U.S. President Donald Trump has assembled a group of about 40 influential individuals within the world of sports and beyond for a roundtable with the goal of fixing college athletics, and on that who's who list with names like Tiger Woods, Tim Tebow and Nick Saban, was former Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione.
Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger reported on Thursday that President Trump is planning a presidential roundtable for Friday, March 6, at the White House to "further explore solutions for the industry’s ill" during a meeting that's been deemed the Saving College Sports Roundtable, according to Dellenger.
Joe Castiglione among names like Tiger Woods, Tim Tebow and Nick Saban for President Donald Trump's Saving College Sports Roundtable
Many government leaders, including President Trump, have recently become more involved with college athletics as the NCAA is more chaotic than ever as it navigates the Transfer Portal, NIL, revenue share, TV rights and more. Currently, with ever-changing rules, college athletics does not have a collective bargaining agreement or federal protection, or even leadership of any kind to be completely transparent.
That's what's drawn government leaders to start caring about this world, as fans, who are also voters, are more frustrated than ever about the state of college athletics, especially college football. College athletics are also a huge part of local, state and national economies.
There aren't many details yet about the exact agenda for the roundtable, with Dellenger noting Yahoo! Sports' sources were anonymous because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
Dellenger did release the list of those invited, but it's unknown who all actually plans to attend or if the meeting will actually remain as planned. According to Dellenger, President Trump will serve as chair of the roundtable, with Florida governor Ron DeSantis and New York Yankees president Randy Levine acting as vice chairs.
Those on the list included former college football coaches Saban, Urban Meyer and Mack Brown; former players Tebow and Charlie Ward; pro golfers Woods and Bryson DeChambeau; multiple university presidents and athletic directors; the commissioner from each Power Four conference; NBA commissioner Adam Silver; media executives; millionaire businessmen and other politicians. It's worth noting that no current college athletes, or even former athletes from the NIL and portal era, were reportedly invited.
For Castiglione to be one of just the six current or former athletic directors to be invited shows the respect he earned during his nearly 28 years leading the Sooners. His role as Oklahoma's AD just recently came to an end on Feb. 14, when Roger Denny officially took over OU's athletic department. Castiglione will still be part of OU's athletic department as an emeritus athletic director until his full retirement on June 30, 2028.
Castiglione being involved with this roundtable, whether anything actually comes from it or not, should only benefit the Sooners during this time by giving OU a direct voice based on the challenges the university faces specifically.