US & NCAA have always swum yards in the winter, even though the rest of the world swims SCM.
Don’t think it will switch any time soon, considering like 90% of colleges would have to build a new pool to make the switch.
Why are they swimming yards when all swimming internationally is in meters?
Historic reasons?
No matter yards or meters, it was fast 
It does keep it consistent so small colleges swim the same distance as large Div 1 program. Mast all major Div 1 schools have a bulk head or the width of the pool is 25y, and can do SCY, SCM, LCY (no idea why you’d do that?) or LCM. One advantage of SCY or SCM is you get both a warm-up pool and competition pool and still have the diving well available. A few schools only have a single 50LCM pool so they lose the diving well if they swim long course.
On the positive, in the winter they can practice flip turns more and swim 25’s and 75y repeats.