The NCAA Senior Vice President, Scott Bearby, sent out an email to Division I Presidents, Athletic Directors, and Conference Commissioners yesterday, four days ahead of the final settlement approval in the House on April 7th.
The purpose of the email was to remind everyone of one of the crucial pieces of the settlement. Students who are affected by roster caps, and are thus cut from their teams, will not lose their athletic scholarships.
Many athletes, former-athletes, and coaches have been protesting the roster caps and the cuts that are preemptively happening as a result of the settlement terms, and according to the email, some have been writing letters to the court objecting to the caps because they are losing their scholarships.
Bearby stated that athletes who have been told they “will not have a roster spot in the 2025-26 academic year…have concluded from that information that they will also not have an athletic scholarship.” He also mentioned the fear athletes have expressed of entering the transfer portal, which is typically cause for cancellation of a scholarship.
He went on to say that “the settlement provides that the new roster limits cannot cause any current scholarship athlete to lose his or her scholarship.” This includes students who enter the transfer portal and ultimately decide to remain at their school.
At the end of the email, he urges programs to remind their coaching staffs to “be mindful” when speaking to to athletes about roster decisions.
One letter that we have covered that makes this mistake is Eddie Reese’s objection letter which was filed in the middle of March. At the end of his 5th paragraph, Reese states “if an athlete enters the portal, their current school can end their scholarship immediately and regardless of whether the athlete ends up changing to another school.”
This question was also somewhat addressed in the 3rd Questions and Answers document released by the NCAA in December as question number 3.
- Question No. 3: Is a student-athlete’s athletics scholarship guaranteed?
- Answer: The proposed settlement does not alter any of the scholarship guarantees that became effective August 1, 2024. With the new scholarship protections, schools cannot reduce, cancel or fail to renew athletics scholarships in NCAA sports for athletics reasons (such as injury, physical or mental illness, athletic ability or performance, contribution to team success or roster management decisions). These requirements continue to apply regardless of any roster management decisions unless and until the student-athlete in question graduates or elects to transfer.
The last sentence states that the colleges cannot reduce, cancel, or fail to renew scholarships until the student-athlete graduates or “elects to transfer”. This wording is a little murky and leaves room for confusion as to what exactly “elects” means, but the email sent out yesterday confirms that entering the portal will not be cause to terminate a scholarship if an athlete chooses to stay at their school.
This provision does not seem to apply to athletes who are choosing to transfer who have not lost their roster spot for the next year.
Question colleges that had option to opt in, and did in February are they still held to roster cap deadline of 2025 fall? Seeing as some of the coaches would not have known their college was opting in because they weren’t in the big 12 big 10 SEC etc. they maybe didn’t change the recruiting and now would be over roster limits and just found out a month ago versus coaches in the big 12, knowing in advance before the recruiting season started. Do the colleges that opted in have a longer grace period to implement the roster cap limits.?
could be good for college club swimming
This will be perfect for Swimmers who didn’t intend to finish out swimming in college
Here’s a question: do the protections that injured athletes have from getting cut still apply? I was under the impression that coaches are not allowed to cut athletes due to injuries (please correct me if I am wrong. I tried searching NCAA rules but couldn’t find anything to back this up).
If that is the case, that seems to create an incentive for a fringe athlete who is worried about their roster spot to intentionally get injured. I HOPE no athlete would ever intentionally injure themselves, but it is theoretically possible.
Alternatively, if they are cut from the team but keep the scholarship, how is that any different than if they were still on the team? The scholarship is… Read more »
They cannot revoke scholarships due to injury, but they can cut an athlete for injury.
You described the exact situation why such a rule wouldn’t work. Most college athletes (especially in a sport like football) are constantly nursing injuries of some variety, so this would be saying the same thing as “you can’t cut athletes”.
Will coaches cut incoming recruits or current athletes? Is this only SEC, Big10,Big 12 or all D1 schools? What about those schools that aren’t in those conferences but the Football/Wrestling,Hockey team are in those conferences? Would it only effect the team in say the big 12 bs all the teams at the school that aren’t in the Big 12?
All division 1 schools that opt into the House settlement regardless of conference are subject to roster caps. The SECs cap is lower for men’s swimming. It is up to each coach who he cuts to maintain roster compliance.
From my understanding, all schools in the Power 5 have to opt in. It’s schools that are not in one of those conferences that have the choice. And coaches are cutting both incoming recruits and current athletes
It’s the power 4 now
For the purposes of the settlement, the PAC12 was party to it as the action was filed when there was still a P5.
It still sucks big time for anyone who didn’t get what they signed up for. Four years of swimming at the college they chose. Not everyone can switch schools economically and efficiently for their degree especially if a rising senior. Yes they may get to keep their scholarship if they even had one but they lose the swim family they are a part of and all the other athletic benefits like graduating as a student athlete and senior recognition. Some kids just love swimming and get it ripped away before they were ready.
Except that they also lose so so so much more. First and foremost, being a part of something extraordinarily special— that every student athlete has worked years and years for—how do you put that into a financial cost? And, these athletes will lose tutoring, early class scheduling, academic counseling support, daily food allowance, medical, and the ability to keep improving in their sport. The loss is far greater than the ability to keep a scholarship (minimal at best)
Hopefully the Judge turns this settlement on its head!
Great time to be going D3.
Catch me in the NESCAC next year!
Love it
Second this! That’s where my Power 4 swimmer is headed