The NCAA moved the dispute into federal court on Friday, lodging a lawsuit against an executive order signed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine that allows the state's universities to set aside the association's revised eligibility rules for athletes who completed high school in 2022.
Filed in the Southern District of Ohio, the 41-page lawsuit urges a federal judge to strike down the governor's order on both constitutional and state-law grounds, contending that the directive places Ohio school programs in a position no competing team from another state is permitted to occupy under existing rules.
On October 13, an executive order bearing the designation 2026-04D went out under DeWine's authority, instructing Ohio's colleges and universities — both public and private — to set aside any NCAA eligibility rules that would otherwise bar athletes from the high school graduating class of 2022. Under the order, participating universities are treated as operating on behalf of state direction and public policy — a classification that opens the door for those institutions to field eligible athletes for a fifth competitive season.
A defined but consequential set of athletes finds itself caught between the NCAA's previous eligibility rules and the association's recently adopted age-based framework. Under the rules put in place that June 2026, each student-athlete receives one five-year window of eligibility, with the clock beginning either the academic year after they turn 19 or when they first enrol full-time in college, whichever comes first. The implementation guidelines exclude 2022 high school graduates who had already exhausted their four seasons of eligibility — the very group the governor's order was designed to protect.
Filed by the NCAA under authorisation from both the Board of Governors and the Division I Board of Directors, the federal lawsuit contends that Ohio institutions stand to gain a one-sided and unearned edge over competitors as a direct result of the executive order. In a court filing that Baker — acting as NCAA president — described as an uncommon step, he argued that Governor DeWine's involvement risked tilting the playing field in favour of particular schools, with the broader concern being that fair conditions across member institutions could be compromised, according to one news outlet.
In its court filing, the association contends that allowing individual governors to alter eligibility requirements on their own would produce a fragmented set of standards with no consistent framework across the country. The NCAA's filing, as relayed by one broadcast outlet, contends that the Ohio provision would put out-of-state programs at a disadvantage by allowing a category of players onto the field who remain ineligible under rules applied everywhere beyond Ohio's borders.
Pending litigation at the state level has put the governor's directive under direct legal pressure. A stay issued by the Ohio Supreme Court put on hold an appellate ruling that had stripped 2022 high school graduates of their eligibility, letting athletes including Xavier forward Filip Borovicanin continue playing in the interim. Briefs laying out full legal arguments on DeWine's executive order were due before the court by October 19.
At the trial-court level in Hamilton County, a judge had put an injunction in place protecting the student-athletes at the centre of the dispute.
Tressel, who captured national championships as a head coach at both Youngstown State and Ohio State before taking on the lieutenant governor's role, added his public voice in support of the executive order. Tressel argued that Ohio has a responsibility not to leave student-athletes without access to the same pathways their counterparts in other states can pursue.
At the state level in Ohio, a distinct but related legal contest is advancing in tandem with proceedings playing out through the federal courts. On October 13, a three-judge appellate panel drawn from the U.S. 10th Circuit took up oral arguments in Wisne v. The NCAA's position involved a paused lower-court order that had briefly extended eligibility by one additional year to every student-athlete from the 2022 high school graduating class across the country, as reported by a news outlet. U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney had originally issued the nationwide class injunction, though an appellate panel moved to suspend it by the time August arrived.
A 77-to-22 floor vote carried the Protect College Sports Act through the Senate on September 28, with Baker among those offering support across party lines — the legislation would write the NCAA's age-based, five-year eligibility framework into federal law and attach antitrust protection to that rule. Passed by the Senate Commerce Committee — with Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell among the senators who shepherded it through — the legislation has yet to receive a vote on the House floor following last November's midterm elections.
Two executive orders touching on athlete NIL rights had already come from DeWine — one in 2021, another in 2024. Nine Division I athletic programs across Ohio — among them Ohio State in the Big Ten, Cincinnati in the Big 12, Xavier, and a half-dozen Mid-American Conference members — are caught up in the eligibility dispute as they look ahead to the 2026-27 season. As the order took effect, all eight Ohio Division I athletic departments held back from putting out any public stance, leaving those who oversee compliance and the coaches themselves to work through the ambiguity while litigation winds through both state and federal courts.
