NCAA Makes Roster Limit Change Rich Rodriguez Has Wanted

The NCAA announced a major change Rich Rodriguez has been calling for this week. In compliance with the recent House settlement from earlier on the month, the number of players college programs can have on a roster will increase.

Starting July 1, college football teams will be able to keep 105 scholarship players on a roster. Up until this point, the scholarship limit was 85.

This change will also impact other sports, with men’s basketball going from 13 to 15 players, baseball jumping up to 34 and men’s soccer to 28 as notable examples.

After initially retooling the roster during the winter transfer portal window, Rodriguez cut an abundance of players, including some he added a month earlier, after the Spring Showcase. While many of West Virginia’s roster moves were based on performance, Rodriguez was also open about some being due to the roster limit.

More About House vs. NCAA Settlement

The landmark House v. NCAA settlement has drawn to a close, with United States District Court judge Claudia Wilken giving the green light for $2.8 billion in back pay damages payable from the NCAA to student athletes active between 2016 and the present day: athletes who otherwise would have received compensation for their talents under Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) guidelines.

The ruling paves the way for universities to pay their student athletes directly for their services, rather than compensating them through third party NIL deals and benefits like academic scholarships toward tuition and room and board.
WVU athletic director Wren Baker issued the following statement after the settlement’s conclusion.

Wren Baker Speaks Out

“With the approval of the House Settlement, a new era of college athletics is here. Schools can now share revenue directly with student-athletes with oversight from the newly established College Sports Commission,” Baker said.

“West Virginia University Athletics has been working and planning for this day for a long time to best position our department for future long-term success. While we will have further updates soon, I want to let Mountaineer Nation know that our tradition and place on the national stage is at the forefront of our decision-making process.

House v. NCAA Settlement Concludes; Wren Baker Issues Statement

We will fully participate in revenue sharing as the House Settlement offers stability, fairness and opportunity under the guidance of the [College Sports Commission]. It’s a new day in college athletics and WVU will be strategically positioned to continue competing at the highest levels. Let’s Go!”

The NCAA will cap payments from schools to their athletes at $20.5 million during the 2025-26 academic year, which formally begins on July 1, and that dollar amount will increase from year to year over the next decade. Student athletes will still receive scholarships and other benefits for their services in addition to any payments earned.

With the House settlement out of the way, the NCAA rules committee will review another landmark proposal, one that would grant all college athletes a fifth year of eligibility moving forward. Per a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the league wanted to wait until the settlement’s conclusion to move forward with that decision.

For a related story, NCAA will implement several key changes to college basketball going forward.