By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
Yesterday, the NCAA announced a controversial new format for the Division I Championship meet at the end of the season, and, along with much of the swimming community, the Power Four conferences are reportedly opposed to the changes.
Among the changes made to the NCAA Championships was the elimination of ‘A’ and ‘B’ standards and the addition of a “Win-and-You’re-In” system for conference champions. This new policy will give athletes who win their conference championship with a time that is under the NCAA standard an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.
This new format benefits the mid-major conferences significantly. In July, we analyzed what this would have looked like for last season’s conference meet. On the men’s side 34 new swimmers from 18 schools and 11 new mid-major conferences would have qualified. On the women’s side, the numbers are greater with 45 new swimmers from 18 schools and 11 new conferences.
Our estimated qualifying standards were slightly slower than the official times released yesterday, but the actual numbers are likely similar.
The changes to the format do not include an increased number of spots for the championships, meaning all the additional swimmers who qualify via conference title swims will replace others, likely from Power Four schools, who qualified with faster times.
One Power Four coach reached out to SwimSwam today, saying that all four conferences unanimously opposed the system as did many of the coaches from teams within those conferences. Some of these coaches reportedly feel that “self-interest” was a big motivator in moving the proposal through.
This report is corroborated by a distribution obtained by SwimSwam that details the opinions on Big Ten conference coaches. The conference polled the coaches on their thoughts about the proposal and every coach responded with their opinions. Of those coaches, only 4% supported the whole proposal while 68% were in favor of only the changes to the Championship format (event order and ‘B’ finals changes). There was also a contingent, 21%, that was against the whole proposal.
Most coaches opposed the proposed qualification changes, and those that did support only did so with significant modifications. Many of the coaches were concerned that the changes to qualification procedures disproportionately benefited mid-major programs to the detriment of the Power Four programs.
On the other hand, a mid-major head coach has said that, since the qualifying time has to be swum en route to the conference title, it will give mid-major conferences the chance to create a “moment” at the meet where qualifications can be celebrated in real time.
This real-time celebration mirrors that which we see in other sports, like basketball, where mid-major teams receive an automatic bid to the March Madness tournament via conference title and are able to celebrate that moment on the court.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Power Four Schools Reportedly Opposed to New NCAA Championship Format
