June 6, 2025 – perhaps one of the greatest moments in NCAA history. Not on the tracks, not on the basketball court, not on the vault, the beam, the bars, not on any field of play—but in the courtroom. 59 months, yes, that is how long Shawne Alston and Grant House were in the courts for the monetary rights of the NCAA athletes. On the sixth day of June, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken granted final approval to a historic settlement. Decision: A $2.8 billion class-action settlement in damages for former college athletes spanning 2016–2024 and permission for current Division I schools to directly pay student-athletes, capped at $20.5 million per school in 2025–26, with the cap rising over the next decade. Tara Davis-Woodhall gave a hilarious reaction to it. What?

Tara Davis-Woodhall’s fight to elevate track and field is no secret to the world, so the woman must have carried a large smile when she posted an Instagram story on that very day. Along with the news of the historic settlement, she wrote, “The only time I wish I was in college still,” and at the bottom left of the screen, you could also read a teeny tiny, “Y’all are welcome btw🙄.” Back then, she joked about being in college, but her latest update carries a serious tone when she treads along similar lines once again. What went down?

On June 17, 2025, Tara Davis-Woodhall took to her Threads account to tell the collegiate athletes to stay in college. She wrote in the post, “If you collegiate athletes are thinking about going pro and have more eligibility left… don’t go pro! Stay in college. You’ll get paid more being in college than pro… being a pro athlete isn’t always glitz and glamor.. you have to take care of everything yourself… and pay hella people just to get you to point A to B.”

Coming out of college in 2020, despite being a top American long jumper, Tara Davis‑Woodhall was refused entry into Diamond League meets, even after she and her husband offered to cover their own travel and accommodation, as organizers dismissed her for lacking an agent and major international medals. Look how the tables have turned, the woman is now an Olympic gold medalist, and she recently made her 2025 Diamond League debut as well.

Tara Davis‑Woodhall opened her 2025 Diamond League long jump at the Stockholm BAUHAUS‑galan on June 15 with a 7.05 m personal best. She claimed victory, while Larissa Iapichino came in second with 6.90 m, and Jasmine Moore placed third at 6.76 m. This thread’s post came only a few days after that, and while she does urge students to stay in college after the new NCAA decision, she had a lot of struggles in college when it came to athletic finances.

Tara Davis’ collegiate career had a lot of financial struggles as well

“I had to sit out a year because the coach decided that I wasn’t allowed to compete for any team cause i was “too good of an athlete” now athletes are switching within conferences and playing immediately.don’t get me wrong I wish I had this but at the same time it’s hurting the NCAA” this tweet came from the Olympian back in 2024 recalling of her college days. She was speaking about athletes going around in colleges, switching conferences in their collegiate careers. The thing to notice here is that she was made to sit out one year.

After one year at the University of Georgia, she transferred to Texas in 2018—but NCAA policy forced her to sit out the entire 2018–19 season, sidelining her from competition and, crucially, from any opportunity to earn performance‑based compensation. At the time, NCAA rules said that athletes who switched schools had to sit out one full season before competing again. And this was not the only thing she had to deal with.

 “We missed out on A LOT of money. The number of times that we emailed back “no”… We would sit down with each other and be like, ‘Should we do it?’ ‘No, we’re going to get caught. It’s not even worth it.’“, These words came from Tara in a Citius Mag podcast where she and her husband, Hunter Woodhall, were asked how much money they left in college. It was in 2021 that the NCAA rule was changed to allow college athletes to earn money through NIL. Before that, the Woodhall couple could not monetize their content on Instagram and other social media platforms where they had built a fan base.