NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the NCAA is drowning in problems. And time and time again, she managed to land on the wrong side of almost all of them: name, image and likeness, the transfer portal, eligibility rules, men competing in women’s sports. The list grows day by day and leadership remains insufficient.
Earlier this week, University of Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari spent nearly seven minutes in a press conference laying bare what many within college athletics already know: the system is broken. He didn’t beat around the bush. He gave the NCAA some guidance on how to stop operating as a corrupt sports enterprise (“fugazi,” as he put it), so that college sports can truly serve the athletes who make them possible.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Head coach John Calipari of the Arkansas Razorbacks speaks with an official in the second half against the Queens Royals at Bud Walton Arena on December 16, 2025 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
After the clips went viral, Calipari doubled down on X, writing, “I will continue to use whatever influence I have to ensure the health and longevity of our game.”
I spent four years at the University of Kentucky while Calipari coached there, and I can tell you that I never saw him excited at a press conference (and he was known for being fiery). And he is far from alone. Their indignation is not only understandable, but justified.
Higher education itself faces a reckoning. Enrollment is declining. Enrollment is skyrocketing. Parents wonder if four years and six figures are worth it, especially as campuses are increasingly overrun with chaos, radical activism and administrators more concerned with appeasing ideological mobs than educating students.
While private companies offer direct career opportunities and vocational routes promise real financial advantages, university presidents struggle to justify their relevance. Too often, they kneel before paid liberal protesters who seek to tear down American Judeo-Christian institutions, traditions, and values rather than preserve them.
JOHN CALIPARI RIPS NCAA AFTER NBA PLAYER ENTERS COLLEGE MID-SEASON: ‘WE DON’T HAVE ANY RULES’
Bo Jackson #25 of the Ohio State Buckeyes runs the ball against the Indiana Hoosiers in the 2025 Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 6, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
And yet, even now, universities still possess an asset that has long unified campuses and inspired national pride: college football.
College football is the porch of higher education. It is the marketing arm of our most recognized universities. When someone says they attended a Power Conference school, no one asks about their economics department. They ask about the football team, rivalry games, the playoff picture or whether the starting quarterback will suit up on Saturday. A winning football program drives enrollment, energizes alumni, and drives funding across the university.
But today, college athletics (especially college football) is on dangerously shaky ground.
As Coach Calipari highlighted, without serious reform, we are facing the possible total collapse of the college sports model. Why do I care?
Because if college athletics fails, women’s sports will pay the biggest price. Title IX protections, Olympic development projects and nonprofit women’s programs will be the first to be cut.
At a time when women’s athletics is already under attack, the last thing the United States should do is allow the financial foundation of college sports to crumble. Women’s sports deserve protection, investment and respect, not further erosion due to a broken system that no longer works.
College football once represented the best of America: grit, competition, community and the relentless drive to win. Today, its governance structure is fractured, weak and unsustainable. Like higher education itself, it desperately needs a reckoning along with strong leadership to achieve it.
President Trump’s return to the White House has made one thing unequivocally clear: When America demands strength, he delivers. His America First agenda restored national pride, returned clarity to Washington and demonstrated that this country does not shy away from big challenges. That same bold leadership is exactly what college athletics needs right now.
The House agreement finally recognized what everyone already knows: college athletes deserve a fair share of the enormous value they help create. But it also exposed an uncomfortable truth; The current system cannot survive as it is. Division I football is the economic engine that funds nearly every other sport, from track and field to women’s swimming, gymnastics and soccer. If football collapses, the entire ecosystem will go with it.
Resident Donald Trump (C) greets players after the coin toss and before the start of the 126th Army-Navy Game between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen at M&T Bank Stadium December 13, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Yet the conferences stubbornly cling to a failed media rights model. Each negotiates alone, leaving billions of dollars on the table. This is money that could support student-athletes, women’s programs and Olympic projects for generations to come.
Professional sports solved this problem decades ago. The NFL and NBA collectively negotiate media rights under the antitrust protections provided by Congress through the Sports Broadcasting Act. The result? Competitive balance, massive growth and long-term stability.
College football deserves the same unity and strength. President Trump and Congress have the authority to make it happen.
With expanded antitrust protections, college athletics could collectively negotiate media rights, schedule marquee matchups that captivate the nation, and generate billions in new revenue to stabilize programs across the country. That means more scholarships, stronger women’s sports, and more opportunities for all athletes (men and women) pursuing the American dream.
It’s about more than just football. It’s about preserving an American institution that instills discipline, teamwork, faith in God, hard work and love of country. It is about ensuring that universities uphold those values rather than abandon them.
President Trump has never been afraid to confront weak leadership or a failed status quo. When the system is rigged or broken, he fights to fix it and puts America first.
With your leadership and the support of Congress, we can restore justice, defend Title IX, protect women’s sports, and ensure that college football (and college athletics as a whole) emerge stronger, prouder, and more united than ever.
