NCAA sues Ohio Gov. DeWine over order letting schools ignore fifth-year eligibility rule

Mixed · 2The NCAA sued Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in federal court on Friday 16 October 2026, over an executive order that lets Ohio schools ignore its new eligibility rule. 1 2 Right · 1The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. 2 Mixed · 2The order lets public and private universities in Ohio allow athletes from the high school class of 2022 to play, although the NCAA's new guidance excludes those who have already played four seasons. The Independent says DeWine issued it on Tuesday; Just the News says he signed it on Monday. 1 2

Mixed · 2NCAA President Charlie Baker called the suit an “extraordinary step” to stop DeWine from making it “impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field.” 1 2 Left · 1The filing says the NCAA seeks to stop an attempt to give Ohio schools an “unfair, unprecedented and unwarranted competitive advantage” and a “hall pass to break the rules.” 1 Right · 1Baker said that letting athletes whose eligibility expired in 2025–26 return for an unexpected fifth season would give them a benefit they could not reasonably have expected, to the detriment of thousands of eligible athletes waiting for their chance. 2

Mixed · 2The rule, passed in June, denies a fifth year to players who graduated high school in 2022. Under the new years-based framework, athletes who entered college in 2023 or later get a five-year window but can no longer request waivers to extend it. Earlier rules gave athletes who entered from 2018 to 2021 five years in which to play four seasons. 1 2 Left · 1The NCAA has said it knew the exclusion would cause hardship for the class of 2022, but chose it because it harmed fewer people than displacing incoming recruits, according to The Independent. 1 Left · 1The Ohio Supreme Court said it would decide the order's legality and paused an appeals court ruling that had declared the ’22 athletes ineligible. Briefs are due Monday in that case, whose lead plaintiff is basketball player Filip Borovićanin. Baker said the NCAA does not believe the court's order made those players immediately eligible. 1

Left · 1Borovićanin played in an exhibition against Tennessee on Thursday after the order put him back on the eligible list. Gonzaga transfer Javon Bennett and Cincinnati's MJ Collins are also affected. Tennessee athletic director Danny White called the situation “comical.” 1 Left · 1The fight is part of a wave of state-by-state litigation. The NCAA has won some cases and lost others, and a federal case involving Brock Wisne is leaning its way. Louisville coach Pat Kelsey testified in a Kentucky case that coaches want Congress to act. The Senate has sent the Protect College Sports Act to the House, where its fate is uncertain. 1