Is the idea of track walkons gone with this whole Ncaa v house case?

No. There will be 45 track athletes. Schools will increase football scholarships which may mean that they decrease track.

Gotcha, will the limits have to be finalized for the upcoming 2025-2026 season? Also, if you run faster than guys on the team while in college, can they cut a player to make room for you or no since all of those athletes are on scholarship?

There may be fewer on scholarship than currently. There may be more walkons.

I just realized that track only offers 12.6 scholarships. So is everyone else on the team considered walk ons?

No. They can split them however they want.

Two types of walk ons

1- true walk on - enroll at a college, show up on day 1 at coaches office and ask to join the team.

2 - recruited walk on - go thru recruiting process, coach knows you are coming, coach may even help get you admitted, but no athletic scholarship.

The Ivy league, most of Patriot League and all of D3 are #2 above. With no athletic scholarships, the whole team is recruited walk ons.

With new system, walk ons are not yet completely dead. Very few schools now 100% fund 12.6 scholarships for t&xc. Similarly, very few will fund the new 17 and 45. If a school used to fund 5 scholarships and continued this, there will be plenty of walk on spots to fill out the roster.

The SEC, which has agreed to 10 and 35 for roster spots, does plan to move to scholarships for all of these spots. Basically, everyone in SEC who makes a varsity team will now also have a scholarship. Not surè how fast the bottom schools will implement this.

Finish this high school year strong and train like a madman this summer, preferably with a group of savages. Enter some meets unattached and show what you can do. You got nothing to lose

Most D3 guys aren't recruited.

Today the judge said the NCAA needs to grandfather in a roster limits. Class of 2025-2027 walk on opportunities just completely vanished bc teams will now be forced to keep their grandfathered athletes. What a mess!

Schools like NESCACs, Hopkins and Pomona, even MIT have recruited teams.

Even if the recruiting is backwards, and the initial effort comes from the athlete, as long as coach knows about you, and includes your name on the list to the admission office, you are a 'recruited athlete'.

Being a recruited athlete in any sport at schools like Williams, Amherst, and Wash U can greatly increase your chance to get in, and sports are still serious, competing for league and D3 national championships.

I ran for a top D3 distance team. I called the coach a week before schools started and he didn't even know who I was despite having finished 10th at the state XC meet. We had 30-35 guys on the roster. Nearly every one of them just showed up without being recruited.

Your error then. You could have been a recruited athlete at many top D3 schools. Glad it worked out for you, let me guess - MIT.

How do you figure? We are back at square one with roster limits - no one knows, at this point, what the limits will be, when they will be enforced, whether the limits will start all at once or phased in etc. Maybe the NCAA implements practice squads for all sports, maybe the roster limits just disappear, maybe the implementation is delayed, slow rolled, who knows at this point.

Pitt seems like your best bet of these schools, it will probably be a decent fit. Everyone in D3 is a walk on. If you aren't looking for athletic aid why not go D3?

Wisconsin Lacrosse. What do you mean by error?

I ran d3 in the same league as RPI. They have easily one of the best coaches in d3, super strong and friendly team culture (with a huge squad that isn't shrinking any time soon, cause d3) and while they are a little more expensive, RPI does have some of the highest expected salaries for graduates. Strongly recommend you try to get a hold of the coach and get on the phone with an athlete, if you're still considering it.

D3 is definitely the answer for talented folks screwed over by football greed (and untalented people willing to work hard, for that matter). I guess it is too late for you to apply to the NESCAC/seven sisters schools, which I'm betting will be the most popular for track athletes in the coming years, since they have all the d3 benefits, but are also affordable since most of them guarantee to meet 100% of financial need.

Agree on Pitt. It's too late to change now; kid already applied and accepted. D3 no longer taking apps for 25/26.

OP, talk to Pitt coach. They will let you know if you have a chance.

If your heart really set on running, talk with your parents. If money not an issue RPI is a strong school and Rochester fun college town.

Either way Pitt or RPI keep trying to improve prs, and be open to transfer after year 1, or 2.

show up to the team's first XC meet, bandit that sh!t, then walk up to the coach after you finish 165th and say "so, can I catch a ride back to campus ;)" be sure to describe the winky face at the end when speaking, don't look him or her in the eye the entire time