Kirk Ferentz expresses frustration with NCAA’s process of implementing roster limits

IOWA CITY — As Kirk Ferentz took questions in the Kinnick Stadium interview room after Iowa’s open spring practice on Saturday, his team had some unknowns.

Some were the typical unknowns, like who takes the biggest developmental steps between April and August — the next time he’ll be in that room. And then there’s the not-so-typical unknown — how exactly the upcoming roster limits will take effect.

“It’s April 26, and we still don’t know what the rules are,” said Ferentz, the head football coach at Iowa for the last 26 seasons.

College football teams have been operating under the premise that rosters will be limited to 105 players beginning in 2025-26 — part of the House vs. NCAA settlement, which received preliminary approval last year.

U.S. senior district judge Claudia Wilken, however, last week gave the plaintiffs and defendants 14 days to develop a plan for phasing in the roster limits so that athletes don’t lose existing roster spots. Otherwise, she will reject the settlement.

Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz told the UI Faculty Senate on Tuesday that she is “hopeful we can find an agreement that allows us to continue to move forward.”

“The other concerning factor if we don’t settle is that the best legal minds out there say we can’t win,” Goetz said in the meeting.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported Tuesday that NCAA and conference executives are discussing a plan where roster spots of those are currently on a roster or have been cut this year could be protected. That has not been finalized, though, according to Dellenger’s report.

Essentially, the anticipated 105-player roster limit for 2025 — the one that Iowa has been planning for since the end of last season — might not function exactly like a 105-player roster limit right away.

That theoretically puts the Hawkeyes at a disadvantage as a team that chose to be, as Ferentz put it, “transparent with each and every guy” who might not make the cut when rosters drop to 105.

“We had some guys that are just good team guys that we had to tell back — that we didn’t have to tell apparently — back in December, but I think we all felt it was the right thing to do,” Ferentz said. “If we’re not going to be able to guarantee a spot in the spring, thought the right thing to do is tell the guys then.”

Some players heard the unfortunate news and stuck around, but several others entered the portal in December and have since found new homes.

At the tight end position alone, for example, Cole Marsh committed to Northern Iowa, Jalyn Thompson committed to South Dakota State and Johnny Pascuzzi committed to West Virginia. (Pascuzzi has since reentered the portal, however.)

“They’re all good team guys that helped us go and operate well,” Ferentz said.

Iowa’s online roster has 89 players listed, as of Tuesday afternoon, although that does not count incoming freshmen who will arrive in June. Nebraska, on the other hand, has 129 players on its online roster.

“I will be a little bit upset if they say you can grandfather guys in,” Ferentz said. “Our guys are gone. And to me, it rewards people that, in my opinion, maybe weren’t thinking about what’s best for their players by keeping them.”

Ferentz is “not sure how we’ll fill our roster if this actually goes through somehow.” Yes, there still are uncommitted transfer portal players who entered the portal either in the winter or spring windows. But those portal options are not necessarily known commodities.

“The guys we let go, we knew,” Ferentz said. “They’ve been here, and they know the routine, and they’ve been good team members. So now you’re going on blind dates with another let’s say 10 guys or 15 guys. Not really wild about blind dating; I’m a little too old for that.”

But depending on what happens in the next week, Ferentz might not have much of a choice in the matter.

“You deal with whatever comes your way,” Ferentz said. “Because this is way out of my hands.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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