The White House is considering forming a presidential commission that could set new rules on how colleges and universities compensate school athletes.

Yahoo.com reports that former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and former Texas Tech football player Cody Campbell will lead the commission.

Some areas the commission may focus on.

The first one deals with athlete compensation. Since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling on the NCAA, college athletes can now be paid from what is known as NIL, name, image, and likeness, and many college football and basketball players are now making six—and seven-figure salaries a year.

Saban has expressed his concerns about players being compensated. Last year, he told Fox News that school competition would be hurt because popular schools could afford to pay top dollar for athletes compared to smaller universities that couldn’t. This may also cause a problem with schools cutting non-revenue and Olympic sports, which could hurt female athletes.  

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Another area the commission may examine is school transfer rules. Under these rules, student athletes can switch schools right in the middle of the season.

“Yep, this is a big issue that will have to be addressed. Some players are taking advantage of this, and it’s caused problems with school turnover,” said Florida Sports Podcaster Jason Redmon. Redmon says there are lawsuits against the NCAA on this topic.

Another problem area, Redmon says, is whether student athletes should be able to form labor unions.

If the commission is formed, the Trump administration says their main issues they will look at are a limited antitrust protection for the NCAA to enforce transfer and eligibility rules, rules explaining that college athletes are students and not employees, and possibly the third would be federal law taking over existing state NIL laws.

“In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, President Trump wants,” said the White House to make sure that college athletes continue to get a quality education, women’s sports are protected, and the integrity of college sports remains intact,” said the White House.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 16 West Virginia University baseball team returns home to play Kansas in the final regular season series of the season, May 15-17. First pitch from Kendrick Family Ballpark on Thursday and Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. while Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Tickets are available at WVUGame.com, by calling 1-800-WVU-GAME or visiting the Mountaineer Ticket Office at Kendrick Family Ballpark. Student tickets are free with a WVU ID. Mountaineer fans can watch the games on ESPN+, listen on Mountaineer Sports Network, and can follow along with live stats at WVUsports.com.
 
Promos for the weekend include Jerry West Night and weeknight bingo on Thursday, Friday Night Happy Hour and a Victor Scott II bobblehead giveaway, courtesy of United Bank for game two, and Senior Day on Saturday.
 
West Virginia is 40-10 on the season and sits in first place in the Big 12 at 19-6. One win this weekend by WVU or a loss by Arizona State would clinch the conference title. In the latest polls, West Virginia sits at No. 14 in Perfect Game, No. 14 in NCBWA, No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 19 in Baseball America, No. 24 in The Athletic, and No. 16 by D1Baseball, which is recognized by the NCAA.
 
Junior Sam White leads the Mountaineers with a .368 batting average while seniors Jace Rinehart and Kyle West each have a team-high eight home runs. Rinehart also leads the team with 50 RBI and leads the Big 12 with 20 doubles.
 
On the mound, redshirt senior Griffin Kirn is 4-1 with a 3.49 ERA and leads the team with 73 strikeouts. Graduate student Jack Kartsonas is 6-1 with a 2.44 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 48.0 innings.
 

Pitching Probables
LHP Griffin Kirn (4-1, 3.49 ERA, 73 K, 23 BB, 69.2 IP) vs. RHP Dominic Voegele (6-4, 5.40 ERA, 74 K, 28 BB, 80.0 IP)
RHP Gavin Van Kempen (2-0, 5.95 ERA, 36 K, 25 BB, 39.1 IP) vs. RHP Cooper Moore (6-1, 3.49 ERA, 65 K, 14 BB, 69.2 IP)
RHP Jack Kartsonas (6-1, 2.44 ERA, 55 K, 11 BB, 48.0 IP) vs. TBA
 
Led by third year head coach Dan Fitzgerald, Kansas is 39-14 this season. In the Big 12, the Jayhawks sit in third place at 17-10 after taking two of three from BYU last weekend.

Kansas leads the Big 12 and is 10th in the nation with 93 home runs, led by 18 from Jackson Hauge. Cooper Moore leads the pitching staff with a 3.49 ERA while striking out 65 batters.

 

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is entering a period of stability.

How long it lasts is anyone’s guess. Not even commissioner Jim Phillips knows for sure.

