NCAA responds to Zakai Zeigler lawsuit seeking to play another season on Rocky Top
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The National Collegiate Athletic Association filed a response to Zakai Zeigler's motion for a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit where he is seeking to play a fifth season at the University of Tennessee.
Zeigler sued the NCAA, saying that its rule that only allows players to compete for four seasons within a five-year window violates antitrust laws. His attorneys requested a preliminary injunction that would allow him to play in the 2025-2026 season.
Vols season on the line after falling to Wake Forest in regional final
An attorney for the NCAA filed a response to this injunction saying that Zeigler was only able to play in the first place because an older athlete exhausted his eligibility and left the team. Similarly, if Zeigler plays for another season, it will prevent a graduating high school senior from taking his spot, the response said. The attorneys argued that Zeigler would be playing, 'at the expense of another student-athlete who would otherwise have the opportunity to take his place.'
The response also argued that the Sherman Act, an antitrust law, only applies to commercial competition and that NCAA's eligibility requirements are non-commercial.
Milling and paving of Fort Sanders roads begins Monday
'The higher education community itself contends that discarding the NCAA's time-based eligibility rules would undermine the educational missions of NCAA member institutions,' the response said.
The response makes other arguments as well such as saying that an expert for the plaintiff 'is not credible' and that the rules don't harm consumer welfare.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
These Florida siblings both punched NCAA Championship tickets (one in golf)
These Florida siblings both punched NCAA Championship tickets (one in golf) Punching one ticket to the NCAA Championships is a special moment. For siblings Jake and Reese Springer, it was twice as nice after their historic sweep. On May 14 in Urbana, Illinois, Jake Springer and the Troy men's golf team qualified for the NCAA Men's Golf Championships for the first time in the program's Division I history. On May 18 in Sarasota, Reese Springer and the Central Florida women's rowing team claimed the program's first Big 12 Championship after a sweep of all races and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Rowing Championships for the seventh time in school history. The former Chiles High athletes couldn't have been happier for each other and their respective teams. "I am really proud of Jake. He has some of the strongest work ethic I've ever seen and it is really amazing to see it finally pay off for him," Reese Springer said. "And then to be able to turn around and do it for myself and teammates as well, here in Florida, it's really special. It's absolutely incredible that Jake and I are doing it (in NCAA) together." Added Jake about his younger sister: "What Reese has accomplished is really amazing and I am so proud. To stick it out and do what they are doing – she could have easily said this isn't for me – is so impressive. I get to wake up, jump on a golf cart and hit golf balls. She's on the water every morning rowing and training every muscle in her body. It's incredible." Former Chiles star Jake Springer helps Troy men's golf advance NCAA Championship Neither Troy men's golf nor UCF women's rowing were guaranteed NCAA berths when the postseason started. Jake Springer, a senior, helped the Trojans hold off No. 10 North Carolina and jump past No. 23 Texas Tech with an eagle 3 on the par-5 sixth hole to finish fourth in the team standings in the NCAA Urbana Regional at the Atkins Golf Course. The Trojans, whose roster also includes sophomore and former Maclay golfer Lee Poppell, carded five birdies, an eagle and 10 pars over the final four holes to punch their NCAA Championship ticket. Springer's eagle at No. 6, a 599-yard par 5, was punctuated by his 5-wood approach shot that hit the pin and landed inches from the hole. More dramatics awaited. Trailing Texas Tech by one stroke with the final two golfers on the course, Springer's par on the last hole guaranteed Troy's one-stroke advantage over the Red Raiders as they scored a double-bogey. The top four teams from the Urbana regional advanced to the NCAA Championship (May 23-28) at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. Troy's NCAA Championship bid was the first by a Sun Belt program since Georgia Southern qualified in 2022. Springer has played a pivotal role in the Trojans' golf ascent. "We've been terrible, we've decent, we've been good at times (past four years). To see all sides of it - never making it, close to making it, to finally making it (NCAA Championship) - makes it that much more rewarding, " said Springer, who finished tied for fifth in the individual standings at the regional and boasts a career stroke average of 71.71. Springer was just as productive in the classroom, where three weeks ago he was named the athletic department's Clements Award winner for the male student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average. Troy