NCAA suing Ohio gov over misguided executive order allowing schools to ignore new eligibility rule
The NCAA sued the governor of Ohio on Friday, three days after he signed an executive order giving state universities the option of allowing athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 to play a fifth year in college in defiance of the NCAA’s new eligibility rule.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.”The lawsuit itself claimed DeWine, a two-term Republican former state attorney general who cannot seek re-election this fall because of term limits, was trying to give players in his state “a hall pass” from following the rules.DeWine’s executive order and the NCAA’s 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.DeWine’s office said it was declining comment on the litigation.The NCAA suing a governor is rare but not unprecedented.
It won a case in the early 1990s against then-Nevada Gov.Bob Miller over a law there that would have required the NCAA to provide more due process protections in enforcement proceedings.None of the eight Division I programs in Ohio have commented on DeWine’s order, which was also touted by Lt.
Gov.Jim Tressel, a championship-winning coach at Ohio State and Youngstown State.
The programs include No.4 Ohio State of the Big Ten, Cincinnati of the Big 12 and six schools in the Mid-American Conference.In its court filin...