“I still live one day at a time,” Phillips quipped.

The ACC wrapped up its spring meetings Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, with athletic directors and coaches having spent three days discussing wide-ranging issues affecting football and basketball.

The event came amid the backdrop of the pending $2.8 billion NCAA settlement, which would allow schools to share up to $20.5 million annually directly with their athletes.

The ACC spent the past two years tracking that legal battle while also wading through contentious litigation from two of its top member schools, Clemson and Florida State.

The Tigers and Seminoles approved a settlement in March that changed the league’s revenue-distribution model to benefit schools with marquee football brands. Both would presumably fall into that category.

Although the 2030-31 season looms as a potential spot for more changes to the college football landscape, the revised deal should fortify a league that looked to be on the verge of collapse while falling further behind the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten.

“I just think you got to settle down,” Phillips said, noting he envisions four or five years of stability ahead. “And I think college athletics needs it to settle down, not just the ACC. I think we’ve positioned ourselves for that, and that’s a good thing. It just is.

“Chaos and the constant wondering of what’s happening here or there, I just think that distracts from the business at hand. But I feel good about where we’re at.”

The league’s revised revenue-distribution model incorporates TV viewership as a way for the league’s top programs to generate more money.

Florida State, for example, expects roughly $18 million extra annually from the tweaked structure. Those schools outside the top tier could see a decline of about $7 million a year.

“We’re really excited that this is now put behind us,” FSU athletic director Michael Alford said. “We have a path going forward. We have a path to really look at how we control the conference together, how we expand on the great brands that are in this conference and really promote the ACC and especially ACC football moving forward and give it its day in the sun.”

Presidential help ahead?

Even though ACC schools are bracing for the NCAA settlement and how it will change their business model, Phillips believes President Donald Trump’s proposed commission on collegiate athletics could help.

“We have not been able to get this thing into the end zone, so to speak,” Phillips said. “If the President feels that a commission could potentially help, I’m all for it.”

The proposed commission would be co-chaired by former Alabama coach Nick Saban and current Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell.

“I think it’s well-intended,” Phillips said. “I do feel that the time is right based on all the work that’s previously been done and a supportive administration that’s in there. So I’m hopeful that that can be a positive to an end result that gets us a standardized law across the country with NIL.”

NCAA president Charlie Baker spoke at the ACC meetings Monday and said he was “up for anything” if it helped formalize NIL laws that differ from state to state.

“I think it speaks to the fact that everybody is paying a lot of attention right now to what’s going on in college sports,” Baker said. “I’m up for anything that can help us get somewhere.”

Future of the CFP

While power four conferences — the ACC, the Big Ten, Big 12 and the SEC — continue to negotiate the future of the College Football Playoff beginning in 2026, Phillips declined to reveal specifics regarding the league’s stance on automatic qualifiers.

“I remain steadfast about fairness in the system and access,” he said. “Out of respect for my colleagues, I want to hold off on commenting about AQs and specific models.”

The 16-team playoff model that has been widely discussed would grant four automatic berths to the Big Ten, four to the SEC, two to the ACC and two to the Big 12. That would leave four bids, with as many as three of those going to at-large teams and the other to the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six.

The ACC, according to several coaches, wants three guaranteed spots.

“You start to wonder if we are going to have an invitational,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “Every year, one league may be better than the other, and it can change to some degree.

“To say we’re going to pick teams based on what’s happened the last 15 years, especially in an environment where we have more and more parity with the way the rules are, I think it’s a slippery slope.”

___

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© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is entering a period of stability.

How long it lasts is anyone’s guess. Not even commissioner Jim Phillips knows for sure.

“I still live one day at a time,” Phillips quipped.

The ACC wrapped up its spring meetings Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, with athletic directors and coaches having spent three days discussing wide-ranging issues affecting football and basketball.

The event came amid the backdrop of the pending $2.8 billion NCAA settlement, which would allow schools to share up to $20.5 million annually directly with their athletes.

The ACC spent the past two years tracking that legal battle while also wading through contentious litigation from two of its top member schools, Clemson and Florida State.

The Tigers and Seminoles approved a settlement in March that changed the league’s revenue-distribution model to benefit schools with marquee football brands. Both would presumably fall into that category.

