💭 FCL Weekly Thought: 06/13/25

Hey everyone,

A lot happening in the college sports world right now—especially with the House Settlement being approved. We’re breaking down what it means for lacrosse, how it could affect scholarships and roster sizes, and what families need to watch for.

We’ve also got a great parent Q&A from last week’s Best in Class event and some highlighted players that stood out to us this week.

Let’s get into it. Happy Friday ☕️,
Matt & Deemer

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FCL Recruiting Resources

Want to better understand the process of recruiting in college lacrosse?

We’ve built a simple $50 recruiting course to help you better understand some of the ins and outs of college lacrosse recruiting.

This week we also gave a recruiting webinar to a Maryland based club team. If you have a team our group you’d like us to speak to, email [email protected] for more information.

THIS WEEKS CONTENT AT A GLANCE

• 🎧 Podcast - Stay tuned for our next series starting late August!

• ✍️ Coaches Corner - Flipping Fields

• ✏️ Blog - Revisiting 10 Predictions for the 2025 NCAA Season

💭 WEEKLY THOUGHT 
🏆 House Settlement & Revenue Sharing

On Friday night, June 6, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House Settlement, allowing schools to directly share revenue with their student-athletes. This will go into effect on July 1, 2025. The House Settlement adds more complexities to the ever changing college athletics landscape, and we wanted to provide clarity on what we know and what we think is important.  

Revenue sharing is largely going to be focused on the revenue generating sports - football & men’s and women’s basketball. Below are some important details and clarifications for how this will all work. 

• First and foremost, not all universities will participate in revenue sharing - schools must opt in. It is still unclear the number of schools that will opt in, but think Power 4 conferences (Big 10, Big 12, ACC & SEC) and any school with either big time football and big time basketball. 

• Schools have to generate the $20.5 million themselves. This money is not provided by the NCAA or anybody else. 

• It is up to each Athletic Department to decide how they want to disperse the $20.5 million - there are no rules or restrictions around this.  If a school has a top basketball program but no football, they could allocate all of the resources to the basketball program.  

• The most common reported model looks to be 75% for football, 15% for men’s basketball, 5% for women’s basketball, and the remaining 5% spread out among other sports. 

While lacrosse is not considered to be a revenue generating sport, there are still some notable changes that will be coming to the college lacrosse landscape. 

• There are no requirements or limitations on the number of scholarships the school can provide. Previously, men’s lacrosse was allowed 12.6 full scholarships, and women’s lacrosse was allowed 12 full scholarships. The number of scholarships per team is now entirely up to the discretion of the athletic department.  Some Athletic Directors could decide to give a lacrosse program 20 full scholarships.  Others could decide to cut the scholarship numbers in half and only provide 6 full scholarships.  

• Just because a school has a top football or basketball program does not mean that their lacrosse program will be fully funded. It can help, but it can also hurt.  It will vary by program. 

• Roster sizes will be impacted.  With the new revenue sharing model, men’s lacrosse rosters will be capped at 48, and women’s lacrosse rosters will be capped at 38. As part of the settlement, schools will be allowed to grandfather in current student-athletes that would exceed the roster limit if the student-athlete was already a member of the team or had signed in high school. Once again, this is completely up to each individual school.  Some will allow the rosters to exceed the limit for the next few seasons, but most will move right ahead and implement the roster cap as they have been budgeting financially for this move for months. 

With the addition of revenue sharing, NIL will still exist, but with slight changes. 

• NIL will still be in play for all student-athletes, but any third-party NIL deal worth $600 or more must be approved by a new clearinghouse called “NIL Go,”  which is run by Deloitte. 

For schools that do not decide to opt into the revenue share, things will stay the same.  

• Roster sizes and scholarship limits will remain in place, and student-athletes will still be able to participate in NIL deals. 

Overall, this new model is new to all of us just as it is to athletic departments around the country.  Everyone at every school is trying to figure it out.  It is important to stay up to date on all of this and ask the right questions when it comes time to speak with college coaches during the recruiting process. 

