The NCAA filed a federal lawsuit against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Friday, escalating a fight over an executive order that lets the state's colleges ignore the association's new eligibility rules for a specific group of athletes: the high school class of 2022. The 41-page complaint asks a judge in the Southern District of Ohio to declare the governor's order unconstitutional and contrary to state law, arguing it hands Ohio schools an edge no other state's teams can legally match.
What DeWine's Order Actually Does
Governor DeWine signed Executive Order 2026-04D on October 13, directing Ohio's public and private colleges not to enforce NCAA eligibility restrictions against athletes who graduated high school in 2022. According to 247 Sports, the order declares that participating universities are acting under state direction and public policy, effectively giving those schools legal cover to let eligible athletes suit up for a fifth season. The order targets a narrow but consequential group of players caught between the NCAA's old rules and the association's new age-based framework.
That framework, adopted in June 2026, grants student-athletes a single five-year eligibility clock starting the academic year after they turn 19 or enroll full-time in college. Per NCAA.org, implementation guidance excludes 2022 high school graduates who already completed four seasons of play — the exact group DeWine's order is designed to protect.
NCAA Calls the Order an Unfair Advantage
As reported by KXAN Austin, the NCAA's federal lawsuit, authorized by the NCAA Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors, says the executive order grants Ohio institutions an unfair, unprecedented and unwarranted competitive advantage. NCAA President Charlie Baker said the lawsuit was an extraordinary step designed to prevent DeWine from creating an uneven playing field for schools, and warned that the governor's action could make fair competition among all schools impossible, according to the same report.
The association's filing argues that letting individual governors unilaterally rewrite eligibility rules creates an unworkable patchwork of standards nationwide. Front Office Sports notes the NCAA's complaint warns this would force schools outside Ohio to compete against teams fielding fifth-year players who are considered ineligible everywhere else.
Ohio Courts Already Tangled in the Dispute
State litigation is already colliding with the governor's order. The Ohio Supreme Court stayed an appellate court decision that had declared 2022 high school graduates ineligible, temporarily allowing players such as Xavier forward Filip Borovicanin to keep competing, according to Sansom Sports Media. The court ordered full legal briefs on DeWine's executive order by October 19. The underlying case originated in Hamilton County, where a lower court judge had initially granted an injunction for the affected student-athletes.
Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel, the former national championship-winning head football coach at Ohio State and Youngstown State, publicly backed the executive order. Tressel said Ohio must avoid depriving student-athletes of opportunities available to their peers in other states, the Scioto Post reported.
A Nationwide Legal Fight, Not Just an Ohio One
The Ohio case is unfolding alongside a parallel federal battle. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on October 13 in Wisne v. NCAA, concerning a stayed lower court injunction that had temporarily granted a fifth year of eligibility to all 2022 high school graduates nationwide, according to the Courthouse News Service. U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney had initially granted that nationwide class injunction before an appellate panel paused it in August.
Meanwhile, Congress is weighing a federal fix. The U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act in a 77-22 vote on September 28, bipartisan legislation backed by Baker that would codify the NCAA's five-year age-based eligibility rule into federal law and grant it antitrust protection, per The National Law Review. The bill cleared the Senate Commerce Committee under Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell but still awaits action in the U.S. House after the November midterm elections.
California's 2019 Fair Pay to Play Act addressed name, image and likeness rights. DeWine has issued state executive orders on athlete NIL rights before, in 2021 and 2024.
Eight Ohio Programs Caught in the Crossfire
The eligibility fight touches nine Division I athletic programs in Ohio, including Big Ten power Ohio State, Big 12 member Cincinnati, Xavier, and six Mid-American Conference schools preparing for the 2026-27 season. The Lantern reports that none of the eight Ohio Division I athletic departments had issued immediate public positions after the order was signed, leaving compliance directors and coaches to navigate the uncertainty as the legal fights play out in both state and federal court.
