This op-ed comes courtesy of Stuart Smith. Stuart owns Texas Ford Aquatics and is a former NCAA All-American swimmer for The College of Texas. As a member of Texas’ 1984 NCAA championship-winning 400 medley relay staff, Stu skilled the facility of collegiate swimming to form younger athletes into champions. He was an All-American (1984-85). With 35 years of teaching expertise at premier packages equivalent to Longhorn Aquatics, Dynamo Swim Membership, Northwest Arkansas Aquatics, North Texas Nadadores, and Texas Ford Aquatics, Stu has devoted his profession to serving to younger swimmers obtain their goals.
Notice: Opinions on this article don’t essentially mirror the views of SwimSwam as a complete.
By Stuart Smith
“Why does my favourite college have to chop swimmers and divers simply to satisfy a quantity?” The query got here from a younger athlete with a mixture of frustration and unhappiness. For these younger athletes, the cuts really feel deeply private—goals they’ve spent years chasing within the pre-dawn hours, stroke after stroke, now grasp by a thread, determined in boardrooms removed from the pool. However collectively, we will guarantee these goals stay inside attain. Dad and mom, too, face challenges as they work to assist their youngsters’s ambitions whereas navigating this time of change in collegiate sports activities.
A junior narrowing his listing of goal faculties requested, “The SEC is capping males’s rosters at 22, however girls get 30. How is that truthful?” One other mum or dad added, “If many of the settlement funds are going to soccer gamers, why are sports activities like swimming and diving paying the value? How can our children compete when the alternatives are disappearing?”
These questions mirror a rising disaster in Olympic sports activities like swimming, diving, and observe and subject. The Home vs. NCAA settlement—meant to handle fairness points—has launched sweeping adjustments, together with again pay for athletes, revenue sharing sooner or later, and the imposition of roster caps for males’s and girls’s sports activities. Tons of of student-athletes have filed objections to the settlement. The listening to on ultimate approval of the settlement is April 7, 2025.
For swimming and diving, the really useful roster cap is 30 athletes per staff, however the SEC has gone additional, limiting males’s rosters to simply 22 whereas protecting girls at 30. The SEC claims it’s aligning rosters with championship meet limits, however the actual drivers are monetary—revenue sharing begins in 2025—and authorized, with Title IX compliance serving because the handy justification. As an alternative of discovering options that protect alternatives, the SEC is selecting to chop males’s rosters. Chopping males’s swimming and diving rosters is a simple approach out. Many assume the SEC desires to steer different conferences to affix them on the 22 cap. We should battle again.
By focusing solely on competition-day necessities, these roster caps overlook a staff’s broader wants—fostering improvement, managing accidents, and constructing depth. These are the hallmarks of long-term success and what makes collegiate swimming distinctive. As somebody who has spent a lifetime within the sport, I see how these adjustments threaten generations of swimmers and divers. This isn’t nearly who makes the staff; it’s about preserving goals and safeguarding the way forward for Olympic sports activities in America.
Why Roster Caps Matter
Roster caps could appear to be a simple resolution to finances and compliance pressures, however they will devastate depth-driven sports activities like swimming and diving. NCAA championship groups have traditionally averaged 35 athletes (31 swimmers and 4 divers). These numbers mirror the necessity for a staff to maintain success, develop expertise, and adapt to challenges.
Capping swim rosters at 22 athletes is like capping a soccer roster at 22 gamers. Whereas solely 22 gamers are wanted to play a sport, no soccer staff operates with simply that quantity. The settlement cap shall be 105, virtually 5 occasions the game-day want. Equally, as legendary coach Eddie Reese usually stated, swimming groups require a depth of expertise—1.5 occasions the competitors requirement.
I want everybody may hear Texas swimmer Robert Bogart speak concerning the significance of swimming and Eddie and Kris Kubik in his life. Robert’s story is a testomony to the facility of alternative, perseverance, and the impression of collegiate swimming on younger athletes. Arriving at Texas as a wiry excessive schooler, Bogart had uncooked expertise however lacked the bodily power to compete on the highest stage. He redshirted his first yr, dedicating himself to the load room and relentless coaching, decided to remodel his physique and unlock his full potential. By his ultimate season in 2002, he had completed simply that—incomes a coveted spot within the NCAA Championships within the 50-yard freestyle.
