College Roster Caps

S

Scrag75

BRONZE
Has anyone received information from college coaches on what may be happening as far as sports teams having to cap their rosters for all sports due to the recent NCAA ruling? I have heard from a few players that their coaches are telling them that they may have to limit their rosters to no more than 26 or 28 players starting in 2025? This number may be lower dependent on what the schools budget may allow. This can be problematic for teams that have large rosters and may have an effect on their 2026 recruiting abilities. This may also affect some of those schools that purge half their rosters every year (looking at you Kentucky).

Anyone hear something different?
 
It's definitely throwing a wrench into things. Rosters will need to be smaller, will affect supply and demand. Transfer portal going to be flooded with players. 2026's probably won't be committing until much later. Daughters friend went to a ID camp recently at Kentucky and coach mentioned the new NCAA rule really changing things, he even said he needed to talk quietly as he didn't want his current players behind him hearing...that seemed weird to me...
 
young@heart said:
It's definitely throwing a wrench into things. Rosters will need to be smaller, will affect supply and demand. Transfer portal going to be flooded with players. 2026's probably won't be committing until much later. Daughters friend went to a ID camp recently at Kentucky and coach mentioned the new NCAA rule really changing things, he even said he needed to talk quietly as he didn't want his current players behind him hearing...that seemed weird to me...
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Kentucky with huge group of new players this year and 40 total on the roster. No wonder he doesn't want the current group hearing about it!
 
Carlsbad7 said:
Here's more detail, it echos what you're saying...

part 1:
www.soccerwire.com/soccer-blog/analysis-major-changes-coming-to-college-soccer-amid-fallout-from-ncaa-lawsuit/

part 2:
www.soccerwire.com/soccer-blog/how-the-house-v-ncaa-lawsuit-may-cut-some-college-soccer-rosters-in-half/
Click to expand...
I had heard rosters in the 25-29 range for womens soccer, but this seems to indicate 18 on the low end and 22-24 on the high end. I think anything below 21-22 would be very difficult to manage given the number of injuries each year. Will be interesting to see exactly what the final numbers really are for womens soccer.
 
What I can see is if college coaches are forced to limit rosters to a certain size it's going to limit the supply even more than is already happening.

There's going to be a massive funnel of youth players going into a tiny funnel of college teams.

What's going to be even more challenging is that it won't just be players graduating HS looking for spots on the team. There will be transfers, foreign nationals, and upperclassmen all competing for the same spots in the roster.

Youth clubs will likely respond with u19 and maybe u20 teams partnering with college coaches so freshman and sophomores can keep playing while waiting for another chance to get a roster spot on a college team.

All this craziness will make a youth to pro pathway more and more appealing.
 
young@heart said:
It's definitely throwing a wrench into things. Rosters will need to be smaller, will affect supply and demand. Transfer portal going to be flooded with players. 2026's probably won't be committing until much later. Daughters friend went to a ID camp recently at Kentucky and coach mentioned the new NCAA rule really changing things, he even said he needed to talk quietly as he didn't want his current players behind him hearing...that seemed weird to me...
Click to expand...
That portal is already flooded with players... and this claims to just be D1.

www.topdrawersoccer.com

2024 Women's Division I Transfer Tracker | College Soccer

Keep tabs with all of the incoming women's Division I transfers for the class of 2024.
www.topdrawersoccer.com www.topdrawersoccer.com
 
Carlsbad7 said:
What I can see is if college coaches are forced to limit rosters to a certain size it's going to limit the supply even more than is already happening.

There's going to be a massive funnel of youth players going into a tiny funnel of college teams.

What's going to be even more challenging is that it won't just be players graduating HS looking for spots on the team. There will be transfers, foreign nationals, and upperclassmen all competing for the same spots in the roster.

Youth clubs will likely respond with u19 and maybe u20 teams partnering with college coaches so freshman and sophomores can keep playing while waiting for another chance to get a roster spot on a college team.

All this craziness will make a youth to pro pathway more and more appealing.
Click to expand...
But wouldn't the Pro funnel be even smaller than the college funnel?
 
crush said:
UCLA had 37 back in the day. YNT players that never played but got a hell of an education.
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Yeah, UCLA is a great 'fall back' if you don't play. That's your punishment... a high quality education for a fair price.

I would have thought 30 max now that Covid year, as I understand it, filtered through. Who needs 3 full rosters or more?
 
Slobodan said:
Yeah, UCLA is a great 'fall back' if you don't play. That's your punishment... a high quality education for a fair price.

I would have thought 30 max now that Covid year, as I understand it, filtered through. Who needs 3 full rosters or more?
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Three teams to play round robin each week is not too bad.
 
Code said:
But wouldn't the Pro funnel be even smaller than the college funnel?
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Actually, no. There are far more pro spots than college spots. Yes, the funnel to the very top is smaller, and the competition pool is much larger for pro spots, but most (I'd say just about every) D1 player who actually plays could find a spot in a 2nd, 3rd or 4th league in Europe as a pro. The choice comes down to what's the better option long term. Play in Europe and make a few Euros in those years or play in college and get an education. This is why you see Europeans who are quite good coming to the US to play in college.

Update: this is on the men's side.
 
Code said:
But wouldn't the Pro funnel be even smaller than the college funnel?
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I think it depends. (For women)

College funnels don't always prioritize talent. Some people just have connections and are able to capitalize on them. Also college women's soccer is unlimited subs so coaches favor speed and aggressiveness.

Pro funnels at the highest levels generally pick the most talented over everything else.

There's going to be an entire group of player left out in the cold after graduating HS that still want to play.
 
When you see incredibly large recruiting classes of freshman, it is usually red flags. It isn't uncommon to have coaches pick up numbers of grad players, because they are a 1 and done for the semester. It's a cheap and easy way to stack your roster, experienced players on the field versus an inexperienced underclassmen coming in. My dd originally started at a Big12 school. Huge incoming class that year, 14 players. 2 are left from 2021. plus, each conference is different in the amount of $$$$ they have to distribute. My dd transferred her junior year to an sec school. that $$$$ is insane in the sec vs big 12. apples to oranges. Large rosters at D1, everyone knows their place. Starter, super sub, back up, reserves, or practice player. 40 is a very high number. That is about what most youth mls academies roster. But, that is another thread ;)
 
Kentucky's roster. You have 4 redshirts for the season. and 10 grad students and seniors in addition. 36 players for the season. Which is still high, but, after this fall, 10 more players leave. so 26 will remain for spring . and that's not counting any more injuries about to happen.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
There's going to be a massive funnel of youth players going into a tiny funnel of college teams.
Click to expand...

I don't see much of a mismatch. 4 years of GA+ ECNL have 892 teams. 4 years of college soccer have 834 teams. (Don't forget D2, D3, and NAIA)

So you have a huge funnel pouring into an almost as huge funnel.

Most of these girls will have a place to play, if that's what they want.
 
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