Roster Caps

 

 

College swimming is in for a huge shake-up.

 

NIL?  Portal?  5-in-5?

 

None of these have had - or will have - the impact of the House vs. NCAA settlement.

 

Roster caps are nothing new in college swimming.  Many schools have limited squad sizes for the men to keep the Title IX Vultures (a.k.a. lawyers) off their campuses.

 

Soon, roster limits will be the "law of the land" for both men and women...and they'll be more "painful" than ever!

 

Via Swimming World:

Per a settlement in the House v. NCAA federal case in which former Arizona State swimmer Grant House was the lead plaintiff, colleges will be allowed to share revenue with athletes. Instead of limiting scholarship money doled out to each sport, rosters will have hard caps with universities given the option to offer full scholarships to all members. Walk-ons will no longer exist. This new model will apply in Division I major conferences (the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12) plus any other conferences who opt in and thus receive clearance to distribute money directly to athletes.

Read more here

 

What will programs do with/for kids who fall below the roster limit line?  Offer them a club option?  Participation in the CSCAA's National Invitational Championship?  Send them down the road to another program?  Thank them for their contributions and then give them the old "Lead Handshake"?

In an appearance on the Unfiltered Waters podcast with Olympic medalists Missy Franklin and Katie Hoff, Bowman gave further insights into his thought process as he prepares to essentially halve his Longhorns roster, needing to drop from 41 swimmers to 22.

“I’ve tried to be as transparent as I can be,” Bowman said. “We just haven’t put our head in the sand and acted like it’s not happening. In the first meeting we talked about it and everyone knows. What we have tried to do is make it as objective as we can. Everybody here has a chance and has had a chance over the last six months to kind of put their best foot forward, and then we kind of look at the numbers.”

The blunt reality, Bowman said, is that if “you haven’t swum a time that would score any points at SECs, you’re not going to be moving forward.” He added, “We’re here to help you with your next thing,” suggesting that he and his staff would coordinate and advocate on behalf of the many Texas swimmers who will undoubtedly enter the transfer portal and seek opportunities to compete at other schools. Bowman added that he hoped to obtain waivers on behalf of his swimmers to enter the transfer portal before its official window to get a head start on finding a new team.

 

Longhorn coach Bob Bowman addresses the roster cap issue starting at 34:00 of the podcast (link above).

 

Expect Team USA to do well in Los Angeles, but this could spell trouble in Brisbane...