Midwest
Lawmakers in Indiana, home of NCAA HQ, look to expand transgender sports ban to include college programs
Indiana lawmakers are looking to go the extra mile in their efforts to keep biological male athletes in boys’ and men’s sports.
The state’s current law, introduced in 2022, prohibits those born male at birth from playing against girls from kindergarten through high school. This week, Republican lawmakers Michelle Davis, Chris Jeter, Joanna King, and Robert Heaton filed a bill that would expand the ban to college teams.
“To ensure a level playing field, it’s important that girls compete against girls, and boys against boys,” Davis wrote in a statement to the Indy Star. “As a mother and legislator, I authored this bill because I’ve heard directly from Hoosier parents who want to ensure female athletes have a fair shot at competing and earning recognition.”
The state capitol building in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, on a sunny spring morning. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Indianapolis, the state’s capital, is also where the NCAA’s headquarters are located.
The law would also require out-of-state teams with a transgender athlete to notify their opposing Indiana school of said athlete at least 60 days in advance. Athletes will also be able to file lawsuits against their school if they feel they had an opportunity taken from them or were injured as a result of a potential violation of the law.
Jeter, one of the co-authors, said the bill is intended to “protect women’s sports in Indiana.”
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb vetoed the original bill nearly three years ago, but the Indiana General Assembly overturned that decision. Holcomb, a Republican, is leaving office later this month due to term limits, and fellow Republican Mike Braun will succeed him.
Two months after Holcomb vetoed the bill, a federal judge in the state ruled that a transgender student must be allowed to use the boys’ restroom at a middle school in the state.
Transgender athlete supporter Kyle Harp, left, of Riverside holds the progress pride flag as “Save Girls Sports” supporters Lori Lopez and her dad Pete Pickering, both of Riverside, listen to the debate as they join the overflow crowd converging outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday night to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
BROTHER OF EX-COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER KILLED IN NEW ORLEANS TERROR ATTACK LEADS TRIBUTES
Last month, NCAA president Charlie Baker sent a message to women’s college athletes who are uncomfortable sharing locker rooms with transgender athletes, putting the responsibility for their own safety squarely on the women themselves.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over legalized sports gambling, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questioned Baker about the NCAA’s policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete on women’s teams. Hawley confronted Baker about the NCAA policy stating that “transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity.”
Baker, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, responded by insisting other athletes have the option to find other accommodations if they are uncomfortable with it.
President of the NCAA, Charlie Baker speaks during a press conference celebrating the 25-year anniversary of the NCAA moving its national office to Indianapolis on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, at the NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis. (Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar / USA Today Network)
The NCAA saw a controversy that swept the nation, as trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming helped San Jose State University to the Mountain West championship match.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Read the full article from Here
North Dakota
NCAA Set to Change Unpopular Football Rule Just in Time for North Dakota State’s FBS Jump
North Dakota State playing in the FCS playoffs and College Football Playoff in back-to-back years? It’s likelier than you think.
That’s because on Wednesday, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the NCAA Division I cabinet voted to repeal a rule that effectively barred teams transitioning from FCS to FBS from playing in postseason games in their first FBS seasons. The Bison are making that move along with Sacramento State in 2026.
The reported change has been a long time coming; the rule has hampered teams from immediate bowl eligibility for decades. Its good intentions of dissuading teams from rashly making the FCS-to-FBS leap have been rendered obsolete in recent years by the fact that programs generally arrive in FBS more prepared than ever before.
Consider the number of new FBS teams that have had to work within the provision in the past decade alone
That list includes: Liberty (home for the holidays at 6–6 in 2018), James Madison (8–3 in 2022 under coach Curt Cignetti, and barely able to play in a bowl at 11–1 in ’23 due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams), Jacksonville State (8–4 in ’23 before backing in like the Dukes), Missouri State (7–5 in 2025, also backed in) and Delaware (6–6 in ’25, ditto).
James Madison in particular became a cause célèbre in ’23 because it started the season 10-0, climbing as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll in mid-November. Then-Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares bandied about suing the NCAA before the Dukes lost 26–23 to Appalachian State, an event that caused the program to back off and accept a bid to play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. James Madison lost that game 31–21, by which time Cignetti had left for Indiana.
There was a time when the FCS-to-FBS jump was an imposing one, and the NCAA did not want to incentivize making it lightly—not even a proud Florida A&M program could make a mid-2000s attempt at a jump stick. However, the Flames, Dukes and other teams have shown it’s not so great a climb for programs with the right resources and management.
Now the Bison and the Hornets stand to benefit.
How far can North Dakota State and Sacramento State go in the near term?
The Bison opened 12–0 last year before a shock loss to Illinois State in the FCS playoffs’ second round, so that question may answer itself. North Dakota State does not play a single Power 4 team—a potential strength-of-schedule albatross if it has designs on really surging. A potential roadblock: the fact that the Bison have to visit the Mountain West’s two favorites, UNLV (Oct. 10) and New Mexico (Oct. 24).
It’s a different story for the Hornets, a 7–5 squad a year ago whose move to the FBS is widely seen as a gamble on their growth potential. Sacramento State also does not play a major-conference team, but has a breakneck travel schedule ahead of it—the Hornets will visit Ypsilanti, Mich.; Bowling Green, Ohio; Muncie, Ind.; Mount Pleasant, Mich. and Honolulu. Combine that with a first-year coach—Oakland native and ex-MC Hammer choreographer Alonzo Carter—and it could be a long FBS debut in California’s capital.
More College Football From Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s College YouTube channel.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
Ohio
Ohio lawsuit alleges new NCAA rule unfairly denies high school Class of ’22 athletes a 5th season
-
Nevada34 seconds agoNV Energy issues PSOM watch for northern, eastern Nevada amid elevated fire weather
-
New Hampshire6 minutes agoCharlevoix County farm arson suspect arrested in New Hampshire after January blaze
-
New Jersey13 minutes agoMinnesota woman struck by worker while protesting outside of New Jersey ICE facility
-
New Mexico16 minutes agoCanyon Venado Fire near Clines Corners grows to 852 acres, I-40 reopened
-
North Carolina28 minutes agoGreat horned owl kills 1 of NC Wildlife’s famous barn owlets: officials
-
North Dakota31 minutes agoNCAA Set to Change Unpopular Football Rule Just in Time for North Dakota State’s FBS Jump
-
Ohio36 minutes agoOhio lawsuit alleges new NCAA rule unfairly denies high school Class of ’22 athletes a 5th season
-
Oklahoma43 minutes agoFire Crews respond to commercial fire in SW Oklahoma City Wednesday afternoon
