Pitt wrestling coach Keith Gavin doesn’t expect a seismic shift in the NCAA wrestling landscape following the filing of a $2.78 billion antitrust settlement on Friday.

The deal agreed to by the NCAA and the Power Five conferences not only awards damages to athletes who were unable to capitalize on their name, image and likeness prior to 2021, it also will govern how colleges will compensate student-athletes going forward.

Under the current format, Division I wrestling programs can give up to 9.9 scholarships, and there is no limit to roster size. That will soon change.

‘The rich get richer’

The plan for the 2025-26 wrestling season is to eliminate the cap on scholarships and instead place a limit on roster size. Wrestling programs will be restricted to 30 roster spots.

In theory, that means programs could give up to 30 full scholarships to wrestlers. But, since wrestling is a non-revenue sport – most Power Five schools lose money on every sport but football and men’s basketball – it’s unlikely that few, if any, wrestling programs will be fully funded.

Perhaps powerhouses such as Penn State, Iowa and Oklahoma State will use the full allotment of scholarships, but Gavin doesn’t expect many others to come anywhere close to 30 full scholarships.

“Maybe the rich get richer with some of those big teams, but that’s already happening with NIL,” Gavin said in an interview Saturday. “The real concern is that over time you’ll lose programs because where are these schools going to come up with money?”

Gavin cautioned that, while Pitt athletics administrators and coaches had some idea of what would come from the settlement, the details had just emerged on Friday.

“We have a meeting this week about it,” he said. “I think there will be lots of meetings about it. There’s a ton of uncertainty.”

Roster restrictions

The biggest question mark, from Gavin’s standpoint, was regarding the roster limit. There were fears that it could be as low as 25.

Pitt’s online roster currently includes 30 wrestlers, which would be the limit for 2025-26.

“I think people were concerned it was going to be lower than that. If it was lower than 30, it would hurt the dual meets. You’d see a lot of forfeits,” Gavin said. “We’ll probably have to do some cuts in 2025, but it won’t be bad. Some programs are going to have to cut a lot of kids.”

In theory, the roster limit means that programs could have a starter and two backups at each of the 10 weight classes. Of course, it rarely works that way, as classes such as 125 pounds and 285 are often difficult to fill. Even when a team recruits a 125-pounder, he might grow out of the weight class within a few years.

“It doesn’t work out because people grow and change weights once they get here,” Gavin said. “At least you have the bodies.”

Football previously had 85 scholarships available, with all of those required to be full rides. Now the roster size will be 105 and partial scholarships can be used. Gavin expects all schools in Power Five conferences to use that allotment.

“You need to be competitive in football because that’s the revenue generator,” he said.

What it means for Pitt

Schools also still need to meet Title IX standards, which requires that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports and receive athletics scholarship dollars proportional to their participation.

Gavin is confident that Pitt, which only has 18 varsity sports, is in a good place. He doesn’t foresee his program being in any danger, especially considering the positive signs surrounding Pitt wrestling:

- Construction is underway on the Victory Heights complex, which will be the new home for the program

- Assistant coach Lou Rosselli, who was formerly the head coach at Oklahoma, was added to the staff in the offseason

- Nino Bonaccorsi won a national title for the Panthers in 2023

- Pitt had the 21st-best attendance for home duals last season.

“We’re not going to lose (scholarship) money or anything like that,” he said. “Title IX will play a role when it comes to money, but this is more about looking at where people can save money. There will be budget cuts. Even with us, you’ll see us doing more of a regional schedule. If we’re trying to save money, I can save it in the travel budget.”

The Panthers also are fortunate in that regard, as there are a lot of Division I wrestling programs within driving distance of Pittsburgh. The changes could be more problematic for programs on the West Coast that have to fly to many of their destinations.

There has also been some fear in the wrestling community that limiting roster sizes could hurt smaller Division I programs, but Gavin said the opposite might be true.

“Some of the smaller programs might be able to live off the transfer portal because there will be a lot more cuts happening,” he said.