“If any colleges are putting together competition-only squads, I haven’t heard of it, and they aren’t making it to the national championships.”
That was the direction some colleges like Maryland and Oregon and Quinnipiac were taking in an effort to have cheer be recognized as an NCAA sanctioned varsity sport. One of the key distinction in that effort was that you didn’t perform on the sidelines for other teams…
That effort came to a halt I guess when Quinnipiac lost its title ix lawsuit. With a federal judge ruling that, at this point, cheer is not a sport as a legal matter.