The ripple effects of the House vs. NCAA settlement last week have made their way to many athletic programs, including Auburn University and the University of Michigan.
In a letter to the Auburn community, athletics director John Cohen said the department will direct $20.5 million toward revenue sharing for its athletes, and will allocate an additional 113.8 scholarships at a projected cost of $5.49 million.
In an email to the Michigan community, athletic director Warde Manuel said his department will also direct $20.5 million toward revenue sharing for athletes, and an additional 82.1 scholarships that will cost $6.2 million.
Manuel also said in the letter that the Michigan athletic department is facing a projected deficit of $27 million for the 2025-26 academic year as “the prospect of these added costs.”
Both athletic programs are trying to get their women’s and men’s swimming teams back to national prominence.
In the early 2000s under coach David Marsh, the Auburn men’s team won five straight national championships from 2003 to 2007 and another in 2009, while the women won three straight national titles from 2002 to 2004 and back-to-back crowns in 2006 and 2007.
The Auburn women finished 35th at this year’s NCAA Championships with 10 points, while the men finished in 32nd place with 14 points.
The women’s team was led by freshman Emily Halifax, who finished 13th in the platform diving competition to earn All-American honorable mention honors. The next highest-finisher for the Auburn women was freshman Audrey Crawford, who was 40th in the 200 breaststroke.
The highest individual finisher for the men’s team at the NCAA Championships was senior Nate Stoffle, who placed 26th in the 200 backstroke.
The team of Logan Tirheimer, Stoffle, Ryan Husband and Danny Schmidt finished 20th in the 400 free relay.
The Michigan men’s program has won 12 national championships, the latest being in 2013, and finished 11th at this year’s NCAA Championships. The women’s program has never won a national championship, but is coming off a ninth-place finish at this year’s NCAA Championships.
The Michigan women had a pair of All-Americans in the 100 freestyle. Stephanie Balduccini finished 6th, while Lindsay Flynn was 7th.
Michigan’s 400 free relay team of Balduccini, Flynn, Brady Kendall and Claire Newman finished 4th.
Colin Greer was the highest finisher for the Michigan men’s team at the NCAA meet, finishing 8th in the 200 butterfly.
Disclaimer: obviously I’m a UGA fan so that’s gonna shine through in this comment but I’m from Alabama and have lots of connections to AU and want them to succeed.
“The women’s team was led by freshman Emily Halifax, who finished 13th in the platform diving competition to earn All-American honorable mention honors. The next highest-finisher for the Auburn women was freshman Audrey Crawford, who was 40th in the 200 breaststroke.
The highest individual finisher for the men’s team at the NCAA Championships was senior Nate Stoffle, who placed 26th in the 200 backstroke.”
I didn’t realize it was that bad…can’t imagine AU S&D alums from those national championship teams who probably donate to the team are pleased…
ONE best time at NCAAs among both Auburn men and women. Team culture was wrecked, morale destroyed. Not sure who got the short end of the stick: the 44 athletes who were cut or the few who were kept.
Ask Auburn how many men they cut from team in March before the settlement. Michigan? Yeah way to go.
The forgotten 44. That’s how many kids were cut by Auburn Swim & Dive. Took the men’s team down to 9 with big (and unfulfilled) hopes of rebuilding a team the cheap way: picking up cut kids from Texas and Florida. How many men said yes to Auburn from the portal? Zero. The kids who were cut weren’t walk ons, they weren’t squatters, they were dedicated hard working athletes recruited and invited by Ryan Wochomurka to be there. They gave their all to a team and a head coach who overuses the word FAMILY but doesn’t care enough to coach the family he built. Good time to remember Auburn’s success at NCAAs after the cuts: men finished 32nd out of… Read more »
Remains to be seen if this trickles down to the swimming programs or not. Everything here relates to the athletic department as a whole.
Agreed! Athletic depart increases their scholarships for programs, however it could be possible that little to none goes towards swimming and diving. I hope that’s not the case though.
“Both athletic programs are trying to get their women’s and men’s swimming teams back to national prominence.” Was this just them inferring?
Interesting, it makes sense but I bet expectations will be high. Auburn took a little dip so better turn it around quick!
Little dip? Not relevant on the National level.
Good on these schools adding more scholarships since the cash payouts will be mostly focused on football and basketball!