20-05-2025
Jay Bilas Throws Cold Water on Trump's College Sports Plan
Donald Trump has vowed to make college sports a priority, but at least one prominent analyst isn't buying it.
ESPN's Jay Bilas raised eyebrows this week with his pointed critique of the former president's newly proposed college athletics commission. Speaking to On3's Pete Nakos, Bilas didn't mince words.
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'We've had the Knight Commission, we had the Rice Commission,' he said. 'Anything with commission on it is probably not going to accomplish anything.'
That might sound harsh, but Bilas' skepticism comes from experience. Both the Knight and Rice Commissions were high-profile attempts to reform college sports, particularly around amateurism and athlete compensation. Neither produced any significant policy changes, despite years of work and well-funded research.
ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas.© Adam Cairns / USA TODAY NETWORK
Bilas points to the failures of the Knight and Rice Commissions as warning signs
The Knight Commission, created in 1989, was intended to bring academic reform and financial oversight to college athletics. The Rice Commission, launched in 2018 after the FBI's college basketball probe, was supposed to clean up the sport's reputation. But both failed to enact enforceable change — or keep up with the rapidly shifting landscape now dominated by NIL and the transfer portal.
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Trump's new proposal to form a commission that would 'bring fairness and sanity' back to college athletics has already stirred political and media buzz. But Bilas' blunt assessment undercuts any early optimism.
And he's not alone. Many critics believe college sports' problems won't be solved by more panels and paperwork — especially from figures with little history in the space. With the NCAA facing lawsuits, conference realignment chaos, and a player empowerment revolution, another commission may not be what's needed.
Jay Bilas isn't rejecting reform. He's just warning that we've seen this playbook before — and it didn't work then either.
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