10/16/2026 11:20:00
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10/16 11:18 CDT NCAA sues Ohio governor over his executive order allowing
schools to ignore new eligibility rule
NCAA sues Ohio governor over his executive order allowing schools to ignore new
eligibility rule
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
The NCAA sued the governor of Ohio on Friday, accusing him of trying to give
college athletes in his state a "hall pass" to circumvent a rule that denies
players who graduated high school in 2022 from a fifth year of eligibility.
NCAA President Charlie Baker called the lawsuit, filed in federal court in
Ohio, an "extraordinary step" designed to prevent Gov. Mike DeWine from making
it "impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field."
DeWine issued an executive order Tuesday that undercut the NCAA rule, approved
over the summer. That and the NCAA's federal lawsuit in reaction to it marks
the latest tit-for-tat in a torrent of legal maneuverings that are creating new
rules on a state-by-state basis.
"This whole thing has become comical," Danny White, the athletic director at
Tennessee, said on social media in reaction to the NCAA announcement.
Under DeWine's order, public and private universities in Ohio would be able to
allow the Class of '22 athletes to play, even though the NCAA's new guidance
excludes those who have already played four seasons. The rule, passed in June,
is the subject of multiple court fights.
In its court filing, the NCAA said it was trying "to halt a misguided attempt
to give Ohio colleges and universities an unfair, unprecedented and unwarranted
competitive advantage in stadiums and arenas throughout the country,"
"College sports, like all sports, depend on participants following the rules.
(DeWine) is attempting to give Ohio institutions a hall pass to break the
rules," the lawsuit says.
In reaction to the governor's move, the Ohio Supreme Court said it would step
in and determine the legality of the executive order. As part of that, it
paused an appeals court ruling in a case there that had declared the '22
athletes ineligible. The court asked both sides to file briefs in the case, in
which basketball player Filip Borovicanin is the lead plaintiff, by next Monday.
Baker said the NCAA did not believe the Supreme Court's order did, in fact,
declare those players immediately eligible to compete and said it would submit
arguments in that case.
That case, like others around the country, is becoming more urgent by the day,
as it involves a handful of basketball players whose status for the upcoming
season is in jeopardy. Among them: Gonzaga transfer Javon Bennett, Cincinnati's
MJ Collins and Borovicanin himself, who played in an exhibition against
Tennessee on Thursday night after DeWine's order put him back on the eligible
list.
The NCAA has long explained that it knew excluding the Class of '22 from the
five-year rule would cause those athletes hardship, but the decision was
between them and the new class of high school recruits coming into college this
year, many of whom would be displaced if the veterans were allowed another year.
Ultimately, the NCAA made its decision based on which move harmed fewer people.
The NCAA lawsuit goes through the history of the rule and the flood of legal
actions that have come since. One of the original cases, a federal lawsuit
involving basketball player Brock Wisne, is leaning in the NCAA's direction,
though victories there have only spawned more lawsuits in state court.
"The results of this second wave of lawsuits were mixed, with the NCAA winning
some and losing others," it said. "But the lawsuits unquestionably destabilized
college sports, with ever-more disruptive lawsuits challenging foundational
rules at the heart of organized sport."
During testimony in a similar case in Kentucky earlier this week, an NCAA
attorney asked Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey why he was among those
looking for Class of '22 athletes when the NCAA rules forbid that.
"From a coach's standpoint, every time the NCAA says something, we all shrug
our shoulders and say, ?Is that going to stand up? Is that a rule?'" Kelsey
said. "We don't think there are rules right now. That's why we want guardrails,
we want Congress to act, we want the chaos to end. Because nobody knows what
the crap is going on. No one."
The NCAA has long called for a federal law to tamp down on the lawsuits
undermining its rules for hundreds of thousands of athletes across the country.
The Senate has sent the Protect College Sports Act to the House, where its fate
is uncertain in this election year.
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