SEC football coaches speak out against eliminating walk-ons: ‘Very bad for the sport’

DESTIN, Fla. – Here’s how worried SEC football coaches are about pending roster limits: They risked the wrath of Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum, broadcasting his SEC Network show live from the waterfront Hilton, booked Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Kalen DeBoer and Billy Napier for Tuesday afternoon. Then they had to cancel it when the coaches’ meeting went on for too long.

“I just think we were supported. It took a long time to discuss roster numbers,” Lane Kiffin said.

At this time, football teams can have more than 120 players, with a limit of 85 scholarships. But scholarship limits are being eliminated as part of the NCAA vs. NCAA settlement. House, and roster limits are emerging as a cost-cutting measure. But exactly what that number will be is uncertain, and 85 is not ruled out, which would mean the virtual end of walk-ons.

Coaches interviewed before the meeting were divided: some hated the idea and others hated it even more.

“Are we going to extend the length of the season, are we going to play more games, but will we have a smaller squad?” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said.

“I am strongly against it. I think it’s absolutely against what college football stands for, what he stands for,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said, citing legacy athletes who can’t play as a walk-on. “It’s a very bad thing for the sport.”

Georgia’s Kirby Smart had a replacement, Stetson Bennett, who became his starting quarterback and won back-to-back national championships. Smart cited examples of assistants who became coaches: Dabo Swinney and Will Muschamp.

“I think it hurts high school football, and football as a whole, when kids can’t keep dreaming about what they can do if they don’t get a (scholarship) opportunity,” Smart said.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey discussed all of this with the coaches during the meeting. He called it “very thoughtful.”

“My recommendation to them was to think about why. Let’s think about why first. And that generally guides you to what,” Sankey said. “I stayed longer than I expected.”

It’s unclear whether roster limits will be decided at the conference level or NCAA-wide. The Chamber’s lawyers v. NCAA said in their statement that scholarship limits would be eliminated, but said nothing about roster limits. Sankey indicated that that part of the agreement has not yet been finalized.

“It’s not done,” Sankey said.

But some limit is coming.

“Times are changing,” Sankey said.

Texas coach Sarkisian, whose son is a teammate of the Longhorns, initially had a practical view: “Despite everything, we have to adapt. … In the end, if that’s the number, that’s the number.” But as he talked more, it became clear he had concerns, repeating to other coaches that assistants help make college football special.

“I’m hopeful that we can find common ground on something that’s a reasonable number,” Sarkisian said. “I’m not opposed to change. Change will happen. But hopefully we can find a reasonable number where we still feel like we can operate at a high level as coaches and for our players and still continue the tradition of football players on our teams.”

NFL rosters are set at 53 during the season, but teams in the league can sign new players throughout the season. Colleges don’t have that luxury: As soon as the semester begins, their rosters are set. A series of injuries could affect the squad without the ability to add reinforcements.

“We can’t just add players at any time. That’s a problem,” Venables said. “I just hope we get to a point that allows the game to continue to grow and not diminish the quality of the game and the play, because that could be the carnage of not hitting that number.”

Coaches also expressed concerns that smaller rosters would hinder development. Coaches like to have players they know aren’t going to play, but put them on the scout team so they can learn and grow.

There is also the element of time. NFL teams have more time with their players because that’s their job. It may unofficially be a college-level job — this story is about roster limits, not employment — but officially, players still have classes to attend and practice time is limited.

“I know there is a cost, that the more guys you have on the roster, there is a cost, and somewhere someone is going to have to balance the books,” Venables said. “But I don’t want it to hurt the game and the development, because college is not like the NFL when it comes to development. They are young people who are still growing and maturing.”

Could players grow and mature in other programs? Clear. Could a lower casting threshold spread talent to more programs? That might be part of the idea. But even smaller programs like bigger rosters, as Alabama’s DeBoer pointed out. He began his head coaching career at the NAIA level and spent a lot of time at the Group of 5 level.

At smaller colleges, his roster was as high as 105 and as high as 135. He operated at 120 last year at Washington, but will have a little more than that at Alabama.

“People say, ‘Well, there’s only 11 on the field at a time,’” DeBoer said. “There is a lot involved in development. There is a lot that goes into creating a practice that is efficient. There’s a health and safety issue, for sure, that comes into play when it comes to roster size.”

DeBoer was asked if teams can operate safely and effectively at age 85.

“Obviously there is always a way. You can ask me any question, and I will always go there (and tell you) there is always a way to do it,” DeBoer said. “Would it be a very different view of what we probably do as coaches and in executing our training plans? Absolutely. But I think I’ve always been the type to adapt to the times, and you always do what you have to do.”

(Top photo by Kirby Smart: Seth Emerson/ Atlético)