Trump's College Sports Order Would Have Benched Michigan's Final Four Stars

Executive Overreach Meets March Madness

President Trump signed an executive order in late March that could have fundamentally altered this year's Final Four -- if it were already in effect. The order, grandly titled "Urgent National Action to Save College Sports," would cap college eligibility at five years and limit athletes to one school transfer with narrow exceptions.

Under those rules, two Michigan stars would have been sidelined. Yaxel Lendeborg spent three years in junior college, two at UAB, then transferred to Michigan -- exceeding the proposed limits. Nimari Burnett is in his sixth season and playing for his third school. Both were instrumental in Michigan's tournament run.

The order doesn't take effect until August 1, and critically, it has no law attached to make it binding. But it does threaten to withhold federal funding from schools that don't comply -- a move likely to trigger immediate legal challenges if the administration tries to enforce it without congressional action.

Nick Saban's New Gig: White House Sports Czar

The executive order bears the fingerprints of legendary college football coach Nick Saban, who has been working directly with the White House on rewriting college sports rules. Saban told Fox News this week that "we need Congress to have some kind of antitrust legislation that keeps us from having litigation actually rule college sports."

That's a telling admission. What Saban and the administration want is an antitrust exemption -- legal cover to restrict athlete movement and compensation without facing lawsuits. Rather than go through Congress, Trump is attempting to impose these restrictions by executive order, threatening schools' federal funding as the enforcement mechanism.

NCAA President Charlie Baker praised the move as a "significant step forward," acknowledging that "on some of these issues, it's hard for us to do it without at least some support from the feds." Translation: the NCAA wants the government to do what courts have repeatedly blocked them from doing on their own.

The Real Fight: Athlete Compensation and Control

The proposed changes target the fallout from 2021's name, image and likeness (NIL) rules, which finally allowed college athletes to profit from their own identities. Since then, athletes have gained unprecedented mobility through the transfer portal and extended eligibility -- changes that have upended the old model of unpaid labor controlled by coaches and administrators.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas cut through the rhetoric during a heated College Gameday debate: "If we want players to stay, sign them to long-term contracts and put buyouts in them. But the NCAA doesn't want to do that because they don't want them to be employees, they want to beg Congress for an antitrust exemption."

Arkansas coach John Calipari raised safety concerns, claiming "a 17-year-old playing against a 28-year-old is not healthy and safe." But that framing ignores the reality that extended eligibility often results from circumstances beyond athletes' control -- injuries, academic issues, or in Lendeborg's case, starting at the junior college level.

Executive Orders Can't Rewrite Sports Law

The fundamental problem with Trump's order is that it attempts to regulate private organizations and contractual relationships through presidential decree. The NCAA is not a federal agency. College athletic departments are not federal programs. The executive branch has no inherent authority to dictate eligibility rules or transfer policies.

The funding threat is the administration's only leverage -- and it's on shaky legal ground. Courts have repeatedly struck down attempts to withhold federal education funding as coercive and unconstitutional. If the administration tries to enforce this order, expect immediate lawsuits from schools, conferences, and athletes.

Even supporters like Saban acknowledge that lasting change requires congressional action. But rather than work through the legislative process, the White House is trying to impose restrictions by fiat -- a pattern that defines this administration's approach to governance across issue areas.

What Happens Next

The order doesn't become effective until August 1, giving Congress time to act -- or more likely, giving lawyers time to prepare challenges. If the administration attempts enforcement without new legislation, courts will almost certainly block it.

In the meantime, athletes like Lendeborg and Burnett can keep playing. But the message is clear: this White House views executive orders as a substitute for lawmaking, even in areas where presidential authority is dubious at best.

The irony is rich. An administration that rails against government overreach is threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that don't comply with presidential sports regulations. All to help the NCAA and coaches reassert control over athletes who finally have some leverage.

If Trump wants to reshape college sports, he should work with Congress to pass actual legislation. Using executive orders to threaten schools into compliance isn't governing -- it's authoritarianism with a whistle.