He beat the NCAA on transfers. Now he's warning Trump executive order won't survive

A Republican state attorney general who sued the NCAA and won unlimited annual transfers for college athletes said President Donald Trump ’s latest executive order for college sports “probably will not survive litigation” in its attempt to force changes, including a call to limit the number of times players can transfer to new schools. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti , a Republican like Trump, effectively created this new system of unlimited annual player transfers, along with a bipartisan group of attorneys general from several other states. They sued the NCAA to remove transfer restrictions in December 2023 and won a settlement that allowed unlimited annual transfers in 2024.

Now Trump wants to go back to the old system that existed before that, limiting college athletes to one transfer every five years without penalty, plus once more if they graduate. Trump’s “executive order is a well-intentioned effort to fix the problem, and I especially appreciate any proposed changes to bring sanity to the eligibility and transfer landscape,” Skrmetti said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports. “The constitutional limits on the President’s power mean this will probably not survive litigation, but maybe it will send a meaningful signal to Congress.

” Congressional legislation to regulate college sports has been stalled amid partisan disagreements. In the absence of legislation, Trump issued an executive order April 3 that calls on the NCAA to make changes by Aug. 1, including rules to limit transfers.

The big question is what comes next An executive order like this without the backing of a law passed by Congress generally isn’t considered enforceable. But Trump also has issued this one under the threat of federal funding cuts for those who don’t comply with his wishes. This creates uncertainty even if it doesn’t affect college basketball players who are entering the transfer portal from April 7 through April 21 .