Although the 2030-31 season looms as a potential spot for more changes to the college football landscape, the revised deal should fortify a league that looked to be on the verge of collapse while falling further behind the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten.

“I just think you got to settle down,” Phillips said, noting he envisions four or five years of stability ahead. “And I think college athletics needs it to settle down, not just the ACC. I think we’ve positioned ourselves for that, and that’s a good thing. It just is.

“Chaos and the constant wondering of what’s happening here or there, I just think that distracts from the business at hand. But I feel good about where we’re at.”

The league’s revised revenue-distribution model incorporates TV viewership as a way for the league’s top programs to generate more money.

Florida State, for example, expects roughly $18 million extra annually from the tweaked structure. Those schools outside the top tier could see a decline of about $7 million a year.

“We’re really excited that this is now put behind us,” FSU athletic director Michael Alford said. “We have a path going forward. We have a path to really look at how we control the conference together, how we expand on the great brands that are in this conference and really promote the ACC and especially ACC football moving forward and give it its day in the sun.”

Even though ACC schools are bracing for the NCAA settlement and how it will change their business model, Phillips believes President Donald Trump’s proposed commission on collegiate athletics could help.

“We have not been able to get this thing into the end zone, so to speak,” Phillips said. “If the President feels that a commission could potentially help, I’m all for it.”

The proposed commission would be co-chaired by former Alabama coach Nick Saban and current Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell.

“I think it’s well-intended,” Phillips said. “I do feel that the time is right based on all the work that’s previously been done and a supportive administration that’s in there. So I’m hopeful that that can be a positive to an end result that gets us a standardized law across the country with NIL.”

NCAA president Charlie Baker spoke at the ACC meetings Monday and said he was “up for anything” if it helped formalize NIL laws that differ from state to state.

“I think it speaks to the fact that everybody is paying a lot of attention right now to what’s going on in college sports,” Baker said. “I’m up for anything that can help us get somewhere.”

While power four conferences — the ACC, the Big Ten, Big 12 and the SEC — continue to negotiate the future of the College Football Playoff beginning in 2026, Phillips declined to reveal specifics regarding the league’s stance on automatic qualifiers.

“I remain steadfast about fairness in the system and access,” he said. “Out of respect for my colleagues, I want to hold off on commenting about AQs and specific models.”

The 16-team playoff model that has been widely discussed would grant four automatic berths to the Big Ten, four to the SEC, two to the ACC and two to the Big 12. That would leave four bids, with as many as three of those going to at-large teams and the other to the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six.

The ACC, according to several coaches, wants three guaranteed spots.

“You start to wonder if we are going to have an invitational,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “Every year, one league may be better than the other, and it can change to some degree.

“To say we’re going to pick teams based on what’s happened the last 15 years, especially in an environment where we have more and more parity with the way the rules are, I think it’s a slippery slope.”

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Brice Moore is a senior writing and communications major at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. He is a member of the ABAC Radio team where he oversees the play-by-play commentary for the ABAC Baseball home games. He also hosts the Rowdy Sports Network Podcast where he discusses sports news and insights.

Name, image, and likeness (NIL) for student-athletes opened a frenzied new era in college athletics. In 2021, the introduction of NIL into the college sports ecosystem intended to provide an avenue for student-athletes to monetize their personal brand, and it has largely been viewed as a positive development. However, with all of the great things that have come with NIL, the system itself has devolved into one where unintended consequences have ballooned, creating an unsustainable future for college athletics across the nation.

One of the primary problems with NIL is that it lacks uniform, national rules, resulting in some student-athletes operating under more favorable conditions than others depending on where they live and go to school. Unsurprisingly, that environment is creating instability across collegiate athletics. Individual states have passed their own NIL laws in an effort to ensure their institutions are most attractive for prospective student-athletes, either coming from high school or transferring from another institution. This kind of environment leaves many student-athletes struggling to figure out what their future looks like.

Some have also suggested the solution is to classify student-athletes as employees. Simply put: this should not happen. That would create a whole host of new problems and complicated avenues to navigate. Student-athletes are students first, and while they should have the ability to earn money while also getting a high-quality education, granting them employee status would do more harm than good.

