While change in college sports is constant, the amount of new rules and the challenges and opportunities that come with them is moving at a breakneck pace.
While the transfer portal and CHL eligibility have made for interesting times, the House Settlement will also have a profound effect on how colleges recruit and retain players.
Finalized in July, the settlement is the result of multiple lawsuits (Arizona State swimmer Grant House brought the initial suit against the NCAA and the five major conferences) asserting that college athletes should be paid directly by their schools.
Based on the final ruling, each school that opts in can pay as much as $20 million to players per year, based on a revenue sharing formula outlined in the settlement. But it comes with roster limitations. For hockey, schools that opt in for the settlement will have a hard limit of 26. The concept of scholarships basically goes away for these schools with the possibility of direct payments to student athletes beyond the compensation for name, image and likeness (NIL)
In Atlantic Hockey America, four schools have opted in: Canisius, Niagara, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart. Those schools all have D-I basketball or football, or both. Those sports tend to drive the decision to accept or reject the House settlement.
The schools have no immediate plans to pay hockey players, but want to be positioned for a time when it’s possible.
Carrying no more than 26 players can be risky, because schools opting in are not allowed under most circumstances to add players or call them up from any JV or club programs. Injuries can wreak havoc on teams with smaller rosters.
Last season, American International had 33 players on its roster, including four goalies. Yet due to injuries, the Yellow Jackets had to postpone a game last season because it lacked a healthy goaltender. The season before, AIC also struggled with a large amount of injuries, requiring forwards to play defense, etc. despite a large roster. Coach Eric Lang said at the time his team would have had to forfeit games if they had a smaller roster.
Schools opting in have a four-year runway to get down to 26 players. In the interim, the Designated Student Athlete (DSA) distinction was established to allow schools to carry more than 26 players though the use of DSAs: players either on the 2025-26 roster or recruited by April 7, 2025. Those can be exempt from the roster limit of 26, allowing schools to trim down their rosters over four years.
“It’s a runway provided by the NCAA,” said Canisius coach Trevor Large. “Opting in gives you options beyond the NIL mechanism. At some point, you’re hoping to have 26 scholarships. That may happen right away for some programs, but we’re not able to do that immediately.
“The goal is to get more resources directly to players.”
Canisius has launched the Blue & Gold Fund to allow for tax-deductible donations to assist with any direct payments to student athletes.
“For a non-football school it’s a way to generate shared revenue,” said Large. “So many people care about our program and these are ways to help. (Donors) want to help our teams win.
“It’s not going to happen immediately, but we want a path to maximizing resources to players.”
Sacred Heart coach CJ Marottolo echoed those thoughts when asked about it at the Atlantic Hockey America media day at the start of the season.
“We opted in (to the House settlement) and have four years to get our roster down to 26,” he said. SHU’s roster currently lists 30 players.
Marottolo said that while he is in favor of the decision to opt in, goaltending remains a concern on a 26-player roster.
“I’m a believer that you need four goalies,” said Marottolo. “That’s going to be hard (with a 26-player roster). You’re an injury or two away – if someone tweaks a knee – you could be in trouble.”
There’s been talk around increasing the limit to 27 or 28, but for now, 26 is the max for these schools, which will have to get there in four years.
Niagara as already decided to get down to 26 players and has not taken advantage of the Designated Student Athlete option to slim down over time.
“It think (a smaller roster) is great for the players,” said Niagara coach Jason Lammers.
“There’s more opportunity for them to play, which is what they came here to do. Now you have to coach more and not just sit guys out who maybe aren’t playing well.
“Players come here for an opportunity to play and be coached to get better. We can’t scratch many guys when you have 26 spots. Players need to grow and get batter because you don’t have many other options.”
Lammers said that can be challenging, but achievable.
“As a coach, you have to manage people and injuries. But the bottom line is that we want to give players an opportunity to come to Niagara and play a lot. There’s no better way to learn.”
Lammers says he’s happy that Niagara took the settlement because it provides a way forward in these uncertain, ever-changing times.
“It’s the future,” he said. “And we don’t want to get left behind.”