🤔 PARENT PERSPECTIVE Q&A

Question

Answer
This past week at our Best in Class men’s 2027 event, we were fortunate enough to host a parent panel with an excellent group of coaches: John Tillman (HC, Maryland), Gerry Byrne (HC, Harvard), Taylor Wray (HC, St. Joe’s), Dave Metzbower (AC, Denver), and Ryan Wellner (AC, Notre Dame).

The question above is a common one and it came up again this week. The coaches did a really nice job of sharing some perspective on this question that I want to highlight.

• Data Points — each of these types of event is another data point for coaches. They all emphasized that they like to collect a ton of data on potential recruits. They like to see them play in all different environments so each can be valuable in its own way. As Coach Tillman mentioned “none of us are impulse shoppers”. I really liked how a few talked about how these are all just pieces of the puzzle. The coaches are trying to form a complete picture of the athlete as thoroughly as possible.

• Seasonality — while the high school season certainly impacts the recruiting process, coaches are typically unable to actually go and watch the high school season since they are coaching their teams in the spring. They will follow high school performances, watch some film and talk to coaches, but they typically are unable to actually go watch these games and coaches need to see players in person. That means many of the summer and fall events provide more opportunity for in person evaluations.

• Team Environment vs Camp / Showcase / Prospect Day — they all like seeing players compete with a team, but these other events can allow the players to show in different ways. Some athletes have certain roles on teams, which are important, but may not allow them to express a certain side of their skillset. Once again, the variety can help put together the pieces of the puzzle.

• “Water finds its level” - Coach Taylor Wray of St. Joe’s mentioned this. In his experience, players typically end up where they are supposed to be. These coaches are incredibly thorough in their recruiting and there is not a “perfect mix” of things you can do to get recruited. If you are good enough to play at a certain level, over time those coaches will find and recruit you. You can do things to help out. Getting better, competing against great competition, and expressing interest to schools will all influence the process; however, it ultimately comes down to a coaches decision if you can make an impact at their level.

Let us know what other questions you have moving forward!

🔥 RECRUITING COVERAGE

In this week’s recruiting section, we are highlighting three 2027 athletes who stood out at Best In Class this week. Stay tuned for the standouts blog this weekend.

Max Pasquale | 2027 | Defense | Culver Academy | ADVNC
Max is a physical and aggressive defender with great feet and a mean streak. He strikes the balance of fundamental and disciplined on-ball defense while making dodgers feel his presence with hard checks and hits as they turn the corner. He is skilled off the ground and impressed our staff at Best in Class this week.

Jackson Gillis | 2027 | Goalie | Haverford School| Team Ten

Big, lanky goalie who forces shooters to hit the perfect shot from the outside. Gillis is a QB in the cage and always has his defense organized and prepared for whatever the offense may throw his way. He has a really good stick and makes quick and accurate outlets in the clear. Gillis is a name to watch as the summer goes on in an elite class of goalies.

Henry Oakey | 2027 | Attack | Taft | Madlax

Oakey lit the event on fire. He’s a 2 handed play maker with a burst. He scored goals off the dodge from X, in the high alleys, and off step-downs. He has the versatility a D1 coach wants to see.

Stay tuned for our full list of Men’s 2027 standouts plus Inside Lacrosse’s recap as well.

🎥 VIDEO OF THE WEEK
BILLY DWAN’S 2025 COLLEGE LACROSSE HIGHLIGHTS

FCL Athlete & Syracuse defender Billy Dwan had another great year for the Orange, earning All-American honors and helping ‘Cuse get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2013!

 ⭐ BIC COMMITTED WOMEN’S 2025
APPLY NOW

Apply now for our 2025 Women’s Committed event in Wilmington, DE on Dec 6-7! We will be announcing our 1st Top 5 2026 recruit who is registered soon!

🏋 FCL FALL TRAINING 2025
CHECK OUT OUR DATES AND LOCATIONS

Registration for our Fall Training 2025 is now live! Check out the graphic for more details and hit the link to learn more.