A federal appeals court just reminded everyone that judges, not schools or athletic associations, are increasingly the ones deciding who gets to play college sports — and ordinary Americans who believe institutions should govern themselves are losing another sphere of self-determination.
A 2-1 panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver temporarily halted a lower court order Friday that would have granted thousands of former college athletes an extra year of eligibility. The ruling pauses Judge Charlotte Sweeney's district court decision in Wisne v. NCAA, which gave athletes who graduated high school in 2022 the right to return to their teams or transfer — even though rosters are already set and seasons are days away.
Here's the stake: the NCAA, a voluntary association of member schools, set a rule granting most players five years of eligibility starting next season. The class of 2022 wasn't included. Rather than accept the association's rules — rules its own membership agreed to follow — a group of players sued, and a federal judge decided she knew better than the institutions themselves.
The NCAA pushed back. "Fairness is in the eye of the beholder," the organization argued in its filing. "Countless student-athletes already on campuses, and schools who built their rosters in reliance on the rules the NCAA's membership wrote and agreed to follow, do not believe it is fair for thousands of formerly-ineligible athletes to return to competition at the start of the 2026-27 season."
They have a point. Arkansas Online reported that at the University of Arkansas alone, defensive backs Caleb Wooden and Sean Williams joined the football team earlier this week under the now-halted order, and the soccer team added defenders Makenzie Malham and Dejionee Anderson — roster spots that may now disappear. At Ole Miss, former starters Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams won rulings from a Louisiana state court giving them another season even though they'd already signed with NFL teams. Gonzaga added two basketball players who won eligibility lawsuits in different courts.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman took a different stance. Asked about defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka, who won a temporary restraining order granting another season, Freeman said it was "too late" — citing the graduate admissions process and the academic calendar. "School starts on Monday," Freeman said. "I don't think it would put a person in a good situation this late to have success in the classroom and on the field."
NBC Sports framed Freeman's position as "refreshing, and borderline quaint," suggesting that if Notre Dame truly wanted the players, they'd "find a way to expedite the process." The outlet effectively dismissed the idea that academic standards still matter in college sports — a telling admission about how far the institution has fallen.
The deeper problem isn't whether these players deserve a fifth year. It's that federal judges are now arbitrating roster construction for college athletic departments across America. Multiple courts in multiple states are issuing conflicting rulings on the same question, and there's no end in sight. The 10th Circuit's pause is temporary — the full appeal is still coming.
When the rules of a voluntary association can be overwritten by any judge with a gavel, self-governance is dead. The question isn't whether the NCAA's rule was fair. It's who gets to decide — and right now, the answer is nobody you elected.