was one of 30 teams to qualify for the NCAA Championship. The field also included No. 11 Florida State and Seminoles senior Patrick McMann, Springer's close friend and former Chiles teammate. The Trojans closed out their historic season in 29th place. Springer tied with Poppell for 116th place in the individual standings at 13-over par. Springer shot a 2-over par 74 on his final day, capping the tourney, season and his career with a birdie on the par-5, 18th hole. "Golf is a weird game," Springer explained. "Sometimes you want to say (improvement) is because of this, that or XYZ. I think a big part has been our maturity, trusting what you are doing - what to do and what not to do. And it hasn't just been one guy, either. Everyone has taken a jump. The joy and satisfaction, to see all sides of the game the past four years, it has been amazing." Reese Springer and UCF women's rowing set for NCAA Championship The Knights' season has been one for the history books. They made their first NCAA Championship appearance since a string of five consecutive berths from 2015 to 2019. They rose as high as to No. 14 in the CRCA Coaches poll and were one of 22 teams in the three-day title event that was held May 30-June 1 in West Windsor, New Jersey. The Knights finished 15th overall. UCF swept its way to the Big 12 Championship as the First 8+ crew that included Springer capped the day with a first-place victory and its season-best time at 6:22:.086 over the 1.24-mile course. For Springer, the win reflected a season-long climb. The sophomore started towards the bottom of the roster, worked her way back from injury and earned - and kept - one one of the most coveted seats on the team. In the NCAA Championship, Springer and crew placed third in the C final at 6:23.115. The time secured a 15th place finish for the Knights as a whole and as a crew. "I worked on my mental approach to practices and workouts but the biggest thing I think contributing to my success was keeping my head down and doing what I am fully capable of all day, every day," Springer said. "Just focusing on myself, what I can contribute to the team, what little improvements I can make each day to get better. The consistency of it day in and day out has helped boost my confidence and it's proved to myself that I am much stronger than I realize and capable of anything I put my mind to." UCF is one of nine teams that received an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship after winning their respective conference title. The Knights have also faced three of the 22 making the trip to Lake Mercer in Dartmouth, Tennessee and Texas. Springer can't say enough about her teammates, describing the season as "special." That also best describes the NCAA sweep by the Springer siblings. "I am really proud our performance this past weekend (May 18), after the season we have had and everything we've been through together - doing it with this team just makes it so much more special," Springer said. "I am so excited for the future of this program, for the season we've had so far and for the seasons to come. "We have something really special here.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Opinion: Trump administration clearly doesn't understand the point of Title IX
The Trump administration has declared June to be 'Title IX Month,' and says it will celebrate 'with actions to protect women in line with the true purpose of" the landmark legislation that opened athletics and academia to girls and young women. Hallelujah! This means the Trump administration will finally crack down on all of those schools that, a half-century on, are still shorting their female athletes of both resources and facilities, right? It's going to work with Congress to enact meaningful reform so the Center for SafeSport does, indeed, make sport safe from predatory coaches and support staff? Restore funding to the Department of Education so it can conduct robust Title IX investigations? Insist the NCAA ensures that women athletes aren't being left behind by NIL and whatever the new structure of college sports looks like? Oh, my bad. The administration's interest in Title IX is solely to use it as yet another cudgel to bully and erase transgender women. To promote fearmongering and hate over fewer than 10 NCAA athletes and 100 or so participating in youth and college sports. This obsession over the genitalia of the teeniest, tiniest fraction of the population is, quite frankly, weird. Yet the right-wing has perpetuated the idea that transgender women are a threat to our very existence, and the Trump administration, never missing an opportunity to rile up its base, has run with it. According to this White House, transgender people are so big and so strong they're a marauding horde about to overrun the playing fields and podiums. They're also supposed to be too weak to fight in the military, but never mind that contradiction! Keep your eyes focused on this 'threat.' Except transgender women are not, and never have been, the real danger facing women and women's sports. Or women in larger society, for that matter. When Title IX was passed 53 years ago this month, it was meant to lift the artificial constraints