NCAA Roster Cuts: Is it just a MYTH?

Roster cuts are coming to D1. Some programs are going to see how the year plays out and cut however many they need to to keep their signees. Some programs have people graduating. Some are going to move XC athletes to the track roster only so they can free up xc spots. There are ways to move people around. Theoretically you could have a roster of 45 distance runners on the track team and the best 17 do cross country.

Top track schools will do the opposite.

here's what i think you're confused about. if the rule is open ended or budget or title ix limits now. and teams have 30 now. and the season is still going.

they will still have that 30 now. they may even still have many of them on TF in the spring.

if it goes to 10 or 17 next year, the axe falls AFTER this season/semester, and the next one. you don't cut to 10 today. you cut after regionals or nationals. or next track season.

at which point you either are down to the limit, or if you cut past the limit, you can sign however many transfers or HS fit around that. but they can't run now. or in the spring. so i don't need to cut yet. shouldn't. i don't get a reward for cutting to 10 now when there is no rule limit and i'm budgeted for 30.

that and do they know for sure the cuts start next year? or could it be the year after? you don't wanna gut your team this year only to find out 2026-27 is when the rules actually start.

if they are now treating XC and TF i could see what the one poster is saying as a possibility. that the paradigm for some kids shifts from year round running, to being a XC or TF specialist, which then allows them to increase runners in the program.

cause i think the old thing was like XC/TF counted against each other for scholarships. if i can now sign up to 10/45/whatever, maybe the 10 become my longer distance guys and i sign TF guys for mid, who now do not run XC competitively, but are perhaps given an offseason plan similar to it, and/or do the off-books part of cross running with the cross guys.

treating cross and track separate i mean.

if they don't count against each other as a single scholarship pool then there is incentive to subdivide and specialize. you don't need that many 5k or 10k guys for spring. so those few of your best XC guys cross over. you then sign milers and 800 guys just to do that. no more them at the tail end of the cross team.

Transfer portal opens up next week, so you will start to see some initial “cuts”.

Some schools will wait until the outdoor transfer window, just in case something falls through with the house settlement.

If your school opts in, we will know for sure in April if CC goes to 10 roster spots total. This looks likely. So yes - there will be men's number cuts in CC for sure.

Put track athletes on the xc roster? Lol no, no top track school is going to have their top athletes running cross country to maintain sport sponsorship. They have to run a minimum amount of meets and finish a team. They'll have to have a minimum of 5 "distance runners" to keep that sport alive.

Top track schools will push the distance runners off of the track team to get under the new limits.

Guys, it’s happening. What the numbers look like is still unsure to some degree . Anyone that says differently is lying. If you are a current D1 athlete not scoring in xc or track you are likely to be cut. If youre if you are a high school prospect committed to a power 5, you better have a good track season this senior year.

17 and 45 for women (treated separate numbers). If you compete in xc and track then you count towards both.

10 and 35 for men.

Isn't it only 10 and 35 for men in the SEC?

This is a travesty for college sports. I completely understand that money talks, but these roster limits will not save schools money, they will just damage the entire non-football/basketball sports landscape. I'm shocked that lawsuits have not been filed. And I'm shocked that not one athletic director has stood up to ask what we are doing. The useless NCAA has succeeded in ruining college sports. With the amount of money flowing into these schools, we should be encouraging more athletes, not less!

correct

This is the problem with XC being a non cut sport in high school. People get feeling hurt when the sport gets inline with budgets.

BYU also signed the top girls distance runner in new york.

Yes. No other conference is saying this. 10 and 35 for men hasn’t been on the table anywhere else. Not even rumored.

In high school, college, or the professional level cross country or distance running is often the first thing they try to cut. But they sometimes find out that in the long run it does not help much because our sports cost so little. As a group we must be patient and strong!

Some schools who are distance centric will place the "extra" distance runners (over 17) on the track roster only. The limit for track is 45. Those on the track roster will be able to do 8 hours of training with the xc team, so essential all workout days. Coaches can put people on and take people off the xc roster at any time so there will essentially be little change at distance centric schools. Just another way to manipulate things.