The roster limit is firm, regardless of scholarship level. You can have 17 on fulls or 17 on nothing for XC. No scholarship limits anymore, just roster limits.
If a paid university coach works with an enrolled student they will need to be rostered. If they are recovering in the training room they will need to be rostered. Using athletics specific facilities like an athletes weight room will be limited to rostered athletes. At most schools, the track has public hours so a not rostered runner could use that.
Clubs will likely get bigger at some schools, and occasionally a school may even roster a club guy and bring them into a the program when a spot opens up. But club athletes will receive virtually none of the perks of a rostered athlete, and would not have access to the same coaching staff.
I don't foresee a full time coach recruiting to a club team, their attention will be focused on their NCAA squad.
If an athlete is rostered on Track but not XC they would be able to use all facilities/trainers etc., year round, no? I dont know about how the coaching would work but if a coach is also a track coach surely they are allowed to workout track athletes as well, maybe just not with the xc team and theyd have to workout solo, but the coach could surely still work with them.
In season athletes are allowed 20 hours per week of team/coach training. Out of season (track during xc) athletes are allowed 8 hours per week. Essentially those on the track only roster will be able to do all workouts with XC. If the team doesn't officially meet for recovery or regular runs then anyone can get together and run so basically no difference. And yes they can use the ATs even if off-season.
At Dickinson University in PA, left HS with a 48 400 and 1:55 800. He went to D3 Dickinson in the Centennial Conference.
Freshman year at Dickinson he got his 800 down to 1:50, made it to D3 Nationals
Sophomore year he got his 800 down to 1:49, made it to D3 Nationals
Maybe in his upcoming junior year, he wins the 800 d3 national championships. It took a 1:48.65 last year to do so. If so, maybe senior year he enters the transfer portal, maybe with a degree already in hand.
Maybe he goes to Penn as a grad student. Who’s top 800 runner ran a 1:48.49 last year. Maybe he drops enough to qualify for D1 Nationals for a trip to Oregon.
There are a lot of different paths to D1
Shane Cohen-D2 walk on and grad transferred to D1 and wins 800 title
Traore-D3 champ and grad transfer to D1 and wins 200 title
With the XC roster limits coming for D1 Power 4 schools, does anybody have an educated guess how it will work to be a walk on? Such as, can runners beyond the roster limit still practice with the team or no?
Learn me. Why does the roster limit not only apply to scholarships? What's wrong with having 10 walk-ons beyond the 17? Why is this in the crosshairs now?
With the XC roster limits coming for D1 Power 4 schools, does anybody have an educated guess how it will work to be a walk on? Such as, can runners beyond the roster limit still practice with the team or no?
Learn me. Why does the roster limit not only apply to scholarships? What's wrong with having 10 walk-ons beyond the 17? Why is this in the crosshairs now?
money & title 9. xc doesn't exist in a bubble, there are other sports and all play into this.
With roster at 17 and 5 freshmen are redshirt, can 22 runners be “on the team” and practice / use the athletic facilities / receive coaching?
You have to be on the roster for the redshirt to happen. This new roster limits means redshirts are unlikely to be common, unless an athlete gets injured and was already using that roster spot.
Learn me. Why does the roster limit not only apply to scholarships? What's wrong with having 10 walk-ons beyond the 17? Why is this in the crosshairs now?
money & title 9. xc doesn't exist in a bubble, there are other sports and all play into this.
We already established Title 9 has been around for many decades. So no it's not that. If it was, you just balance the limit between the two teams. What happened this past year? I know NIL, but how does that affect walk on runner that cost almost nothing?
With the XC roster limits coming for D1 Power 4 schools, does anybody have an educated guess how it will work to be a walk on? Such as, can runners beyond the roster limit still practice with the team or no?
The short answer is no if a team is at their roster limit. Which I might add could be less than 17 because the AD can tell the coach your roster limit is less than 17 if she or he wants.
What would be the point in being the 17th person on a XC roster? Such a runner would have no chance of ever being in the top 7.
Being 16 or 17 would be fine for freshman. They'd be there to develop into a top 7 runner over 4 years. Most underclassman know they aren't going to be in the big races at good programs.
Being 16 or 17 would be fine for freshman. They'd be there to develop into a top 7 runner over 4 years. Most underclassman know they aren't going to be in the big races at good programs.
But they won’t. The very likely scenario is that they will train 4-5 years and never compete for the school.
The answer is no. There will not be anyone working with the team beyond the roster cap. The cap is the cap and is not negotiable. The reason for the change comes down to liability and the inability of the NCAA to win a lawsuit filed against them in the last decade. They have lost in court mainly because they restricted access to money with lack of NIL rules, banning extra benefits, and most importantly with scholarship limits. They have learned that any lawsuit where they claim to have the power to control the flow of money to athletes, they will lose. By limiting roster limits they get out of the money game and put the decision of who gets scholarships and/or salaries into the hands of the conferences and institutions. They are able to achieve some form of fairness and parity (debatable) between schools while also limiting their liability in court. They basically said "Fine. If you dont like what we are doing then you figure it out at your school". Beacause of thist he roster limit is going to be a big deal. I would imagine infractions pertaining to the roster limits will be major violations.