When Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Donald Trump, and Ron DeSantis hit the links, it’s more than just a casual round of golf. Meyer has now revealed the outing was a high-stakes summit to address the future of college sports.

“I got invited to play golf with Coach Nick Saban and Governor Ron DeSantis and Donald J. Trump, our president, and what brought this on is just a conversation about the positives and negatives of not just college football, college sports,” revealed Meyer regarding their golf outing on The Triple Option podcast. “This conversation is all bipartisan. 

It happens that one’s a Republican president, one’s a very conservative governor of our state. Coach Saban and I were there as guests, and it was all about our thoughts on how to make this thing better.”

Meyer lives in Florida, and even before this golf outing, Meyer was one of the three members whom Gov. DeSantis appointed to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees. The ex-college football head coach was joined by Mark Bauerlein, the editor of First Things magazine, and an attorney, Debra Jenks. This shows how seriously the Florida governor takes college football. 

Earlier, too, DeSantis and Trump came together to address NIL issues in college football. On that occasion, the governor tagged the situation as a “total mess.” Back then, DeSantis said he huddled with a bipartisan mix of governors about a year ago. Doing so, he noted that the bipartisan governors were already on the same page, pushing to put some structure and guardrails around the college football issue.

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“Honestly, you really only need 10, 12 states, right? Because, you know, if you get Florida, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, now you need Indiana, California,” said the governor. 

This recent meeting builds on Trump’s long-standing interest in the issue, which previously saw him consider a Saban-led presidential commission and sign the ‘Saving College Sports’ Executive Order last year.

The purpose was stated as “provid[ing] the stability, fairness, and balance necessary to protect student-athletes, collegiate athletic scholarships and opportunities, and the special American institution of college sports.”

We are yet to get details about how the golf outing went. However, Meyer confirmed that his and Saban’s role was “how to make this thing [college sports] better.” 

A Senator’s push to restore order in college football

Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt, who has served since 2023, has proposed a blueprint to fix loopholes in college football’s structure. It comprises four pillars that address different areas. With DeSantis and Trump concerned about NIL, Schmitt’s blueprint with strict guardrails would accelerate the restoration of order. 

“Restoring order to today’s chaotic college sports landscape requires action now,” a part of the mission read. “Simply put, the current system is unsustainable.”

The third pillar addresses NIL payments at fair market value. It also calls for greater transparency between college football programs and student-athletes regarding payments. Echoing these concerns from outside the political sphere, Auburn legend Bo Jackson also criticized the current state of college football. 

“To be honest, I think it’s teaching young kids how to run away from their problems. Number two, it’s ruining college sports,” Auburn Tigers legend Bo Jackson sounded upset while discussing the ill effects of NIL on college football. 

In this NIL era, players no longer believe they must remain committed to a single program throughout their development. Rather, their commitment depends on which program dishes out the fatter check. With influential coaches, politicians, and sports legends all calling for change, the pressure to implement federal guardrails on college sports appears to be reaching a critical point.