This messy, state-by-state patchwork of laws will only make the problem worse if nothing is done. We need federal legislation that establishes a national NIL standard where student-athletes still profit from their abilities, and the traditional spirit of collegiate athletics is upheld. Congress must take this path to ensure college sports remain viable at higher education institutions both here in Georgia and across the country.

In Georgia, we know a thing or two about successful college athletics. Without our national leaders acting soon, the future of the sports we love could be on shaky ground. Senator Jon Ossoff was elected to bring change to Washington and provide a voice for the people of our state. Now is his chance to follow through by leading in passing a national standard for NIL.

Senator Ossoff has already demonstrated appreciation for sports’ positive impact on young individuals by introducing the Youth Sports Facilities Act. For Georgia’s children, their pursuit of an athletic dream relies on a highly visible, elite level of competition they aspire to reach. Without NIL reform, the collegiate competitions that inspire young Georgians may no longer exist. Senator Ossoff can protect the athletic dreams of the next generation by working with his colleagues to pass legislation that creates a national standard for NIL, preserves the progress we’ve already made in this space, and codifies the necessary policies that will safeguard the future of college athletics for the next generation.

Georgians have much to be proud of and passionate about regarding college sports in our state. The Georgia Bulldogs are a powerhouse in football, Georgia Tech’s women’s volleyball team has won its conference seven times, and the Emory Eagles men’s swimming and diving team claimed its third straight NCAA Division III national championship in 2024. For this success to continue, we need Senator Ossoff to get in the game and work toward federal NIL legislation that will stop college athletics from falling into decline.

President Donald Trump announced plans to form a presidential commission looking into college sports and its “unwieldy landscape” last week. Later that day, On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed the 45th and 47th President of the United States planned to name Nick Saban as a co-chair of the working group.

The only issue? Not much else is known about the commission. Even the former Alabama head coach and current ESPN College GameDay analyst is still in the dark.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really know much about this commission,” Saban said Wednesday morning ahead of his annual appearance at the Regions Traditions Pro-Am in Birmingham, Alabama, according to BamaOnline. “I don’t really know what the commission will do. I think we know what needs to be done, I just think we need to figure out who’s got the will to do it. I learned one thing about coaching all these years: when you get into a subject like this that’s very complex, it’s probably good not to talk about it off the cuff. So I’ll find out more about it, and if there’s something I can do to help college football be better, I’ll always be committed to do that. I was committed to do that as a coach, to help players be more successful in life, and I’d continue to do that same thing now.”

Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger first reported Trump’s plans to form a commission focused on college sports. The Athletic also added the president will be “very engaged” because of the national importance he sees in college athletics.

The commission on college sports is expected to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts,” according to Yahoo! Sports. It is expected to be a months-long endeavor.

Saban was asked a follow-up about his personal concern with the current state of college football. Then, he dismissed the notion that it’s gone off the rails.

“Not really. I think that there’s always things we can do to improve it. And I know there’s a lot of people out there concerned about the direction that we’re headed in,” Saban added. “But I also know there’s a lot of good people out there that can do the type of things that you need to do to get it moving in the right direction.”

Nick Saban to co-chair President Donald Trump commission on college sports

News of Trump’s plan to consider an executive order and form a commission come with the backdrop of the House v. NCAA settlement, which continues to go through the final approval process. Attorneys filed an updated brief last Wednesday that sought to address Judge Claudia Wilken’s concerns about roster limits, and the plan would create a grandfather provision for athletes who lost their spots. A decision on final approval is expected in the coming weeks.

However, plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Berman called out Nick Saban and President Donald Trump’s discussions as the settlement seeks final approval. Legal experts say an executive order could create more problems, and Berman called for the conversations to cease while both sides work toward final approval for the House v. NCAA settlement.

“While he was a coach, [Nick] Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,’” Berman said in a statement. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement. College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

NCAA leadership has taken multiple trips to Capitol Hill for discussions about NIL and college sports. Last month, leaders from across collegiate athletics took a trip to Washington, D.C. for College Sports Day. Saban has also spoken in front of Congress about regulation, notably doing so in a roundtable hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year.

NCAA president Charlie Baker and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also spoke multiple times about the need for national legislation to help regulate NIL. Saban also did so on ESPN’s College GameDay this past football season, calling for stability with both NIL and the transfer portal.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.