CSCAA Recommends Return of B Finals, Further Adjustments to NCAA Championships
Expect to see consolation finals back on the program at next year’s Division I NCAA Championships, but the meet will not simply return to the 2025-and-earlier status quo. A working group established by the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has convened twice this month as the organization continues to tinker with its preferred format for the meet.
Following meetings on April 2 and April 20, the nine-member coaching panel issued draft recommendations that would restore B finals to the national meet. The recommendation calls for those those races to be contested together prior to the start of championship finals. Additionally, the split in diving events into two groups of three rounds would remain, but all individual swimming finals would take place between the diving rounds rather than the back-and-forth model used this year.
An elite group of coaches met to discuss these recommendations, including national-championship-winning coaches Todd DeSorbo of Virginia and Dave Durden of Cal. The list also includes Louisville’s Arthur Albiero, Arizona State’s Herbie Behm, Princeton’s Matt Crispino, NC State’s Braden Holloway, Tennessee’s Matt Kredich, Indiana’s Ray Looze and Northwestern’s Rachel Stratton-Mills. USA Swimming National Team Director and former Stanford women’s coach Greg Meehan was also part of the second meeting.
At future NCAA meets, expect to see more relays contested in the evening sessions. The top-two heats would now be contested during finals with the remainder going in the morning. That would be a change from the 2026 schedule of just one heat at night. A sample day at the NCAA Championships could follow the following schedule:
- 10:00 a.m. Prelim Swimming: Ind. Swim Events & Relays seeded 17th or higher
- 1:00 p.m. Prelim Diving
- Finals (start time determined by broadcast): Consolation Finals, Diving Finals Rounds 1-3, Individual Swimming Events, Diving Finals Rounds 4-6, Relay (Heat 2, Heat 1)
Wednesday’s racing, which now includes the 1650 freestyle in addition to the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay, would return to one evening session. This year, all but one heat of the mile and the relays were contested in the morning, leading to a night session with just three total races and extensive dead time to allow swimmers from the top heat of the 1650 to recover and return for the 800 free relay.
An unprecedented change this year allowed conference champions to qualify for the NCAA Championships, provided they met an automatic NCAA qualification mark. Moving forward, the coaches want “no more than 10% of invited athletes enter through the conference qualifier pathway.” Additionally, any swimmers who missed out on the meet because of those new conference auto qualifiers “should still be permitted to attend and compete with institutional funding.”
All of these changes would be geared toward “aligning with ESPN’s linear television requirements.” The working group led its document with the goal of securing live coverage beginning in 2027. Typically, the NCAA Championships are streamed over ESPN’s platforms and then broadcast in a highlights package on tape-delay. Regarding next year’s meet, the recommendation says, “Work with the NCAA, ESPN, and the host site to schedule the championships on the necessary and most advantageous dates, as determined by ESPN.”
In that light, more changes could be coming to the individual event schedule “to support high performance while also meeting broadcast guidelines for approval.” Further, the working group wants to see further investment in storytelling and production strategy on the broadcast, with additional emphasis on athlete, coach and team storylines, research and interviews during broadcasts.
These recommendations come on the heels of survey data from NCAA Division I coaches that strongly supported the return of B finals and other changes to this year’s experimental format. The elimination of the consol heats drew the ire of fans and swimmers throughout this year’s NCAA Championships, with Olympic medalists Torri Huske and Bella Sims among those vocalizing their displeasure with the change.
The working group document also includes long-term recommendations that would take place in 2028 and beyond. It discussed instituting a “combined championship format,” one which would have women and men competing for titles at the same time. Such a meet is the norm in Division II and Division III but has never taken place for Division I.
“The future of Division I swimming and diving must be shaped by more than format changes alone. It requires a broader strategy to drive fiscal efficiency, elevate the championship experience for student-athletes, coaches, and fans, and position the sport for sustained success.
“This working group will develop a plan for a combined championship format that meets high performance demands and current media realities for approval by the NCAA Swimming & Diving Oversight Committee.
“With input from key stakeholder groups, this effort will strengthen the national championship as a premier stage for developing Team USA athletes and coaches while advancing the sport’s global competitive standing.”
The working group is set to meet again this week to finalize the recommendations, which would then be brought before the full CSCAA membership in the organization’s annual meeting May 4. The full draft recommendations can be found here.
