With the effects of the pending NCAA v. House settlement already being felt by college programs around the country, the implementation of roster limits has been a hot-button topic in swimming and diving circles in recent months.
There are reports of several elite NCAA programs making seismic cuts to their teams in order to meet next season’s limits, with SEC men’s teams being hit the hardest with a designated limit of 22 athletes compared to 30 for the women and other Power 4 conferences.
The College Swim Connect Roster Cut Tracker currently says that 44 of 94 Power 4 swim and dive teams are over their roster cap for next season, and an estimated 259 swimmers and divers must be cut to meet those demands.
But have roster sizes always been so big?
Albeit a small sample size, we looked at a dozen men’s and a dozen women’s rosters from the 2003-04 to the 2015-16 season, looking solely at elite Power conference teams and how big their teams were relative to today.
WOMEN’S ROSTERS
| Season | Team | Size |
| 2015-16 | Stanford | 26 |
| 2014-15 | Virginia | 35 |
| 2013-14 | Indiana | 26 |
| 2011-12 | Auburn | 25 |
| 2010-11 | NC State | 23 |
| 2010-11 | Tennessee | 31 |
| 2009-10 | Georgia | 27 |
| 2008-09 | Arizona State | 27 |
| 2007-08 | Cal | 25 |
| 2006-07 | Michigan | 38 |
| 2005-06 | Texas | 29 |
| 2003-04 | Florida | 29 |
| Average | 28.41 |
MEN’S ROSTERS
| Season | Team | Size |
| 2015-16 | USC | 31 |
| 2014-15 | Virginia | 25 |
| 2012-13 | Indiana | 39 |
| 2011-12 | Auburn | 27 |
| 2010-11 | NC State | 27 |
| 2009-10 | Georgia | 25 |
| 2008-09 | Arizona State | 16 |
| 2007-08 | Texas | 33 |
| 2006-07 | USC | 37 |
| 2005-06 | Cal | 36 |
| 2003-04 | Florida | 34 |
| 2003-04 | Michigan | 25 |
| 29.58 |
Again, a small sample size, and not every program has rosters from 15-20 years ago still up on their website, but the overall story here is that, while there are a few teams coming out above the 30-roster threshold, the average for both men and women is under 30.
Compare that to today, where the average size in each Power 4 conference was above 30 this past season.
AVERAGE WOMEN’S ROSTER – 2024-25
Data courtesy of The College Swim Connect Roster Cut Tracker
| Total Athletes | Teams | Avergae Size | |
| SEC | 447 | 13 | 38.38 |
| ACC | 463 | 15 | 30.86 |
| Big Ten | 450 | 14 | 32.14 |
| Big 12 | 334 | 10 | 33.40 |
AVERAGE MEN’S ROSTER – 2024-25
Data courtesy of The College Swim Connect Roster Cut Tracker
| Roster | Teams | Avergae Size | |
| SEC | 388 | 11 | 35.27 |
| ACC* | 397 | 13 | 30.53 |
| Big Ten | 306 | 9 | 34.00 |
| Big 12 | 223 | 7 | 31.85 |
*ACC men’s total not including suspended Notre Dame and Miami (FL), which only has a diving team.
There were 11 teams that currently list a roster of 40+ athletes, while in the limited look we had at rosters from 2003-04 to 2015-16, the biggest roster was 38.
Based on the numbers, roster sizes have slowly climbed over the past two decades, exacerbating the pending roster limits. If this restriction were handed down 10 or 20 years ago, some programs would still have to make some adjustments here and there, but the impact as a whole wouldn’t be as significant on the sport.
It’s worth exploring data on number of 5th/6th years were on rosters this year. There were several at ACC’s which made recruiting harder for 2023 and 2024 class. Many of those go away but any on scholarship all of those years likely had budget impact on their teams.
what’s the average roster size if you take out auburn and texas? they are just so much higher than the rest, my stats brain is wondering if the average comes down substantially?
What determined a University roster size prior to this upcoming coming year?
Until the swim teams are fully funded, (and to date, none are) the number of scholarships (units) at each school remains the same, right? It’s only the number of roster spots that have diminished? Continuing the hypothetical thought, a non-scholarship athlete who secured a roster spot didn’t necessarily get a scholarship.
The bulk of most swim teams were/are usually in-state athletes that have utilized their swimming to attend their dream school. Coaches used to be (as recent as two years ago) strongly encouraged to recruit a certain percentage of in-state athletes. I wonder what that sounds like now.
This supports capping rosters at 30/35. It also shows that capping at 22 is extreme.
I really don’t get how a team of 22 is feasible especially with it including divers. At any one time you could have several out for injury. Also, how would red-shirting work? Are they still considered on the roster then?