By Justin Williams, Sam Khan Jr. and Chris Vannini

Plans for a presidential commission exploring issues in college sports have been paused, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to The Athletic on Thursday.

The commission will be paused indefinitely as members of Congress continue to pursue legislation in hopes of addressing major issues facing college sports, the source said. There is no definitive timetable for when the commission could resume, but planning and coordinating could continue in the interim. Yahoo Sports was the first to report that the commission would be paused.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas Tech board of regents chair Cody Campbell were the expected co-chairs of the commission and met in person last week and were said to be aligned on key issues. A presidential commission would typically dig into various aspects of an issue or enterprise and deliver a report suggesting possible solutions that could involve executive and legislative action.

But Saban has publicly downplayed the need for a commission in recent public statements.

During a May 14 appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” Saban simultaneously downplayed the commission’s necessity while advocating for solutions from a group of people.

“Well, first of all, I don’t know a lot about the commission. Secondly, I’m not sure we really need a commission,” Saban said on the show. “I think a lot of people know exactly what the issues are in college football and exactly what we need to do to fix them. I think the key to the drill is getting people together so that we can move it forward.”

Saban discussed possibly constructing a group that addresses the ongoing legal, financial and competitive issues college sports have struggled to navigate in this era of name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation and the transfer portal.

“I think there are a lot of people out there that know how to fix it,” Saban said. “I just think we have to push it forward and get everybody together, and some of it may need to be done on the federal level.”

News of the possible commission broke on May 7, shortly after President Donald J. Trump spoke at Alabama’s commencement and visited with Saban personally afterward.

College sports leaders have been lobbying Congress for several years for a bill that would support the NCAA and conferences as they try to regain control of regulating college athletics issues, including NIL compensation, transfer portal movement and possibly obtaining an antitrust exemption.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been leading a bipartisan group, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who is working on a bill that could provide some relief to the NCAA and conferences.

In early May, Cruz expressed optimism about the possible legislation, while acknowledging the multiple steps that remain in the process.

“That is actively moving forward,” Cruz said on May 6. “We are negotiating. I think we are close to having a bipartisan product that can move. … I think college athletics is in crisis, and Congress has an obligation to step in and solve this problem.

“That is a major priority for me and for this committee. We have been spending hundreds of hours working, trying to get bipartisan agreement.”

(Photo: Jim Watson / Getty Images)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — I wonder if Chucky Hepburn has heard the news about Tennessee guard Zakai Ziegler.

Because if Ziegler wins his case against the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility because his “ability to engage in commerce” has been truncated to four years, there’s certainly truncating happening to Hepburn at the University of Louisville, too.

Like Ziegler, all Hepburn got was four measly years. Ditto for Hepburn’s U of L teammate Reyne Smith.

How about Derek Willis? Shouldn’t he have a case of some kind?

Not only was Willis limited to four seasons of college eligibility at the University of Kentucky between 2013-17, he was an in-state hero who was also denied the opportunity to receive the Name/Image/Likeness benefits awarded to the current generation of players.

And now that I’m thinking about it, what about Jordan Hulls at Indiana? Not only did he grow up in Bloomington, he carried the added burden of joining a IU program that won only six games during the season before his arrival.

How much money did those nasty NCAA rules deny Hulls during his Indiana career? Hulls could have named his number at IU — and done it for at least five years.

I could go on. And on. And on.

Ziegler and his team of legal advisors are prepared to argue the guys who played in the class one year ahead of his class received five seasons of eligibility, not four.

And they did. Why? Because the NCAA tossed in an extra season because COVID-19 restrictions made the 2020-21 season less than the complete college experience.

The COVID bump has finally ended. But guys like Ziegler are not happy to see it go.

Hey, it was not Ziegler’s fault he wasn’t born one year earlier. But it is the NCAA’s fault that he is being denied that fifth season because there are NIL evaluators who believe Ziegler could earn as much as $4 million in another college season.

