Nick Saban to co-chair President Trump’s planned commission on college athletics: Sources

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell would co-chair the commission President Donald Trump is interested in forming to examine the long list of issues facing college sports, a source briefed on the plans told The Athletic.

The source said Trump is expected to be “very engaged” with the commission because he sees the current state of college sports as an issue of national importance.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Trump was interested in weighing in with an executive order after the president spoke last week with Saban, who has expressed concern that college sports is being harmed by the big money pouring into it to compensate athletes with little regulation. Yahoo Sports first reported Wednesday that Trump is planning to create a presidential commission to examine a long list of issues facing college sports, from booster-funded payments and transfer rules to conference alignment and Title IX.

Campbell, who was elected chairman of the Texas Tech board of regents last month, is a former Red Raiders football player and one of the university’s most prominent donors. He is the co-founder and co-executive of Double Eagle Energy Holdings, an upstream oil and gas company based out of Fort Worth, Texas, which operates extensively in the Permian Basin region of West Texas. Campbell is also the co-founder of the Matador Club, an NIL collective that supports Texas Tech athletics, and he recently spearheaded the new $242 million south endzone project at Tech’s Jones AT&T Stadium, which overlooks Cody Campbell Field.

In February, Double Eagle sold a development for $4.1 billion, and in 2021, the company sold a previous development for $6.4 billion. Last month, Double Eagle announced a continued and expanded partnership with EnCap Investments, a prominent private equity company that specializes in the oil and gas industry. Campbell is a board member of Texas Public Policy Foundation and a distinguished fellow at the America First Policy Institute, the latter which has been integral to President Trump’s second-term policy agenda.

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. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order creating the Religious Liberty Commission.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Michael Baumgartner, a freshman Republican from Washington who recently put forth an expansive bill to reform college sports, said he welcomed Trump’s involvement.

“College sports is a highly subsidized public good and should be regulated like the public good it is. A presidential commission offers the chance to bring fiscal sanity; restore regional conferences and competitive balance; and protect the future of non-revenue and Olympic sports,” the spokeswoman said in a statement to The Athletic.

It’s unclear how a commission would impact the current developments in college sports, including a potential landmark agreement to settle a trio of antitrust lawsuits facing the NCAA and major conferences and establish for the first time a system of direct payments from schools to athletes.

The settlement awaits final approval from a federal judge, who ordered the defendants to tweak part of the agreement that sets new roster limits for NCAA Division I schools that opt into the deal.

College sports leaders and attorneys for the defendants remain confident the judge will sign off on the deal.

Even if the settlement is approved, college sports leaders have acknowledged that it will need the backing of federal legislation, which they have been, for years, lobbying Congress for.

Tom McMillen, the former Democratic congressman who for several years led an association of athletic directors whose schools compete at the highest level of Division I, praised Trump for getting involved.

“I give President Trump a lot of credit. This is a time to bring the best minds in college sports together, in higher education, and figure a model out,” said McMillen, who has known Trump for more than 50 years.

“He’s always had a big interest in sports. It really fits his kind of whole M.O.”

McMillen first called for a presidential commission on college sports more than a decade ago. He said that while there has been some progress toward a bipartisan bill in Congress, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) leading the efforts, presidential leadership could help prioritize the issue for Congress.

“I’ve always said you’re going to need a presidential push to get something done,” said McMillen, who was a star basketball player at Maryland, a longtime NBA player and member of the 1972 Olympic team.

He also recalled how a commission on Olympic Sports that was formed by President Gerald Ford in 1975 led to the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 and substantive reform that boosted the United States’ performance in subsequent games.

A commission on college sports could help lead to long-term reform without interrupting what is already in motion, McMillen said.

“Not gonna be overnight, but it could be very, very symbolic and very significant for higher ed and college sports, and for America,” McMillen said.

— Chris Vannini, Justin Williams and Sam Khan Jr. contributed to this story.

(Photo: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)