As money pours into college sports, non-revenue teams hope to keep up

COLLEGE PARK Theres some residual snow covering the turf field from an early January winter storm and temperatures are in the low-20s, so practice is inside today.

Moving indoors was previously a nightmare for Maryland baseball.

For more than a decade, the team worked inside a tent-like structure without insulation that was originally meant to be temporary.

It was even rebuilt after a snowstorm cratered sections of the roof several winters ago.

It lagged behind Marylands competition across college baseball, hindered recruiting and made practicing during the colder months miserable.

Coaches and players can now look back and laugh at that era.

Coach Matt Swope remembers throwing batting practice shirtless before a June home game because it had to be 100 degrees in there.

Senior infielder Eddie Hacopian used to huddle around space heaters with teammates while taking turns hitting, scurrying into the cage to swing then rushing back to warmth and tussling for the best spot.

But in 2025, the Terps welcome working inside.

The team opened a new facility this offseason, loaded with turf floors, batting cages, pitching mounds, and a mural with former Terps stars on the wall.

It was unveiled to the team on Jan.

14, and their first practice in it came the next day.

A quiet meditation session preceded hitting instruction; players waited their turn comfortably and Swope was fully clothed.

Its been a long time coming, said Hacopian, a Potomac native who turned down professional offers to return to Maryland for a third season.

The program has welcomed change and been innovative in the field.

But out of their control, the Terps have watched college athletics be reshaped around them.

The Big Ten welcomed four new schools that tout either storied baseball histories or recently resurgent programs.

Conference realignment, NIL and revenue sharing are driven by football and basketball, but what about non-revenue sports? The NCAA recently tripled the maximum scholarship allotment for baseball teams.

Can Maryland afford that? Some schools have left non-revenue programs behind to direct resources to their cash cows.

Even Maryland athletic director Damon Evans said a vast majority of .

Still, Maryland baseball could be the model for non-revenue teams hoping to keep up during these turbulent times.

Theres been so many changes on so many fronts, you just kind of learn to roll with it, Swope said.

Theres been about 10 years of changes within, it seems like, a couple years.

Its not going to stop.

Those changes started for Swope last decade.

Regional loyalty left him a long time ago.

Swope, who grew up in Prince Georges County, played for the Terps in the early 2000s and developed a hatred for Duke, was an assistant when the school ditched the Atlantic Coast Conference for the Big Ten in 2014.

Hes become numb to realignment tearing conferences apart, like when the Pac-12 crumbled and four of its top schools bounced to the Big Ten: I was a loyalist, he said.

The landscape just completely changed.

So when Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington announced their plans to join Swopes primarily Midwestern conference, the coach skipped surprise and immediately began dreaming how it could help Big Ten baseball.

Hes confident theyll uplift a league thats fallen behind the Southeastern Conference, ACC, Big 12 and even some southern mid-major conferences in the sport, where natural disparities like weather and recruiting (which Swope hopes his new facility helps) expand the divide.

USCs 12 baseball national titles are the most ever.

UCLA won a championship just over a decade ago.

Oregon has been to two consecutive Super Regionals.

We havent gotten the respect nationally that we deserve, Swope said.

It gets us out of the North bias.

We have to do a better job to change that perception as a conference.

Its going to grow the game of Big Ten baseball, Hacopian added.

We know were really good and can compete with anyone in the country.

I just hope the national media and the people out there understand how good Big Ten baseball is.

Coaches most impacted by realignment have harped on the logistical stress this new reality brings.

But Swope, who once took a bus from College Park to Florida State for a weekend series, is confident his team can navigate those obstacles.

Hes also sure Maryland can keep up financially despite some roadblocks.

The NCAA increased baseballs scholarship limit from 11.7 to 34 starting next academic year.

Some have predicted that will pull the programs that can offer that many scholarships away from ones that cant.

Swope acknowledges that Maryland wont reach that maximum but is skeptical of his peers concerns.

Were not going to have 34 scholarships.

I dont know if anybody in college baseball will have that, he said.

Ive heard the SEC is not even close to 34.

You may see a 20 to 25 range for some, you may see a 13 to 20 range for others.

Its going to be based on what the school wants to do.

Does it widen the gap? I dont know.

Swope has benefitted from an athletic department in financial flux Evans estimates the department will take on $25 million annually in new expenses when revenue sharing is instituted but one that has still found ways to reward its top winners even if they arent its top earners.

In addition to the baseball teams new facility, College Park is now home to an upgraded womens lacrosse and field hockey complex, and a mens and womens basketball facility is scheduled to open this fall.

Most of those teams will see little of Marylands robust revenue-sharing budget.

Expected to pass in April and take effect this summer, schools will soon be permitted to give money directly to their athletes.

Swope hasnt been told how much will go to his team.

College baseball has grown exponentially, Swope said.

I think the university has realized that.

But Maryland has won without that investment before.

Swope believes what his team is being given now, and could earn in the future, has been rightfully earned.

In the past four seasons, the Terps have made the postseason three times, hosted a regional as a top-16 seed and developed Matt Shaw, the programs highest-drafted player and now the Chicago Cubs top-ranked prospect all achieved while huddling around heaters in that now-demolished outdated facility.

The team believes this years roster will be one of its best in years.

Sophomore Chris Hacopian, Eddies younger brother who he boldly predicts will be an All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year, anchors the lineup and infield.

Senior outfielder Elijah Lambros, a .279 hitter with 20 homers over the past two seasons, preseason All-Big Ten selection Hollis Porter and the eldest Hacopian form a top of the order that matches any in the conference.

Perhaps a question that best illustrates college athletics hectic nature is one Eddie Hacopian wrestles with daily he doesnt know how much longer hell be allowed to play.

Vanderbilt football player Diego Pavia recently won a lawsuit against the NCAA that determined his seasons at the junior college level will not count toward his four years of eligibility, opening the possibility for more like Pavia to follow.

Hacopain spent two seasons at a California junior college before transferring to the Terps.

Related Articles Do I have another year? I dont know.

I very well could, the fifth-year senior said.

All you gotta do is just look down at your feet and recognize where you are and not worry about the future.

And whatever happens, happens.

Swope similarly holds that focus-on-the-present mindset but with an eye toward whats coming.

Hes leading the Terps into this murky era of college athletics aware of the challenges coaches like him face.

Funding is uncertain and more change is inevitable.

Some schools and programs will surely struggle to keep up.

Can Maryland? In the 12 years Ive been here, weve always tried to be one or two steps ahead, he said.

You dont have a choice.

You can complain about it, you can bitch about it, thats not going to change anything.

You just have to embrace it..

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