SEC coaches are now complaining about possibly not being able to have their 35-40 walk-ons due to the NCAA agreement to pay all athletes and do away with amateur athletics. I don't see how you can do away with amateur athletics as a concept, yet argue to have a right to so many amateur walk-ons.

BTW, how many walk-ons has Cal had on average?

When did a coach never chafe at any limitation on his ability to pursue his goals? Fans may want parity but coaches seek competitive advantage.

There will probably be a roster size maximum in the final House settlement. It's discussed in this article: https://sports.yahoo.com/could-a-new-college-compensation-model-be-the-end-for-football-walk-ons-170937165.html

Part of the settlement framework is doing away with scholarship limits in all college sports and replacing them with maximum roster sizes. Colleges would then be free to offer scholarships and financial aid to all varsity athletes.

It has been suggested that the football roster size limit might be 85, which is currently the scholarship limit. The $EC football coaches, without explicitly saying so, are lobbying for a much larger roster maximum for football.

BearSD said:

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There will probably be a roster size maximum in the final House settlement. It's discussed in this article: https://sports.yahoo.com/could-a-new-college-compensation-model-be-the-end-for-football-walk-ons-170937165.html

Part of the settlement framework is doing away with scholarship limits in all college sports and replacing them with maximum roster sizes. Colleges would then be free to offer scholarships and financial aid to all varsity athletes.

It has been suggested that the football roster size limit might be 85, which is currently the scholarship limit. The $EC football coaches, without explicitly saying so, are lobbying for a much larger roster maximum for football.

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The NFL gets by with a much smaller roster limit! OK, they can sign free agents or trade for players along the way but the way things are going in the college game, are we that far away from trades between schools or on-campus taxi squads conveniently enrolled (with NIL deals) as non-roster "students"? Or the elimination of of any enrollment requirement?

BearoutEast67 said:

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SEC coaches are now complaining about possibly not being able to have their 35-40 walk-ons due to the NCAA agreement to pay all athletes and do away with amateur athletics. I don't see how you can do away with amateur athletics as a concept, yet argue to have a right to so many amateur walk-ons.

BTW, how many walk-ons has Cal had on average?

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Cal has basically a standard size roster of about 125 player - 40 walk ons. Most of those are practice players, but a few of them get to move up the ranks. I think a limited number travel - something like 75?

You need practice players. The NFL has 15, plus the regular roster. I think there is a time limit for practice squad, but there is all sorts of turnover and free agents in the NFL as people get injured. And those are professionals who are 40 hour per week players.

Update on proposed football roster size limit.

*The range of roster limits being discussed is between 100 and 110, with the Big Ten lobbying for the higher side of that range. There’s discussion of a “phase in” on this, so teams with giant rosters – think 130/140 – potentially don’t have to make immediate giant cuts for 2025.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 8, 2024

Oski87 said:

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BearoutEast67 said:

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SEC coaches are now complaining about possibly not being able to have their 35-40 walk-ons due to the NCAA agreement to pay all athletes and do away with amateur athletics. I don't see how you can do away with amateur athletics as a concept, yet argue to have a right to so many amateur walk-ons.

BTW, how many walk-ons has Cal had on average?

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Cal has basically a standard size roster of about 125 player - 40 walk ons. Most of those are practice players, but a few of them get to move up the ranks. I think a limited number travel - something like 75?

You need practice players. The NFL has 15, plus the regular roster. I think there is a time limit for practice squad, but there is all sorts of turnover and free agents in the NFL as people get injured. And those are professionals who are 40 hour per week players.

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The other big difference between the NFL and college is, at least for the last 100 years, college had a bunch of guys on the roster, mostly underclassmen, who were being developed for possible starting or backup roles, whereas the NFL roster is just starters and depth. Maybe the transfer portal makes college more like the NFL than it was in the past, but roster size still needs to accommodate having 4 year players who are not initially ready.

BearoutEast67 said:

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SEC coaches are now complaining about possibly not being able to have their 35-40 walk-ons due to the NCAA agreement to pay all athletes and do away with amateur athletics. I don't see how you can do away with amateur athletics as a concept, yet argue to have a right to so many amateur walk-ons.

BTW, how many walk-ons has Cal had on average?

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It's funny to me how the blue blood southern schools were the ones clamoring for NIL to be a thing and now that it's here they want to scrap it…following the realization that we win 100 times out of a 100 in any fundraising war…gone are the days of Joe Bob's Lincoln Ford Mercury of Tuscaloosa paying dudes 50 grand under the table and here are the days of "we'll pay you 500k above the table, give you an internship at one of our alumni founded/run tech companies like Apple or google, you don't have to move far away from home, weather better, etc.
I really hope these same people aren't running non sports things because they have the strategic foresight of the village herbalist,

More news items on roster limits, football, basketball, and baseball:

Basketball roster limits are not expected to drastically change from the current scholarship maximums (15 women; 13 men).

However, discussions on a baseball roster limit center on 30-35. Schools are permitted to offer scholarships to their full roster.https://t.co/Q7pBTDoDv2

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 10, 2024

Another roster size update. Looks like 105 for football is the magic number. Also, I have no idea how any school with a football team could be in compliance with Title IX if they have 34 baseball players on scholarship.

Schools will be permitted to offer 60+ more scholarships in football (+20), men’s basketball (+2), baseball (+22.3), volleyball (+6), softball (+13) + other sports.

All sports now considered “equivalency” to allow partial scholarships for distribution.https://t.co/8L7dfTPW9L

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 24, 2024

Justin Wilcox is quoted in this article about coaches complaining about the 105 roster limit.

Quote:

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"We've had great success with walk-ons," Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. "There are two [Cal] guys that are playing in the NFL right now that were walk-ons. I don't want to lose that."

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https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/40641381/dabo-swinney-irked-proposed-roster-changes-impact-walk-ons

We need affirmative action and targeted outreach for male students to get above 35 - 40% enrollment.

BearSD said:

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Another roster size update. Looks like 105 for football is the magic number. Also, I have no idea how any school with a football team could be in compliance with Title IX if they have 34 baseball players on scholarship.

Schools will be permitted to offer 60+ more scholarships in football (+20), men’s basketball (+2), baseball (+22.3), volleyball (+6), softball (+13) + other sports.

All sports now considered “equivalency” to allow partial scholarships for distribution.https://t.co/8L7dfTPW9L

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 24, 2024

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You drop other sports. Men's football, basketball and baseball combined is 154 scholarships. Baseball draws crowds and revenues at a lot of schools.