D1 team opts into NCAA settlement; but their roster is 40 people

Existing rosters were grandfathered in until those athletes graduate, leave voluntarily, or are cut. Schools have the discretion to proceed as they see fit.

So the plan is to cut 60% of the roster once the last graduating class that was grandfathered in finally graduates?

some on the roster are grandfathered in as someone mentioned (they don't count in the total numbers)

the work around for others will be 17 on the xc & track roster and the rest (up to 45) will be on the track roster only.

so in truth, if you are a distance only program you can have 45 distance runners if you want. as usual, there is always some way to manipulate rules which are supposed to keep thing equal.

How fast would the 45th guy be?

at this point in my career, way faster than me

I think the hypothetical strategy would be to dump huge freshmen classes on the track only roster, crank the miles on freshmen and sophomores on the track only roster, and hope a couple are super responders to high mileage. Or don’t crank the miles and just see who progresses from big yearly classes. But you aren’t keeping juniors and seniors unless the recruiting pitch initially was they won’t cut anyone.

Long before the NCAA settlement, the school I went to would cut the men’s XC roster down to ten. Those not making the cut would either quit or do the workouts not officially with the team. A number would run track on the team in the winter / spring. Some would run in some of the XC races as unattached.

Knowing this program from the recruiting trail, they'll carry 17 in XC + some 800/1500 guys that don't run XC + some field event kids (read: multis) to get to their 45 limit. They just lost their outdoor track to football, so technical events like the throws, and sprints/hurdles will likely disappear soon. They signed a pretty good PV recruit this Fall, so I'm just speculating but that would make the most sense based on their current facilities situation.

I agree, it seems like they wouldn’t be entirely distance focused for track they got a good mix of people.

but when did they lose their outdoor track program? I don’t see that anywhere online

They had way more than 17 in XC.

I said they lost their outdoor track, not their outdoor track team. They bulldozed the track to expand the football field. No press release on their site about it, but if here's a video from the schools Facebook showing the construction this Summer:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1277365304050352

You can see they bulldozed right through the turns and are extending the turf surface through where the turns were.

Correct because the NCAA settlement allows them to grandfather in kids that are currently on the roster. Small Temporary Reprieve covered that a few posts up.

Maybe, but on instagram it says

“We are so excited to announce that construction for the new stadium track and turf has officially begun!”

hopefully that means they’re not entirely removing their outdoor track or they’re replacing it maybe

I still don’t understand why they are recruiting 10-12 people if they’re going to have to cut a majority of them in 2-3 years, seems very strange

I'm telling you, it is gone.

Hot take - most coaches should tell athletes that no matter where they go, they should look at it as a great fun chance to see how good they can get in 1-2 years. Half will be told or discover on their own they don’t have the health or speed genetics to train at high mileage and keep getting faster to the point where they can compete effectively for their school - and that’s okay.

You had fun and you found out. Now finish your education and have fun being a hobby jogger. It wasn’t a disaster that you didn’t compete four yrs or go pro.

Yes. Sounded like you were saying they would only carry 17 in XC but use track for all of tge overage. Bottom line, seems like a bad decision to bring in a bunch of freshmen when they will only have 17 spots in the near future. Should be recruiting about 4 to 5 per year.

A recruiting pitch like that is bound to land the nations best talent...

I am advising several of my seniors to go the JC route. They won’t make it on a decent D1 roster straight out of high school but they could get better with another two years of development.

Sadly, I suspect that most will quit because of pride. I find the whole D1 or Bust mentality sad.