Iowa State has decided to limit the number of football players on the team to around 125 to further comply with gender equity laws.

The cap is the result of a “making Title IX compliance a priority,” said ISU Athletics Director Bruce Van De Velde.

Title IX is a federal law requiring schools using federal funds to provide balanced educational opportunities for men and women, which includes athletics.

The football cap is just part of a process to make things equal, Van De Velde said.

Van De Velde stressed that the cap isn’t a big issue because there are only 85 scholarships available. He said the change will have “no effect” on a potential walk-on’s chances of competing at Iowa State because there will still be 40 more spots available after scholarships are awarded.

He also said that 125 is a general number and it can be changed. The football roster reached its peak in 2000 when 132 players were involved.

Charles Partridge, ISU director of football operations, agreed with Van De Velde, and said in his experience, 125 players is a good number. He said the cap won’t put any extra pressure on recruiters to pick out the best of the best.

“I think that’s a fair number to keep [it] at, especially when you look at the big picture,” Partridge said.

“We’re not going to turn people away that have a realistic chance to compete at this level,” Van De Velde said. “We don’t want to have a lot of student athletes who can’t compete at this level with false hope. I think you can run a legitimate football practice with 75-85 players.”

Other programs in the Big 12 Conference, including perennial powerhouse Nebraska, don’t have a limit on the size of their football teams. Van De Velde said he doesn’t know what the other schools are doing to comply with Title IX, but noted Iowa State is doing an excellent job.

Last year’s report from the Equity Committee of the ISU Athletic Council said males account for 61.1 percent of the athletes at Iowa State and females account for 38.9 percent. When compared to the student body, where males make up 55.3 percent and females make up 44.7 percent, the proportionality difference between male and female athletes is 5.8 percent.

The discrepancy between the gender makeup of athletes and the student body has declined since the elimination of the two men’s programs last year.

The football roster cap will also help, Van De Velde said.

“I think we’re in compliance as it relates to proportion,” he said.