And the NBA won’t be paying him that, even though Ziegler averaged 22 minutes per game as a freshman, nearly 29 as a sophomore, more than 31 as a junior and 34 as a senior, all for Rick Barnes at Tennessee.

I’m certain that the list of players eager to push a case similar to Ziegler’s will go on. And on. And on.

But at some point, doesn’t somebody have to say, “No! Stop the madness. Enough.”

These are the rules. You get four years of competition that you can use over five seasons. When the four years of competition or five-season markers are met, you’re finished.

Move along.

Yes, you’re now getting paid. That’s not the issue. The players have prevailed on that issue, trouncing the old NCAA rules.

But even though they are getting paid, this is not supposed to be professional basketball. It’s professional college basketball. You can play four seasons.

In what might end up being a regrettable moment of compassion, the NCAA temporarily changed the rules because of COVID. But it was never intended to be a gateway to five seasons of eligibility.

You arrive as a freshman, you depart as a senior — like the majority of students. Take a look around at all those buildings on campus. That’s where you attend class.

They don’t attend class in professional basketball. Not in the NBA. Not in the G-League. Not in Europe.

I understand that the college years might be the best years of your life. Trust me, I get it. I didn’t want to leave after four years either. Many people don’t.

It’s got to be more difficult to walk away when you’re no longer going to have 18,000 people chanting your name on Tuesday and Saturday winter nights. People have written books about the challenges of moving forward in life after the cheering stops.

I’ve read some of them. You should read some of them.

But being a college basketball player is not supposed to be a vocation. People used to describe it as an opportunity or a privilege.

Now it’s a privilege and an opportunity as well as a way to make money. Money that the players deserve. I’m not arguing against that.

You practice hard. You compete in a public forum. People pay to watch you perform.

But let’s not turn this completely into professional basketball. You get five years to play four seasons.

And then you move along.

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The White House has put President Donald Trump’s plans for a college sports commission on pause, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. There’s no clear timeline for how long the plans will be halted, but the roadblock appears to be a product of Senate negotiations over ongoing college sports legislation. President Trump initially constructed plans for the commission with the intent to gather information on college athletics’ most pressing issues and solve the types of problems stakeholders — including coaches and conference commissioners — have been vocalizing for years.

Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell and former Alabama coach Nick Saban were set to hold prominent roles on the commission, but the latter pumped the brakes after he emerged as a potential co-chair.

“I know there’s been a lot of stuff out there about some commission or whatever. I don’t think we need a commission,” Saban said. “I’ve said that before. I think we need — we know what the issues are, we just have to have people who are willing to move those and solve those and create some solutions for some of those issues. I’m all for being a consultant to anybody who would think that my experience would be beneficial to helping create some of those solutions.”

Saban is among the countless current and former coaches to speak up with concerns over name, image, and likeness (NIL), the transfer portal and the future of Olympic sports. He spoke with Trump earlier this month ahead of the University of Alabama commencement, at which both addressed the graduating class, discussing with the President the need for NIL reform.

Senator Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach who made stops at Auburn and Ole Miss, among others, was also heavily involved in building the commission.

SEC and Big Ten will be thrilled

The two most powerful college sports conferences stand to gain the most from the status quo. The unregulated NIL and transfer portal eras benefited the SEC and Big Ten disparately as the richest and most prominent programs distanced themselves from the pack. Legislation to level the playing field could empower the rest of the Power Four and put the ACC and Big 12 on more equal footing.

House v. NCAA settlement takes center stage

With the presidential commission on pause, all eyes turn to the House v. NCAA settlement, which promises to bring substantial change of its own to the college athletics landscape. The arrival of revenue sharing and an NIL clearinghouse, on paper, accomplish some of the same goals as the paused commission.

The settlement terms include a $20 million revenue sharing cap for universities to split among student-athletes. It paves the way for schools to pay their players directly for the first time in NCAA history. NIL deals will supplement student-athletes’ revenue sharing income but must be approved by the soon-to-be-established clearinghouse, which will determine the validity of such deals and prevent schools from using them to circumvent the salary cap.