SCORE Act aims to change NCAA sports, how college coaches are hired and fired
As the SCORE Act regulating NCAA athletics makes its third attempt to move through Congress, this version aims to tackle coaches' hiring cycles.
The SCORE Act is set to again be on the United States House of Representatives agenda Monday, May 18, and the latest, amended version of the proposal to “represent the interests of student athletes, institutions, and conferences” includes language geared at dramatically altering the timeline of hiring coaches during the season. The language in the SCORE Act’s latest version , made available Monday, May 11, on the rules portion of the House of Representatives website, seeks to establish “parameters for the manner in which an institution (or any person on behalf of an institution) may engage in public or private communication with respect to the employment of, or solicit, recruit, or enter into an employment contract or other arrangement with, any coach employed by another institution with respect to a varsity sports team, if such rules prohibit an institution (or any person on behalf of an institution) from engaging in any such communication, solicitation, recruitment, contract, or other arrangement with any such coach during a season of competition of the varsity sports team of such coach. ” It also seeks to dictate the funds an institution utilizes to pay off the buyouts of a fired coach.
While this element of college athletics is perhaps fresher in the minds of the public after Lane Kiffin’s weeks-long dalliance with LSU while still coaching Ole Miss late in the 2025 season, the debate on the timing of coaching departures in college football with seasons still in the balance traces to at least the 2021 cycle. Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for the LSU job two days after the Irish concluded their regular season and Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for Southern California on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2021, less than 12 hours after losing to rival Oklahoma State, costing the Sooners a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Kelly, who was replaced by Kiffin at LSU on Nov. 30, 2025, addressed the exit-status of coaches in the USA TODAY Sports college football podcast May 6, 2026 and advocated for a change to the hiring cycle. “The timing stinks, ok?
" Kelly said. "If we could all just say, 'Hey, (athletics directors), you can't make any decisions on coaches until after this time. ' It'd be easy on our lives.
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