As the NCAA prepares for what the world of college athletics will look like when the House vs. NCAA settlement is finalized, some college programs are looking to other Olympic sports for inspiration on adapting their programs if the proposed roster limits take effect.
SwimSwam has heard from a Power 4 program that it is considering a plan to implement a program similar to the Regional Training Centers that have become crucial to United States’ wrestling’s development.
There are 77 NCAA Division I varsity men’s wrestling programs in the United States among approximately 220 across all three divisions. That’s a decline from 363 programs in 1982.
The House settlement, in its current version, includes stricter roster limits for sports like swimming & diving. One individual with knowledge of the proceedings said that an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 NCAA roster spots would be lost as a result of the new limits nationally across all sports. But the RTC model could, at least in some parts of the country, preserve some version of collegiate athletics for those who aren’t on the varsity rosters.
What are Wrestling’s RTCs?
For those unfamiliar with RTCs, here are the basics. RTCs are training centers supported by USA Wrestling that “provide qualified youth athletes and Olympic Hopefuls access to elite level coaches, high level training partners and world class facilities in a safe local environment, per USA Wrestling’s website. “A key focus is to raise the relevancy of wrestling on college campuses. Within NCAA rules, RTCs provide additional opportunities for college coaches to further develop and enhance their individual program. This cooperative effort strengthens the connection between the Olympic Movement and college athletics.”
In addition to helping college athletic programs, RTCs provide young athletes the opportunity to train year-round, thereby keeping more kids in the sport.
All athletes participating in RTC practice must meet at least one qualification criteria based on placement at different national and regional wrestling tournaments. There are specific criteria for coaches, students with NCAA eligibility, and prospective NCAA student-athletes. For example, athletes must live within 250 miles of the RTC to participate and any coach who works at the RTC may only coach a prospective student-athlete at any competition if on coaching assignment from USA Wrestling.
There are plenty of RTCs around the country; USA Wrestling lists centers in Tempe, AZ, Gaithersburg, MD, Cedar Falls, IA, and New York, NY. But there are plenty of others—including those located at colleges like Penn State, UNC, Ohio State, Brown, etc.
How Could RTCs Work In Swimming?
RTCs in wrestling are created in partnership with USA Wrestling and its state associations and a similar model in swimming would likely need support from USA Swimming.
Setting aside that partnership for a moment, introducing an RTC model in swimming would connect top club, college, and professional swimmers within a set geographical radius. There are several reasons this could be an attractive model for NCAA teams. Depending on the location of the RTC, it could bring in additional revenue through pool use fees. A nearby RTC could also give some coaches more coaching opportunities.
While there are strict rules around recruiting high schoolers, RTCs would allow top club athletes to train with college-age and professional athletes, which is typically limited to the club swimmers who make the senior international roster as most professional training groups are run through universities. An RTC could potentially help with funding for the professional athletes affiliated with the RTC.
NCAA rules limit NCAA coaches who coach a club team to coaching recruitable athletes who live within a 50 mile radius.
But specifically for NCAA colleges facing implementing roster limits in the future, a nearby RTC would give them a place to send the swimmers who don’t make the varsity roster. The program would be more than a collegiate club – the athletes would train with a full commitment alongside the pro and post-grad swimmers.
The coach that SwimSwam spoke to said that they would probably delay their first NCAA meet of the season until after November 1. With rosters due when the meet begins, this would give the coach flexibility to shift athletes between the RTC roster and the varsity roster early in the training schedule – the coach said that they’d expect there to be maybe five spots on the roster designed for athletes flexing between the two programs.
In theory, they could extend this period and delay the start of the dual meet season, which could contribute to making the regular season dual meets more meaningful.
Potential Issues
Perhaps the biggest wrinkle to solve would be the international swimmers. The NCAA has become an increasingly popular destination for international swimmers. Because wrestling RTCs are in partnership with USA Wrestling, there are limits on international athletes. The rulebook from 2020 states “international athletes/coaches who currently represent a country other than the U.S may attend on a limited basis based on approval of the NGB and RTC. These individuals must be of similar competitive caliber. These individuals may attend on an intermittent basis in order to enhance national team development.”
If swimming RTCs were created in partnership with USA Swimming, there would likely be a similar clause. This would reinvigorate the debate about international students joining the NCAA or U.S-based professional groups, which reached a peak during the Paris Olympics when Leon Marchand and Summer McIntosh, international athletes coached in the U.S., had such spectacular Games. Hypothetically, this could mean that recruiting international students would mean programs would be required to keep them on the varsity roster if they’re not eligible for the RTCs.
Pool space, which is expensive and on major college campuses already in high demand for competitive and non-competitive purposes alike, could also become an issue.
Wrestling RTCs have a rule that high school athletes must not train at the RTC while competing in high school. While this is easy to maintain for swimming, introducing the model to this sport would force a reckoning with club swimming in the U.S. as swimmers could leave clubs for RTCs, again putting strain on pool space and availability.
This could also become an issue for junior-aged athletes who represent other countries but live in the United States and are USA Swimming members. The RTCs could become a talent vacuum for surrounding areas, hurting local clubs and possibly the competitiveness and coaching development for non-RTC coaches and athletes.
What Now?
When finalized, the House vs. NCAA settlement will change the face of college sports. Many sports are going to be under pressure, swimming included, and will need to look outside the box in order to adapt in the new landscape. Implementing an RTC model like wrestling is certainly that, though there is a successful model in place. A move like this wouldn’t just affect NCAA swimming though, it would start a domino effect that changed the way swimming in the United States operates.