The 50-free ultimate passed off on the opening night time of the NCAA Males’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Gabrielsen Natatorium on the campus of the College of Georgia. With Texas and Stanford locked in a fierce battle, each level mattered. Bogart stepped onto the blocks, understanding this wasn’t simply his race—it was a spark for his staff. When he touched the wall in eighth place, he secured 11 essential factors for Texas. Extra than simply numbers on a scoreboard, his efficiency despatched a surge of vitality by means of his teammates. The Longhorns rode that momentum by means of the subsequent two days, finally defeating Stanford 512-501 to seize the nationwide championship.
A championship like that doesn’t occur with out depth. With out improvement. And not using a program constructed to offer athletes time to develop into their potential. Would Bogart have ever had that probability below at the moment’s roster caps? Would an athlete in his place even make a staff?
With out the flexibleness of bigger rosters, 1000’s of comparable tales of progress and success shall be misplaced, forsaking untapped potential and unrealized goals. These tales give our sport its coronary heart and soul and encourage the subsequent era to pursue greatness. These tales aren’t uncommon. I wager you’ll find two to a few athletes on each championship staff who’ve taken comparable paths. They’re the center of collegiate swimming and a reminder of why preserving alternatives for athletes is so crucial.
Smaller rosters additionally hurt staff tradition. With solely 22 athletes, fixed stress to carry out can erode belief and camaraderie, important for top efficiency and long-term success.
Broader Implications
Households are starting to query whether or not years of sacrifice—time, cash, and energy—will lead to significant collegiate alternatives. As an example, dad and mom usually make investments 1000’s of {dollars} yearly in coaching, journey, tech fits, and gear, all whereas juggling work and college schedules to assist their youngsters’s goals. We should guarantee these efforts result in significant alternatives at each stage of collegiate sports activities. This unease extends past swimming to different Olympic sports activities, threatening America’s expertise pipeline and international dominance. With the LA 2028 Olympics approaching, the stakes have by no means been increased. These roster caps damage school groups and danger undermining the muse of America’s Olympic success.
Whereas all Division I packages face challenges adhering to the 30-athlete cap, the SEC’s choice to cap males’s rosters at 22 is especially egregious. Faculties like Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Auburn danger falling behind packages in different conferences, such because the Huge Ten and Pac-12, which preserve bigger rosters. This disparity challenges the SEC’s means to proceed attracting prime expertise and stay a powerhouse for Olympic sports activities—a practice value defending.
A Name to Motion
For swimmers and fogeys, the trail ahead requires focus, perseverance, and strategic planning:
- Broaden Your Search: Discover faculties in different Energy conferences, mid-major packages, and even Division II and III faculties. A wider internet will increase your probabilities of discovering the appropriate match.
- Market Your self: Considerate outreach to coaches will help you stand out in an more and more aggressive atmosphere.
Past private planning, we should advocate for fairer insurance policies:
- Contact Leaders: Urge key choice makers, SEC athletic administrators, and college presidents to assist the NCAA’s 30-athlete cap. If this text helps, ahead it to them and different influencers, together with elected officers.
- Share Tales: Have a good time athletes like Robert Bogart, who blossomed later of their careers. These tales present the unimaginable potential of supporting and investing in younger expertise. They encourage others and display the life-changing impression of collegiate swimming.
- Present Assist: Attend college and convention championship meets and occasions to display neighborhood curiosity within the sport. It’s a enjoyable and thrilling technique to spend a few hours, and the coaches and swimmers will recognize your presence.
The SEC’s excessive roster cap isn’t just a numbers sport—it’s a risk to the way forward for swimming, diving, and Olympic sports activities. By uniting as athletes, dad and mom, coaches, and followers, we will protect alternatives and make sure the sport thrives for generations to return. Think about the 1000’s of younger athletes whose goals rely upon truthful alternatives. Image a younger swimmer standing on the pool deck, eyes full of hope, dreaming of sporting their dream college’s colours. If we don’t act, the subsequent Robert Bogart may by no means get his shot. 1000’s of younger athletes stand on the pool deck at the moment, dreaming of their probability. It’s as much as us to ensure the lane continues to be open.
