The often-evolving landscape of college athletics will undergo another massive change in the next school year, with revenue sharing and strict roster regulations as a result of the House settlement. These rules will have varying effects on different sports as coaches, athletes and administrators adjust to the new standards.
The changes will impact BYU men's volleyball, bringing its roster limit to 18 players — a lower amount than a typical season; however, Cougars head coach Shawn Olmstead has tried to help his team remain present despite the continual shifts taking place all around the NCAA.
"There is absolutely nothing in this year with this team (that's changed)," Olmstead said he told his players. "By next year, my roster will be 18. No ifs, ands or buts about it. … (But) there's no use in worrying about something that's not even going into effect until September of next year."
As September nears, Olmstead is aware of decisions he and his staff will face. Still, he wants to be sure his players and coaches don't get ahead of themselves.
"We do, as a staff, have discussions (about this)," the BYU head coach said. "But … I just didn't want people to start worrying about what was going on, because there was nothing they could control at that moment."
It remains important for Olmstead and his staff to have the necessary structures in place to decide what will be best for the program once the offseason hits.
"(We've) got the data points," Olmstead said. "We have all the information on our current guys. … There's going to be discussions."
The program will have to make adjustments, as its roster size in a normal year is greater than 18.
"It will impact us … no doubt," Olmstead said. "We're always at about 20 guys."
That will have to change for the Cougars moving forward. Though as fate would have it, this season the school landed on the magic number.
"We are at 18 right now," Olmstead said. "(We've) got to be there for the next foreseeable future, always."
That could cause BYU to miss out on special players that in the past it might have been able to develop.
"It's kind of a new norm," Olmstead said. "It's going to be a learning process, no doubt about it. … I could name a lot of very, very successful players, in fact who became All-American, that were kind of those last roster guys that we just said, 'Hey, your time isn't (until) the next couple of years.'"
That has been an important part of BYU's program, the developing athletes competing on a separate court in the Smith Fieldhouse that had garnered its own title.
"(We've) got the data points. We have all the information on our current guys. … There's going to be discussions."
"Those guys could kind of be a part of your team, but you didn't rely on them at all," Olmstead said. "They were getting strong. They were improving on our second court. … In our gym, we call it the 'Dark Side.' And now you're not going to be able to do that. You can't."
Regarding the financial side, men's volleyball shouldn't see the same kind of upheaval that the more prominent college sports have experienced.
"Revenue share … it's just going to have a pretty small impact on men's volleyball," Olmstead said. "We will increase our funding … but not in the way that sometimes the outside world likes to believe."
In some ways, men's volleyball will move forward much the same as it has.
"It's not what the football transfer portal is (or) the basketball transfer portal," Olmstead said. "So we're still kind of luckily living in our bubble."
Coaches and players will continue to use the transfer portal in men's volleyball even though the sport has not seen roster turnover at the same clip as some of its counterparts on campuses.
"Every coach has to be aware and constantly looking at the transfer portal," Olmstead said. "It might fix where we got missionaries or this and that and we need a one-year guy to make our team better. And if that's the case, then we're going to go maximize it."
At the end of the day, No. 7 BYU men's volleyball remains focused on the season at hand.
BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead meets with the media. | Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo
