Making the Final Cut: UNM Navigates New Roster Limits Imposed by House Settlement
Photo of UNM Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field Star Pamela Kosgei. UNM Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field rosters from 2024-25 would exceed the new roster limits for these sports imposed by the House Settlement. Photo courtesy of UNM Athletics
Today is the day.
Changes from the landmark House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit officially go into effect.
Last week, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors adopted rule changes from the settlement which set roster limits for all athletic sports teams for the upcoming season.
The changes increase the amount of scholarships that can be awarded, but decrease the total amount of roster spots available for some NCAA sports.
The new roster limits for each sport that The University of New Mexico carried last season are football (105), men’s and women’s basketball (each 15), baseball (34), women’s soccer (28), softball (25) and volleyball (18), men’s and women’s cross country (each 17), men’s and women’s golf (each 9), women’s swimming and diving (30), men’s and women’s tennis (each 10) and men’s and women’s track (each 45).
The change results in hundreds of student-athletes potentially losing a roster spot, although schools have the option to keep student-athletes who were promised a roster spot for the 2025-26 season on their athletic teams and they will not count towards the cap.
College universities are supposed to keep track of student-athletes who would have lost a roster spot, and classify them as a ”designated student athlete” or “DSA.”
If the university chooses not to keep student-athletes who would exceed the roster cap, the designated student-athlete tag follows those student-athletes wherever they go. If the designated student-athlete can find a new school to play for, they will not count towards their new school’s roster limit cap.
How will this affect UNM next season?
UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo joined the Pit Press Live! on June 19 and provided an update on how roster limits will affect UNM.
“For us overall, we’re not anticipating a big impact in terms of roster numbers,” Lovo said.
“The settlement, when it got codified, there was something that was implanted that allowed individuals that were cut from the roster to be designated as a (designated student-athlete) which allows us to carry them over the roster limit that’s set by the House Settlement. Or if they are to go to another school, they do not have to count towards that roster limit. That’s provided a lot of flexibility for us to have good meaningful conversation about what’s the right size of our rosters.”
The Pit Press submitted a public records request to UNM on June 9, asking UNM to identify what student-athletes will lose a roster spot for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
UNM denied the request, saying the information was protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
While, the number of UNM student athletes affected by the House Settlement changes is unclear, some UNM athletic teams from the 2024-25 season carried a roster size that exceeds that maximum roster limits that the House Settlement creates.
This chart, taken from Draft Meeting Minutes from the March 6 UNM Athletic Council Meeting, identifies specifically which UNM’s athletic teams had student athletes in 2024-25 that would exceed the new roster cap.
The sports that could see the most roster cuts are football, women’s track and women’s cross country. Football carried 115 players from last year, although that roster had significant turnover from last season and it was reported last week by The Albuquerque Journal that UNM’s roster is currently at 105.
Women’s cross country carried 43 student-athletes, according to this chart. However, a review of UNM’s cross-country roster on the university’s website showed 36 athletes on the team. Still, that is 19 players over the cap, and only five players on the roster were listed as seniors according to UNM’s website.
The women’s track and field team carried 59 players last season. Twelve were seniors, although it is unknown how many women’s track & field commits or transfers will be coming in next season.
While the women’s cross country and track and field teams carried roster sizes that would have exceeded the House Settlement roster caps, UNM has invested in both programs, despite neither sport generating any revenue for the university.
UNM women’s cross country and women’s track and field accounted for three of UNM’s six conference titles last season. UNM also recently signed track and field and cross-country coach Darren Gauson to a five-year extension.
This past season, Pamela Kosgei took first in the Mountain West Conference Women’s Cross Country in the 6K and took first in the Women’s NCAA National Track and Field championship in the 5K and 10K events.
At this time, it is unclear whether UNM will keep designated student athletes over the roster limits imposed by the House Settlement.
