Most coaches apparently left their homes Wednesday soon after learning that the National Collegiate Athletic Association had suspended the football program next season and limited the 1988 campaign to seven games, all on the road, because of repeated rules violations. Almost 100 coaches were on campus by Thursday morning. More than 30 arrived today.

''We have a good opportunity to pick up some players with experience,'' said Mike Sewak, an assistant coach from the University of Hawaii. ''This is a football area. If you want to buy grapefruits, you wouldn't go shopping in Illinois.''

The penalty, which also includes curbs on the number of football scholarships S.M.U. can award, apparently left the 52 scholarship players already at S.M.U. ripe for the picking. The N.C.A.A. said earlier that it would waive its rule that requires a player to sit out one season after transferring to a new school.

Some visiting coaches were hoping to hear from the Southwest Conference, which requires that players who transfer within the nine-school conference lose two of their four years of eligibility. Fred Jacoby, the conference commissioner, said a council meeting is planned March 7 in Dallas to determine if the rule would be waived. ----'88 Season Under Discussion DALLAS, Feb. 27 (AP) - ''We're not going to put a team out there unless we can really have a team,'' said Dudley Parker, the interim athletic director at S.M.U., referring to the possiblilty of dropping the 1988 season.

Leroy Howe, president of the Faculty Senate, said there have been some preliminary discussions about dropping the 1988 season.