Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia opened another can of worms for the NCAA and its member institutions last December when he was granted an injunction to extend his collegiate eligibility another year.

Pavia filed the suit in November, claiming the NCAA’s rule that counts the years spent playing in junior college violates antitrust law and unfairly limits his ability to make money from his Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). 

One week after the injunction was granted, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved an extra year of eligibility for athletes who competed at a non-NCAA institution for one or more years. The waiver is only approved for the 2025-2026 school year. Athletes must meet all other eligibility requirements, including progress toward degree requirements, and would have otherwise exhausted their eligibility following the 2024-2025 academic year. This current rule applies to those who competed at NJCAA or NAIA schools before transferring to play Division I football. 

Unfortunately, this waiver applies only to Division I. During the American Football Coaches Association and NCAA Conventions in January, Many Division II and Division III coaches argued that the same rule should apply to all levels of the NCAA. As of publication, the NCAA does not allow the waiver to apply to DII and DIII athletes.

The eligibility drama took another turn last Wednesday when Wisconsin defensive back Nyzier Fourqurean sued the NCAA, seeking an injunction to compete in another FBS football season. Forqurean played 24 games during his first two years at Division II Grand Valley State. The suit claims that denying the waiver causes Fourqurean “significant harm” by denying him the “opportunity to profit from the NIL, significant revenue sharing, and other opportunities unique to Division I athletics.”

Most of the coaches I contacted did not receive this lawsuit well. One DII head coach said, “There’s not one coach happy about this stuff. No matter what the NCAA does, they will get sued. Lawyers and agents are feasting off these kids, and it’s killing college athletics.”

“If this goes through, it will be a free-for-all,” a former Lone Star Conference head coach said. “You will have guys going DII for two years, get built up because of the weight room, and then go to DI to get paid.”

“They choose to go DII. What makes these kids play DII,” one Lone Star Conference coach said. “Were they recruited by DI schools out of high school? Kids should get four years of college athletics to play. We are past covid.”

Other coaches expressed concern about the repercussions these waivers have on high school athletes trying to enter college athletics, especially considering the roster and scholarship limits imposed by the NCAA.

“Players at all levels are in a logjam right now, and if we limit roster and scholarships, it will be more challenging for high school kids,” one coach said.

Another LSC assistant coach agrees with the decision in the Pavia case but believes Fourqurean’s suit faces an uphill battle.

“Junior college guys have an argument, but not DII,” he said. “One can argue that NAIA and NJCAA schools are not part of the NCAA, so those years shouldn’t count. FBS, FCS, DII, and DIII are NCAA schools, so I don’t see this going well for the player that sued.”

However, not all coaches oppose Fourqurean’s efforts. Another LSC head coach wants the suit to succeed, hoping it will force the NCAA to treat all three divisions equally.

“At some point, the NCAA will have to make transfer rules the same across all levels. They have been catering to DI and not taking care of the lower levels,” the coach said. “I’m all for this guy winning his lawsuit until the NCAA can get off its high horse and help the lower levels by making all transfer rules and portal windows the same for all levels.”

Other coaches said the NCAA should follow some of the recommendations Dave Campbell’s Texas Football senior writer Mike Craven made in his piece on ways to fix college football. Notably, some coaches want the NCAA to allow athletes five years to play five seasons. However, one coach wants players to receive a medical redshirt if they participate in less than 50 percent of a team’s games.

“You have to draw the line in the sand somewhere. Four years of any type of college football is enough as long as you have a chance to play,” the coach said. “The only leniency I would push for is that a medical redshirt should be awarded if they play less than 50 percent of their team’s games.”

“The NCAA should grant everyone five years, in my opinion,” another LSC head coach said. “You get five years to play college athletics regardless of where you go. I think that’s a good compromise.”

One of the more concerning aspects of all the changes is the additional stress added to college coaches. One head coach noted that his agent told him to expect another coaching cycle during this offseason as coaches choose to leave college football for other levels.

All coaches agree that something must be done to avoid unknowingly violating NCAA rules. However, few trust Congress or NCAA leadership to make necessary changes and clarify the rules, with one coach noting, “Right now, that might be the last groups of people we want (to be) involved.”