The NCAA filed a federal lawsuit Friday against Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, challenging an executive order issued earlier in the week that allows public and private colleges in the state to bypass the governing body’s eligibility guidelines.
DeWine signed the directive Tuesday, granting athletes who completed high school in 2022 the option to compete for a fifth college season. The NCAA’s updated rule, approved in June, excludes that class from fifth-year eligibility if players have already logged four seasons on the court or field. NCAA President Charlie Baker termed the federal complaint an “extraordinary step” necessary to prevent state actions that make it “impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field.”
In its complaint filed in federal court in Ohio, the NCAA claimed DeWine attempted to grant state programs “a hall pass to break the rules” and secure an unfair competitive edge. DeWine’s office declined to comment on the litigation, the Associated Press reported.
The confrontation underscores growing turmoil across collegiate sports as individual states and courts challenge national standards. Danny White, the athletic director at the University of Tennessee, reacted to the filing on social media by writing that “this whole thing has become comical.”
State court reviews and roster fallout
The legal clash carries immediate consequences for collegiate rosters. The Ohio Supreme Court intervened after DeWine acted, announcing it would examine the legality of the executive directive. As part of that review, the court paused an appellate ruling that had declared members of the 2022 high school class ineligible. The state high court directed both sides to file arguments by Monday in that lawsuit, which lists basketball player Filip Borovićanin as the lead plaintiff.
Borovićanin played in an exhibition contest against Tennessee on Thursday night after DeWine’s order briefly restored his eligibility, according to ESPN. Other basketball players facing uncertain status for the upcoming season include Gonzaga transfer Javon Bennett and Cincinnati’s MJ Collins.
Baker stated that the NCAA does not believe the state Supreme Court’s stay automatically makes those student-athletes eligible to play.
Conflicting rules across the nation
The NCAA maintained that limiting fifth-year eligibility was necessary to avoid displacing incoming freshmen recruits who would lose roster spots to fifth-year veterans. However, the restriction spurred a wave of litigation nationwide.
While an initial federal case involving player Brock Wisne leaned toward the NCAA, subsequent lawsuits produced mixed rulings across various states, the NCAA stated in court filings. The fractured legal landscape has frustrated athletic leaders and coaches. Testifying in a separate Kentucky case earlier in the week, Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey noted the confusion facing programs.
“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 testified. “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.”
Similar conflicts have emerged in other conferences. In Louisiana, basketball player RJ Luis obtained court clearance to participate, but LSU withheld him from the active roster, prompting the Southeastern Conference to sue the university to force compliance with league rules.
Next steps and congressional focus
The lawsuit marks a rare instance of the NCAA taking legal action against a sitting state executive. The association previously won a case in the early 1990s against then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller regarding enforcement due process mandates.
Ohio’s eight Division I athletic programs, which include Ohio State and Cincinnati, have not publicly commented on DeWine’s directive. The governor, a Republican in his second term who cannot seek reelection because of term limits, had his order endorsed by Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a former national championship coach at Ohio State and Youngstown State.
Attention now turns to the Ohio Supreme Court, which expects filings by Monday, and the federal judge assigned to the NCAA’s complaint. The NCAA continues to seek federal intervention to establish national uniformity; the U.S. Senate approved the Protect College Sports Act and forwarded it to the House of Representatives, where its passage remains uncertain.
