[boatcapt]

Not unique to West Virginia, but WV HS grads have access to PROMISE Grants that pay for their tuition and R&B at state 4-year colleges. Bring in a number of them then use the scholly dollars you do have on out of state recruits.

Good coaches are good at working the money angle. Heck, long time ago but my son received a more comprehensive (read BIGGER) "offer" from a non-athletic Scholly D3 than he did at WLU.

[Fightingscot82]

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you get outbidded in D2? Is the money that good in D2? I thought only d1 players got money.
I would think that any D2 school could match another's scholarship offer. Plus, WLU is out of state, so if I am right, the cost is increased.

I can't find the source and this isn't limited to football, but the average athletic scholarship for the PASSHE PSAC schools is $2,500. That's about 15% of the estimated total cost of attendance and before also combining any income-based federal grants (Pell) or state grants (PHEAA), plus any other financial aid they may get like academic aid.

[Ram040506]

"Athletic scholarship money", per se, is far from the be-all, end-all, when it comes to players getting coin in D2.

There are many paths coaches can take to legally skirt the system.

These come in the form of academic money, room/board waivers, etc.

That's just at the publics. The privates operate with a whole different level of K-Mart Blue Light Special.

We see the PSAC 'scholarship equivalency' numbers from the public programs. That's not nearly the whole story, however. I'd love to see the real numbers. There's not a chance in Hell some of the East teams are building the rosters they are with their reported 5-6 scholarship equivalencies. Makes me laugh every time.

It obviously just stretches further in the east.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

D2 offers sliced up scholarships. Some get a 1/4 scholarship, some 1/2, etc... Roster of 100 kids at times, most of these schools have 10-25 scholarships to divvy up amongst them.

He isn't referring to NIL.

"Athletic scholarship money", per se, is far from the be-all, end-all, when it comes to players getting coin in D2.

There are many paths coaches can take to legally skirt the system.

These come in the form of academic money, room/board waivers, etc.

That's just at the publics. The privates operate with a whole different level of K-Mart Blue Light Special.

We see the PSAC 'scholarship equivalency' numbers from the public programs. That's not nearly the whole story, however. I'd love to see the real numbers. There's not a chance in Hell some of the East teams are building the rosters they are with their reported 5-6 scholarship equivalencies. Makes me laugh every time.

[Tdobson]

D2 offers sliced up scholarships. Some get a 1/4 scholarship, some 1/2, etc... Roster of 100 kids at times, most of these schools have 10-25 scholarships to divvy up amongst them.

He isn't referring to NIL.

So, Luca got more of the pie. When I was at IUP, I remember the backup QB and placeholder talking to the kicker about how much money each got. If I remember correctly, the kicker got more.

[Ram040506]

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you get outbidded in D2? Is the money that good in D2? I thought only d1 players got money.
I would think that any D2 school could match another's scholarship offer. Plus, WLU is out of state, so if I am right, the cost is increased.

D2 offers sliced up scholarships. Some get a 1/4 scholarship, some 1/2, etc... Roster of 100 kids at times, most of these schools have 10-25 scholarships to divvy up amongst them.

He isn't referring to NIL.

[Tdobson]

As has been noted, West Liberty suffered from a complacent coaching staff and an administration who kept renewing the head coach. Stadium is one-sided but nice. Scholarships are good not great - but there's money to throw around. I think the knocks on the school are that its pretty small and located in a seemingly remote area outside of Wheeling, neither of which offer much for the 18-24 crowd. West Liberty has virtually no name recognition in the Pittsburgh market, too. The MEC is a meh conference that usually has 1-2 "good" teams that can compete with the best of the region. The problem is that its a rotating mix most years (Frostburg hasn't regressed just yet) and West Liberty hasn't been one of those teams for several years.

But they made a great hire in Chad Salisbury. He was a huge recruiter at Cal and knows what WPIAL kids hear from PSAC coaches. His staff seems to be young but hungry. Great. Salisbury being hired late allowed him to use the IUP model of swooping in at the end and picking off guys by outbidding the dollars and probably selling more immediate playing time. A PSAC head coach texted me yesterday clearly upset about Luca Neal signing with West Liberty saying they got outbid. That's usually what I hear from Clarion and Edinboro coaches when IUP did that to them.

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you get outbidded in D2? Is the money that good in D2? I thought only d1 players got money.
I would think that any D2 school could match another's scholarship offer. Plus, WLU is out of state, so if I am right, the cost is increased.

[Fightingscot82]

I heard about that signing. I know WL has been down. Are they building toward a good team? I usually don’t follow the MEC.

As has been noted, West Liberty suffered from a complacent coaching staff and an administration who kept renewing the head coach. Stadium is one-sided but nice. Scholarships are good not great - but there's money to throw around. I think the knocks on the school are that its pretty small and located in a seemingly remote area outside of Wheeling, neither of which offer much for the 18-24 crowd. West Liberty has virtually no name recognition in the Pittsburgh market, too. The MEC is a meh conference that usually has 1-2 "good" teams that can compete with the best of the region. The problem is that its a rotating mix most years (Frostburg hasn't regressed just yet) and West Liberty hasn't been one of those teams for several years.

But they made a great hire in Chad Salisbury. He was a huge recruiter at Cal and knows what WPIAL kids hear from PSAC coaches. His staff seems to be young but hungry. Great. Salisbury being hired late allowed him to use the IUP model of swooping in at the end and picking off guys by outbidding the dollars and probably selling more immediate playing time. A PSAC head coach texted me yesterday clearly upset about Luca Neal signing with West Liberty saying they got outbid. That's usually what I hear from Clarion and Edinboro coaches when IUP did that to them.