holding women back. And it has. Women now make up more than half the population in higher education, and the idea of telling a woman she can't go to law school or med school because she would take a spot away from a man is now seen as, rightly, laughable. The WNBA and NWSL are thriving, and U.S. women won the medal count at last summer's Paris Olympics — just as they did in Beijing, Tokyo, Pyeongchang and Rio. Ratings and attendance for NCAA basketball, volleyball and softball are skyrocketing. But there are still so many areas where women lag behind. Areas where an administration that was sincere about equity could make a difference. A USA TODAY review in 2022 found that, for every $1 schools spent on travel, equipment and recruiting for their men's teams, they spent 71 cents for their comparable women's squads. In just a two-year period, that added up to $125 million more spent on men than women in basketball, baseball and softball, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, and tennis. Yet the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has never — not once — withdrawn federal funding from a school for these end-arounds of Title IX. And given the gutting of the Department of Ed under Trump, that's not likely to change! I doubt Education Secretary Linda McMahon will even be asked about it when she appears Wednesday before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce. The NCAA has been crying to Congress and the White House for protection from the financial dumpster fire it created and fueled. A system that is increasingly funneling more money to male athletes and putting women's teams in jeopardy. The Biden administration tried to remedy some of that, issuing guidance requiring NIL money paid by schools under the proposed House settlement to be subject to Title IX. The Trump administration rolled that guidance back. You can find at least one story a day of a coach being arrested or convicted of abusing a young athlete. They might not get the attention of Larry Nassar's hideous crimes, but one case of abuse of a child is one case too many. Yet Congress has slow-walked SafeSport reforms and done little to address its continuing funding issues. But go on about the tens of transgender athletes in youth and college sports. The work to level the playing field begun by Title IX is not complete; the Trump administration is right about that. It would rather throw bombs and sow division than do it, though, and that is nothing to article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Trump administration doesn't get the point of Title IX
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
How many innings are in college softball games? What to know amid WCWS finals
How many innings are in college softball games? What to know amid WCWS finals Show Caption Hide Caption Why Texas Tech, Texas will win 2025 WCWS It's a Lone Star State Women's College World Series this year, and reporter Jenni Carlson breaks down one reason Texas Tech will win and one reason Texas will win the WCWS. Two teams remain in the 2025 Women's College World Series, as a former in-state rivalry between Texas and Texas Tech will decide the NCAA softball tournament national champion. The No. 6 Longhorns and No. 12 Red Raiders are each undefeated at the WCWS so far, as the Longhorns took down No. 7 Tennessee 2-0 in the semifinals and Texas Tech beat four-time reigning champion Oklahoma 3-2. REQUIRED READING: What are differences between college softball, baseball? Rules to know ahead of CWS, WCWS Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, who transferred from Stanford in the offseason and signed a $1 million name, image and likeness (NIL) deal, has been worth every penny in the NCAA tournament. She has allowed only four runs in her five starts (35 innings) since the Tallahassee Super Regional, which Texas Tech won over Florida State, 2-0. Texas, meanwhile, looks to finally add its first national championship in program history, despite making its third appearance in the WCWS final in the last four years. For those tuning in to the sport for the first time this season, here are some of most-asked rules in college softball: How many innings are softball games? There are seven innings in college softball games, which is almost always the same number of innings across all levels of softball. That is, unless there are extra innings, which — like baseball — keeps adding innings until one team leads upon the completion of the frame. NCAA SOFTBALL RUN RULE: Why tournament, Women's College World Series games can end early College softball run-rule College softball has a mercy rule, which is enforced even in the WCWS and national championship series. If a team leads by eight or more runs after five complete innings, the game is called early due to run rule. The NCAA decided to extend the run rule to the finals for the 2023 WCWS after Oklahoma defeated Texas 16-1 in Game 1 of the three-game series the year prior. The Sooners, who were the home team, led 12-1 in the middle of the fifth inning and would have been eligible for a run-rule win under current rules. Patty Gasso's team two more runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings.
