My inbox has been full of requests this week to do an article about all of the cuts happening across the country this week in anticipation of next week’s transfer portal opening (women next Wednesday March 12th, men the Wednesday after March 19th).
And here’s the reality of what we know for sure:
- We know that programs have to cut huge numbers of swimmers. This is not new information.
- We know that this is the week it’s happening.
Some programs have to cut more than others. Auburn, which lists 43 women and 44 men on its roster, had to cut a ton this week. That’s not particularly surprising – thought he scale at which they’re going to have to cut to get to 30 women and 22 men might be more than many or most programs. We know that the Auburn men have to get from 44 guys to 22, they have 11 guys exhausting their eligibility, they have at least 7-8 guys scheduled to come in next year.
We can all do that math, and that math hasn’t really changed this week – though some programs are cutting a little deeper than they have to with hopes of upgrading their rosters from the transfer portal.
The rumored numbers are flying around, especially from the programs that had the biggest rosters to start with, but because of the well-told problems that swimming has with the concepts of transparency, producing a list of cut numbers from each program would be basically impossible. We could triangulate within a couple, but we couldn’t say anything with full certainty.
Even the number of athletes in the transfer portal, which we will do our best to report on, won’t give the full story (I’ll explain why shortly).
I would love to produce this list of cuts-per-team, but in reality, I can point to at least two schools where actual members of the team have produced slightly different numbers of how many were cut.
There are still a few interesting anecdotes to come out of this week.
Two I’ll highlight both come from Texas A&M, which is not to target that school (which is, incidentally, my alma mater), but just because I think they paint a good picture of two important things that are happening.
- One person connected to the A&M program sent me an email saying that A&M head coach Blaire Anderson was cutting to make the team faster, cutting swimmers to recruit other faster swimmers, and cutting injured swimmers, criticizing the coaching staff’s “effort in creating a team.” This highlights the ongoing disconnect between the role of a Power 4 head coach in the post-House world and the expectations of the sport. Big time college athletics are, now, objectively a business. If you are an SEC program, and you have 22 roster spots, and you can take 22 athletes to the SEC Championships, there is no room on the roster for injured athletes. Cuts are the harsh reality that is outside of the control of these head coaches. Coaches had to make these cuts, and while timing and communication of those cuts are certainly fair topics for critique and debate (though I would contend that there is no good time to tell half your team they’re gone), the fact that they happened is well outside of control of the coaches.
- One A&M freshman announced her retirement from swimming. Lizzie Watson posted on her Instagram account that she was stepping away from the elite side of the sport, saying that she “never intended to see (her) career end this way.” Watson was a good recruit, an in-state swimmer and Texas high school regional champion who was on A&M’s SEC Championship roster but didn’t score any points. The thing that this demonstrates is that if an SEC team cuts 25 swimmers, that is not a guarantee that all 25 will wind up in the portal. Some student-athletes will decide that they would rather stick with the big state school experience as a non-varsity athlete than deal with the hassle of transferring, or the tuition of a private school somewhere down the chain, or compromising their educational experience for their athletic experience. The other side of that coin is that we can’t assume that every athlete who goes in the portal was cut, either. Some might leave because of frustrations over ‘who else’ got cut, and those emotions are valid even if they’re misplaced. Some might have planned to leave anyway. We might even see some big names go in to pursue NIL opportunities at other schools – which is the other part of this conversation.
NIL money is happening in swimming. It’s happening at the Power 4 level in a big way (six figure offers), and it’s happening in smaller ways even at smaller mid-major programs.
College coaches will find recruiting from some programs harder in the near future, as those clubs might feel burned by cut decisions. There are even reported scenarios where twins and siblings have been on opposite sides of cut decisions.
The paradigms of swimming are shifting, and we have to expect these kinds of jolts to the system at least monthly for the foreseeable future. In a few years, things will stabilize and normalize, but the emotional toil of the 2024-2025 season will be a scar upon college athletics for a generation.
It’s crazy what is happening in DI sports in general. It’s truly a business at this point. My child is a very competitive swimmer in DIII and is really enjoying her experience so far. Yes, it’s not DI swimming, but you can make it as competitive as you want with hard work and dedication. Perhaps more swimmers will look to DIII swimming to avoid the craziness of NIL and the uncertainty of program cuts as well as the pressure to perform.
Whole thing is problematic in your country because most people believe in prosperity gospel and been told all they life they are built for greatness, so they alway shoot to DIV1, DIV3 is seen as a failure by most….
It is odd that it is worded that the “have to” make cuts. No one “has to” do anything. Coaches could decide to support their athletes, show their worth by training their athletes, and defy the norm.
We do have to make cuts – teams are not allowed to carry more than 30 men and 30 women going forward. If you have 32 set to return, you absolutely MUST cut 2 from your roster.
I think the new rule for men is 22 athletes max in D1. That’s a new rule. They now have to make cuts. That’s totally new.
