Former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne is just the latest luminary to rip into the NCAA.
The legendary coach recently sat down for an interview with local station KETV and while he showed his usual poise and calm, the words he said about the NCAA were plenty loud and plenty withering, especially considering the source. He’s just the latest person who has realized that the organization that seemed to be an unstoppable juggernaut, is now all but powerless and losing its standing in the college sports community.
Calling the NCAA “somewhat irrelevant,” the former Nebraska football coach thinks it’s time for someone else to step in. Osborne also believes that the Big Ten Conference and the SEC need to step up and take a leadership position in coming up with new oversight guidelines for the game. He also said in the interview that he thinks if something isn’t done soon, the “common sense” in the college sports world will fade away.
Our @KETVRob sat down with Tom Osborne for an upcoming Chronicle on @KETV and asked the Husker coaching legend his thoughts of the current state of college football, transfer portal and NIL -- here, Osborne says the NCAA is becoming "somewhat irrelevant" - take a listen pic.twitter.com/UddaIbETvr
— Andy Kendeigh (@AKendeighKETV) February 4, 2025
Nebraska football legend blasts NCAA as ‘irrelevant’
"The Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference have most of the major programs, and I think they want to cooperate. If those two conferences can get together, they may be able to establish some guidelines that make sense. I think the NCAA has become somewhat irrelevant and doesn't seem to have any clout anymore. But there has to be some managing agency in college athletics that can interject some common sense."
Granted, the two power conferences taking over doesn’t sound all that great for the sport either. The giants of the game dictating rules will almost certainly favor them over everyone else.
Osborne is right in that someone else needs to step in if the NCAA can’t step up. The Nebraska football legend is just wrong on who should do it. Though a better solution has not presented itself at the moment.