The NCAA’s ability to enforce its rules is in greater question than ever before. College football players are seeking injunctions in state courts to bypass the NCAA’s rulings.
Most recently, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss received an injunction from a Mississippi judge, which granted him a sixth season of eligibility. The NCAA had previously denied Chambliss’ request for eligibility. On a recent episode of The Triple Option podcast, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer weighed in on the NCAA’s struggle to enforce its rules.
“The NCAA, to give them credit, every time they’ve set a penalty, they’ve tried to enforce something,” Meyer said. “They litigate, they go to court and they lose. There is some empathy to understand they don’t have subpoena power. They’re a powerless organization right now.”
Despite Meyer’s comments, the NCAA has had some success in recent eligibility battles. Alabama basketball center Charles Bediako had his eligibility revoked by an Alabama court.
On Friday, a Knoxville judge denied Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar a preliminary injunction. In both cases, NCAA spokespeople praised the court systems for their decisions.
Urban Meyer is no stranger to the politics of issues in collegiate sports. Earlier this month, he played golf with President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
Meyer said the four men discussed eligibility, NIL and other collegiate issues while on the links. Though Meyer isn’t opposed to federal regulations in college sports, he doesn’t believe the NCAA should rely on them either.
“The federal government, to me, can’t get out of its own way,” Meyer said. “When I first heard that, I said, ‘You got enough issues, man. Just keep our country safe and the streets safe.’ That’s the number one obligation of the federal government, in my mind, is to take care of its citizens, and then all of a sudden now they’re going to take on this.
“I’ll tell you more as I know. Obviously, I’ve got to be very judicious about what I say, but I think there’s a lot of people in this country, bipartisan, that want to see some answers to one of the greatest pastimes in the history of our country, that’s college football.”