In May, the SEC discussed potential roster limits for men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs with coaches ahead of the conference’s spring meetings. Today, sources told SwimSwam that the SEC has finalized the men’s roster cap at 22 athletes—the same number proposed in May. An official announcement is expected soon.
Current NCAA rules limit women’s swimming and diving teams to 14 scholarships and men’s programs to 9.9. While there are roster limits for conference and NCAA championships, there is no cap on overall roster size.
Part of the House v. NCAA settlement, granted preliminary approval this month after Judge Claudia Wilken set parties back to the drawing board in September, eliminated scholarship caps, replacing them with roster limits.
In July, The Athletic reported that the football team roster cap will be 105, which is up from the current scholarship limit of 85, which has been in place for decades. The SEC is cutting men’s roster spots in its other sports to offset this increase and stay compliant with Title IX.
Sources also told SwimSwam that neither the ACC nor Big Ten will follow the SEC in setting the men’s swim and dive roster caps at 22. Both conferences sponsor 28 sports, seven more than the SEC, which gives them more flexibility over their roster limits than the SEC.
Last season, the average men’s roster was approximately 26 swimmers. The Florida Gators had the biggest roster with 41 athletes.
The final approval hearing for the House v. NCAA settlement is scheduled for Apr. 7, 2025. While there is the possibility that more legal appeals will arise before then, if final approval is granted, direct revenue sharing will be implemented in July 2025.
Curious if anyone has heard anything more about this? I saw that the SEC has decided on a year of transition and will keep football at 85 for the 2025 season with room for 20 walk on spots. I’m wondering if swim might do the same?
So is this 22 man roster for the SEC set in stone or will they wait until the final approval hearing in April for this to be implemented? I’ve heard there may be appeals, etc that could drag this out longer?
It was supposed to be announced two weeks ago. The fact that it wasn’t implies that either 1) something changed, or 2) there has to be a final approval.
We were told this week by coaches that B1G is going to announce a 24-man roster, and ACC will follow suit with something similar. So not as low as SEC, but not as high as 30. Any news on that?? And still no announcement from SEC?
The SEC school my son committed to said this week that they think the SEC will end up around 24.
With signing dates around the corner, sure would be nice to get some accurate info from the conferences…
Yes it would. My son swims for an SEC school. Leasing for housing is determined before the end of this semester.
My son’s SEC school said they were figuring on a roster of 30
My kid will play football!!
At some point, non-profit higher education is going to have to get out of the for-profit “College NFL” business, go and sell these teams to private organizations/people and get back into the business of education. Before this mess, a student athlete was a privilege given to a small % of college students who worked really hard to be an elite athlete while balancing academics. It was a path some could take and the experience set the student/athlete up for success in the marketplace after graduation. The football ship has sailed, but higher education has a chance to fix this for the rest.
Let’s just take Bama for an example here:
Currently, they have 30 men returning for 2025 season plus 7 incoming FR PLUS the 6 they have incoming for 2026.
*Insert “Bold Strategy Cotton” gif here*
If it ain’t football, basketball, and to a lesser extent spring football, the SEC really doesn’t care.
If they cared they’d ease in the roster caps, so they could honor commitments. There’s minimal savings v the damage to these programs and athletes.
Commitments that aren’t bringing money into the athletic department…… yeah don’t hold your breath
This is so frustrating. I have a freshman SEC swimmer on a partial scholarship. He’s a sprinter with loads of potential but ranks at the bottom of their roster. When should he have a conversation with his coach? What’s protocol for a time frame of when they’d let swimmers know who is cut? These guys sign leases for housing for next year soon.
Have them bring it up ASAP. It’s a fair concern and letting it hang over your head is no good with practice and school stress already.
I can’t imagine the unnecessary stress. I’m so sorry.
My son, a 2025 recruit, was told to earn a place on a team, he’d have to be good enough to take another swimmer’s spot. So, yes, not only does your swimmer have to worry about the roster cuts, but also any potential recruits and transfers. It’s a s*&t show.
The NCAA is failing these kids.
At some point during this NCAA /NIL/paid university athletes, sports adventure we are all on, the tax status of non-profit institutions running major sports leagues (football and basketball) will have to be addressed… unless we’ve decided minor league pro sports is a now a public good.
The NCAA as we knew it is going away.
Are we really surprised? Most Olympic sports college coaches today, including swimming, have three jobs:
The NCAA has ignored this. Rather than instituting safeguards for the OIympic sports to keep them highly competitive and valued, the NCAA has allowed universities to do whatever they want. Student-athlete opportunities are not the priority. Money is the priority. If the NCAA got tough and required a much larger base of teams and equitable expenditure of funds (coaches, facilities, recruiting, team travel) between all the sports for certification for Division I, the Olympic sports wouldn’t be in… Read more »
This is spot on. I can’t speak for swimmers, but the USOC has transferred the responsibility for training/polishing their divers to the NCAA. It’s unfortunate, but that is the way it is. There is no national training center for diving, no diving facilities at any of the OTCs–our national team divers depend solely on access to NCAA coaches and facilities to become and stay competitive. Look at the 2024 Olympic Dive team, they are all affiliated with NCAA teams, and a majority of them have already expended their NCAA eligibility years, but still train at their old NCAA facility with their old NCAA coach. Our medals are coming from older divers who have had the extra time to develop by… Read more »