Imagine UVA cutting their swim program
If they cut their mens team at least the talent would start going to places where it can flourish…..
I think that you offer up a reasonable shade of lipstick to apply to the pig….
Why not just continue and/or expand college club swimming. Perhaps college coaches could also have “course teaching” duties whereby the school offers courses in competitive swim training to enrolled students. Many college coaches have course teaching roles anyway – just expand the curriculum to include a course with training and access to coaches, weight training, expertise such as Ken Ono….and if a swimmer does well, the course, the swimmer might be promoted to the “official” squad roster when an open spot arises. The swimmers might not be scholarship swimmers, but beyond 30, most swimmers who would be at that level on an official roster wouldn’t be on scholarship anyway. If a DeSorbo or Bowmen post a workout on a board… Read more »
I think what you’re describing winds up with the same outcome, but no club and post-grad element to it.
The club and post-grad elements can help make the cost structure work.
These are good ideas. I did laugh at the thought of a group of 9-10s coming in for club practice and seeing 60 x 50s best average on the board though haha
Another thing to consider bringing NSO funding to certain schools and not others is effects on parity. In the Canadian U-Sports league, a university without a SNC-funded national centre in its city hasn’t won a national title since their creation.
I think that’s a fair point.
Independent of the Canadian example, I think it’s probably a worthwhile consideration. But…I’d also point out that Canada’s three biggest cities are the homes of the national centers, and given the way population is distributed in Canada, it’s not a clear causal effect.
Feels like Calgary is doing really well without a training center too and that a natty is inevitable, but IDK.
I think in the NCAA, we’re going to start to see an even bigger separation of the haves and the have-nots one way or another. If they’re not investing the money this way, they’ll invest it in NIL.
Not a super clearcut causal effect I would agree, but I’d contend that other sports in U-Sports don’t seem to have the same parity problem. Only three schools (counting the men’s and women’s titles) have won national championships since 1980 in swimming, while a quick search for basketball, hockey, and soccer show me at least 10 different schools winning in that period.
Overall I do think national training centres benefit the quality of our league by increasing our odds of fast swimmers staying in Canada instead of NCAA (Finlay Knox, Emily Overholt, Markus Thormeyer come to mind) but it does seem to come at the expense of parity.
I hope USA swimming can come up with a program for young elite adult swimmers kind of like a minor league.
This might offset the swimmers that prefer not to swim for a college team.
Maybe the swimmer could compete and go to college like Phelps but avoid the NCAA altogether.
Has someone asked House if he had lost his mind? Very sad to see a swimmer destroying the future for swimmers because of a couple bucks
That’s a pretty myopic understanding of the suit. I don’t think that was his intention. The result of non-revenue sports being cut is part of the settlement involving many universities and moving parts having to pay $.
I agree that it wasn’t his intention. But after 14 years in college, he should have understood that this was the likely outcome.
If I were him I’d fall back on the “if it wasn’t me, then it would have been someone else” defense.
But also: the quick grab of cash. He’s going to get a bag for this. No idea how big that bag will be, but his will be the largest swimmer’s share.
Yes, his name is on the case. But let’s be honest – this was 100% going to happen with or without Grant House.
This was absolutely not the outcome he had hoped for nor planned for. It’s all been done through lawyers and NCAA and out of his control so it’s not fair to blame him because if he had not brought it to suit someone else would have.
Whether it was House or someone else, it was bound to happen at some point. I think college athletics has gotten way too greedy, and many of our athletes have lost the idea of what attending college was all about in the first place.
Honestly, I’m ok with what will probably come. Just maybe then, we have high schoolers that have no business being in what should be rigorous college courses, going instead in the trades. I think many chase college sports and end up doing nothing with their lives.
The really talented swimmers (not the wanna be’s) could train with some major clubs located in big college towns if they want to pursue a college degree in… Read more »
Agree completely. As a swimmer who was doing this for NIL money he should be especially ashamed, I hope he enjoys his $200
I think it would be easier for programs to have “junior varsity” club teams. I don’t think swimming will see the same extreme drop in the number of programs that would require USA Swimming to get creative to ensure elite swimmers can find some place to train. University clubs and existing clubs aren’t capped and don’t look like they’re going away.
Given the relative cost profile of mat time versus pool time, I’m not as confident that swimming is fireproof as you are.
Though again, I’m hearing more-and-more that it’s not going to happen right away, at least not in terms of dropping programs altogether. I think swimming will immediately feel it in budgets. The culling will come later.
So USA Swimming is going to subsidize training for college athletes that don’t make a varsity roster….? Does USA Swimming know this?
I think it’s the LSCs that would foot the bill. Does devoting $.50 of the splash fee to support a regional training center make sense? I think it could make sense in the right circumstances.
This sounds like a disaster to me, given how petty the internal politics in most LSCs can be. In New England Swimming, it would just result in a “rich get richer” situation, with the LSC pocketing money for a facility near Boston, where certain teams would have a disproportionate amount of access.
Are we sure USA Swimming wants NCAA swimming to succeed? Wouldn’t they have been more involved in saving cut programs, supporting college athlete training year around, creating and supporting college age focused competitions if they really cared? Wouldn’t it better for USA Swimming to have all the athletes represent USA clubs and work with USA club coaches? Don’t kid yourself, NCAA swimming is viewed as competition to USA Swimming. No way in hell they’re coming to the rescue now.