DeWine's NCAA Order: 2022 high school athletes can compete for a fifth season

NCAA flag (Photo: NCAA/Getty Images)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signs an executive order allowing the class of 2022 high school athletes to compete in 2026-2027. 

According to reports, the order is called Executive Order 2026-04D, which authorizes Ohio colleges not to enforce NCAA eligibility rules regarding certain former Division I athletes who have exhausted four seasons of competition and compete for a fifth season. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed an executive order granting college athletes an additional year of eligibility. The order could allow class of 2022 athletes to compete in 2026-27 and bar Ohio colleges from enforcing certain NCAA eligibility restrictions. via ON3 | https://t.co/wwkG5DkaPh

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Back in June, the NCAA adopted a new eligibility model, giving all otherwise eligible student-athletes up to five years of competition. The eligibility model starts an athlete's five-year eligibility clock the academic year after they turn 19 or when they first enroll full-time in college, whichever comes first. Under the NCAA's implementation guidance, however, student-athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and have already completed four seasons of competition are denied a fifth season, according to the press release. 

"When the rules change, fairness has to remain part of the equation," said Governor DeWine. "We want Ohio's student-athletes to have the same opportunity as student-athletes in other states." 

Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel also feels it is giving Ohio student-athletes an opportunity and agrees with what DeWine signed into law. "I commend Governor DeWine's leadership on fairness in college sports," said Tressel. "It's important we do not deprive our current student-athletes of the same opportunities enjoyed by peers." 

The executive order doesn't apply to athletes who participated in a professional sports league, with the NFL, NBA, and WNBA specifically mentioned as examples. But it applies to other athletes from the high school class of 2022.

Legal Drawbacks 

An executive order can be challenged in court; orders such as DeWine's are vulnerable to constitutional challenge under the Dormant Commerce Clause and Contract Clause theories, by authorizing NCAA member schools, which, as members, owe contractual duties to the NCAA, to violate NCAA rules, according to a report. 

The executive order gives Ohio institutions of higher education the authority to decline to uphold the NCAA's restriction against all otherwise eligible student-athletes who graduated high school in 2022 while legal challenges proceed.