Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540433
5 2 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M A nother year, another set of rule changes for college wrestling coaches to deal with. Coaches can easily adjust to tweaks concerning video challenges, riding time and interlocking, but when it comes to rules that affect the wrestlers personally, that forces them to think things through much more carefully. Two changes this season that deal with personnel are a 30-person roster cap for wrestling and the elimination of a cap that granted just 9.9 scholarships over a four-year span. Now, a program can award scholarships to each wrestler on its roster, but since teams are not required to do so, the chances of that occurring are microscopic. The cap and limitless scholarships stem from the House vs. NCAA antitrust settlement, which drastically altered how Division I programs can compensate their athletes. That applies mainly to football and basketball, but it affects smaller- scale sports as well. There is a "designated athlete" provi- sion included for athletes on team rosters as of April 7 or who had been promised a spot prior to that. Because of that excep- tion, Penn State's roster this winter will list 32 wrestlers. That's five fewer than most seasons past, and while that doesn't sound like a large number, it's still five people who were committed to the pro- gram and its values. "It was tough because your roster was pretty much already set before the changes were announced, so you were trying to adjust and make it work," Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. "Luck- ily, we had enough guys that were grad- uated. Now, with the way the transfer portal works, guys that maybe aren't on scholarship here could go somewhere and get a scholarship and do a year of grad school, that kind of thing. But for the most part, everything worked out." Sixteen wrestlers on last year's squad WRESTLING NUMBERS GAME Penn State grapples with the sweeping changes that are reshaping college sports J I M CA R L S O N | B L U E W H I T E C O N T R I B U T O R Due to the roster cap imposed by the House vs. NCAA antitrust settlement, coach Cael Sanderson will have 32 wrestlers on his roster this season, five fewer than in most previous years. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS