DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — Southeastern Conference football coaches are preparing for the impact of possible cuts to NCAA rosters.
As coaches attended the league's spring meetings on Tuesday after the NCAA and the Big Five conferences reached a settlement agreement, the roster issue was on their minds. While the ultimate outcome won't be known for several months, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko was especially adamant about the possibility of football rosters being limited to around 85 players.
Elko argued that the 85-player limit, which would essentially eliminate walk-ons, “would be really bad for the sport.”
“I strongly disagree with this,” the Aggies' first-year coach said, “and I think it goes completely against the principles and purpose of college football.”
Scholarship caps could be lifted for some sports, but even well-funded schools would have to make choices about whether to fully or partially fund their athletic programs. Currently, Bowl Subdivision football programs are allowed to award 85 full scholarships, but with the potential for increased spending, some speculation that some sort of cap could help maintain competitive balance, though it could also risk more litigation.
So roster sizes are a major issue for football coaches across the country, though they're far from the biggest one, with direct payments from schools to players on the table if a federal court approves a roughly $2.8 billion settlement.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said he has spoken to the league's coaches in recent weeks and advised them to slow down.
“I know there have been discussions in other conferences, and then their coaches texted our coaches and they stepped up,” Sankey said. “So we said, wait, we'll have a discussion. That's where it is. It's a concept.”
It was just one topic of discussion as coaches, chancellors, athletic directors and other officials met for three days to address a host of unresolved issues, from restructuring college sports to player compensation and transfers.
“There's just so much going on right now. There's no one thing that's dominant,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “It's probably the most anticipated meeting in the nine years that I've been around this team, because there's just so many things that we don't get to decide, that we have a say in. Some of it is beyond our scope of decision-making. So there's just so many things that are out there.”
“I don't know anybody who's against walk-ons,” said Smart, who noted that coaches such as Clemson's Dabo Swinney and former Florida and South Carolina coach Will Muskamp were college walk-ons.
Several coaches are concerned about the future of walk-ons and possible changes to practice if they are at a loss. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, preparing for the Longhorns' debut SEC season, doesn't want to lose any of those non-scholarship players. His son, Brady, is one of the Longhorns' 35 walk-ons.
“I'm hopeful that we can find common ground on a reasonable number,” Sarkisian said. “Changes will happen, but I'm hopeful that we can find a reasonable number that allows us to feel like we can operate at a high level as coaches and as players.”
New Alabama head coach Karen DeBoer has publicly taken a more go-with-the-flow approach than his outspoken predecessor, Nick Saban, even if it means eventually adapting to an 85-man roster.
“Obviously, there's always a way,” DeBoer said. “Will it be much different than what we're doing in terms of coaching and executing practice plans? Absolutely. But I've always been the type to adapt with the times and I think you've got to do what you have to do.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea also isn't ready to get “outraged,” in Sankey's words, about upcoming roster changes.
“Everything I've heard is that it can't be trusted,” Lee said. “It's all still up in the air. I'd like to know a little more about everything. I think it would be irresponsible to talk about it or form an opinion right now. I'd like to know about everything that's going on before I form an opinion. … Right now there's a lot of speculation that I'm not paying much attention to.”
