SECOND Football coaches brace for impact of potential NCAA roster cuts.
Coaches gathered Tuesday for the league’s spring meetings, with potential roster issues among the issues on their minds following a settlement agreement involving the NCAA and the five major conferences. How that plays out won’t be known for several months, but Texas A&M University Coach Mike Elko was particularly adamant against the idea of football rosters being limited to just 85 players.
Elko argued that an 85-player limit, which would essentially eliminate unqualified players, would be “something really bad for the sport.”
“I’m totally against it,” said the Aggies’ first-year coach. “I think it’s absolutely contrary to college football and what it stands for and what it represents.”
Scholarship caps could be lifted in some sports, but even the wealthiest schools will have to make choices when it comes to fully or even partially funding their athletic programs. Currently, Bowl Subdivision football programs are allowed to award 85 full scholarships, but with the potential for additional spending, there is speculation that some sort of cap could help in terms of competitive balance — perhaps at the risk of more litigation.
(House-NCAA Settlement: What Does It Mean, Why Did It Happen, and What Happens Next?)
That means roster size is a hot-button issue for football coaches across the country, though it’s far from the most important with direct payments from schools to players on the table if a federal judge approves the nearly $2.8 billion settlement.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said his advice after hearing from league coaches in recent weeks was to slow down.
“I know other conferences have talked about it. Then coaches have sent messages to our coaches. They got excited,” Sankey said. “And we said, wait a minute. We’re going to have a conversation. That’s where it’s at. It’s a concept.”
It was just one of the topics discussed during three days of meetings between coaches, presidents, athletic directors and other officials, with so much up in the air in college sports, from realignment to athlete compensation to transfers.
Power 5 schools, NCAA agree to allow schools to pay players directly
“There’s so much going on right now. There’s no one thing that’s dominant,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “This is probably one of the most anticipated meetings in my nine years of being in these meetings because there’s a lot that’s still to be decided that we can have a say in. Some of it is out of our control. So there’s a lot that needs to be done.”
Smart noted that he doesn’t know “anybody who would be against the idea of having free-scholarship players.” He pointed out that coaches like Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and former Florida and South Carolina coach Will Muschamp were free-scholarship players in college.
A handful of coaches are concerned about the future of unsigned players and potential changes to practices if they have fewer players. Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian, who is preparing for the Longhorns’ first season in the SEC, doesn’t want to lose those non-scholarship players. His son, Brady, is one of the Longhorns’ 35 non-scholarship players.
“I hope we can find common ground on a reasonable number,” Sarkisian said. “Change is going to happen. But I hope we can find a reasonable number that allows us to continue to operate at a high level as coaches and for our players.”
(Want great stories delivered straight to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized daily newsletter.)
New Alabama Coach Kalen DeBoer has publicly taken a more flexible approach than his predecessor, Nick Saban, even if it meant eventually adjusting to an 85-man roster.
“There’s always a solution,” DeBoer said. “Would it be a very different approach to what we do as coaches and how we execute our training plans? Absolutely. But I guess I’ve always been a guy who adapts to the times and you have to do what you have to do.”
How will paying players directly affect the future of college football?
Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea also isn’t ready to get excited, as Sankey said, about any roster size changes on the horizon.
“What I’ve heard is that everything I’ve heard is not trustworthy,” Lea said. “That’s all still to be determined. I want to know a little bit more about all of that. I think it’s irresponsible for me to comment on it now or share an opinion now. I want to know more about everything that’s going on before I form an opinion. … There’s a lot of speculation out there that I’m not really paying attention to.”
Associated Press report.
Learn more about college football Follow your favorites for gaming updates, news, and more