22 men is only in the SEC. All other conferences are at 30 and SEC women are at 30.
Yeah no. Thats not how this works, the AD doesnt have enough money for the swim team so they have to make cuts somewhere.
The two closest competitors to the Olympic Team USA in medal count are China and Russia (before being banned). Both China and Russia have their Olympic Sports financed from their state budget, hence the results. There is no way the US is going to spend tax payer money on Olympic sports, we all know that. The US dominance in Olympics was afforded by the NCAA farm system. If NCAA financing for non revenue generating Olympic sport dries out, then beating team China becomes quite questionable…
Australia is by far the #2 in swimmimg Olympic medal count. In fact, china + ussr + unified team + russia + roc is only 145 medals to Australia’s 205.
Interested to know what these SEC or ACC coaches are telling the kids they cut? Are they trying to help them find a spot at another school? How many will leave? How many will stay? Were they blindsided? What are they telling the incoming class for the fall of 2025 or committed class for fall of 2026?
I know some coaches who are helping, and many were up front to kids since the start of the year where they stand. And every kid believes if they get faster than can change the coaches mind. It’s hard line to balance and there will be hurt feelings for many no matter how a coach tries to package it. Feel for these coaches.
There is a mix across programs. Some talked about roster cuts throughout the season and gave athletes a realistic picture, while others ignored/did not talk about cuts at all, all the way up to cutting the majority of their team. If I was transferring I would want a coach that was transparent.
I’m right there with you, but one of those coaches (Bob Bowman) still took a lot of guff for his approach.
I think the reality is that there’s no good way to do this. It’s like any other breakup: you can do everything right and there is still going to be hurt feelings.
My freshman swimmer kid was cut with those exact words “it was a business decision”. Anyhow, she will Not enter the transfer portal. Why would she, in 3 years she is graduating and then will get a job…why would she go to a new school ? She is there to get an education not to become an Olympian..which is impossible…
Hate these kids are in this predicament and I am sure when you all were being recruited to that school that you felt confident in what you were hearing from the coaches. Seems like a no win situation for both sides. Sounds like your daughter at least chose the right fit with education.
Same conversation since my child is the one mentioned in this article! God has her protected!
Completely blindsided! Choosing education bs trying not I fine a place to swim again.
I am finding myself increasingly disappointed by how some coaches are handling this. Recruiting out of high school is at a dead stop until the transfer portal opens. Current swimmers are ruthlessly being cut and the coaches are expecting to completely fill their rosters with better. It could happen, but blindly looking at it from just their perspective, the location, majors, affordability, campus make up, pool and so much more will be what athletes look at. Pushing out a fake image right now or expecting this will be a linear decision for those cuts is not smart. It just looks greedy and is.
This is a result of greed and the NCAA’s incompetence
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Change the outcome. Swimming has to adjust, yes. But the lawyers, Kessler and Berman, should not make $700+million at the expense of so many swimmers and divers cut/programs cut!
Does anyone think the spilling into a D2 or D3 isn’t as realistic as they say? I mean there will be some and maybe with the sheer number of cuts they will fill up. But a D1 SEC, or any D1 school is a very, very different college experience than a small d3 or even a larger d2. Even with a good pool, many don’t have great budgets, instead of dedicated workout rooms they are on the soccer field doing drylands because the football team has dibs on the weight room, they don’t have physical therapy and as much recovery resources or high profile coaches. These athletes would be giving up their degree, their friends, the SEC loyalty and atmosphere.… Read more »
Im at a d3. We have 2 weight rooms for student athletes and 2 fully staffed athletic training rooms. I know it’s no where near the level of of an sec facility but this forum is full of commentors who have no idea what d3 athletics really is.
I’m mostly talking about those programs, even D1’s, that don’t have the facilities some of these swimmers are used to, so they may do drylands as opposed to weights since other teams take priority over swim. Even academically, larger schools have many sections of the same class, smaller ones have one or two offered per semester especially as juniors or seniors. It can be a lot of sacrifice. I think most here have seen all levels of each division so transferring will be a shock no matter what and not necessarily a given.
Sure, but I just want to push back on the d3 is less than. Academically the opportunities might be better at a d3. More opportunities for research, smaller class sizes, close relationships with faculty.
These cuts are terrible for the athletes but they will find great opportunities elsewhere as long as they keep an open mind.
I agree. It’s more just what environment they see themselves in as they are vastly different. some may not academically be able to handle some of the d3’s. So many use athletics to go to and finish college and some d1 swim schedules have even caused athletes to change majors. So the change is academic, environmental and athletic. These coaches that may be waiting for this big swell of talent are not seeing that.
Mid major d1 will explode if programs survive..Imagine having a few great sec big 10 or ex acc swimmers..could work..
Same goes for Usports. I can see Canadian kids coming home. There is no point to paying US tuition rates and swimming D3 for Canadians.