A former University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball player is suing the NCAA to challenge new eligibility rules adopted last month.
, a Colorado resident and prominent forward and center for the Bears in the last four seasons, is one of 12 former Division I athletes questioning the NCAA’s age-based eligibility model allowing athletes five years to play five seasons.
The new rules go into effect fully next fall. This year, schools are being told by the NCAA to use the model that maximizes eligibility for athletes, according to University of Northern Colorado administrator Rachel Walton.
Under the old rules, athletes had four years of eligibility within a five-year window. That set of rules was chock full of nuances, including redshirts and waivers, said Walton, who is a senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator.
One of the most recognized waivers would be a medical hardship waiver where athletes could reclaim a year of eligibility depending on when the injury occurred and if approved by a doctor. Walton said in football, athletes could play in up to four games and still retain redshirt status, prolonging eligibility. In wrestling, the athletes could compete in up to five competitions in the freshman year to maintain the redshirt.
In a redshirt, a college athlete sits out of official competition for a season to maintain eligibility while continuing to practice and work out toward playing in future seasons.
This is no longer the case, leaving a new model Walton says is much cleaner than in the past. The only waivers or exemptions allowed under the new rules are for pregnancy, military obligations or mission trips.
“Itap five years and whatever happens in those five years happens in those five years,” Walton said. “I just think it makes it cleaner than, do I qualify for this waiver? Should we try? What are the chances?”
No longer will athletes be able to apply for a waiver if they suffer an injury and lose a season or a portion of a season.
“I feel for those kids, of course, who were injured and didn’t get a chance to fully reach their potential,” Walton said. “Itap hard. Itap so hard to have a season-ending injury, to lose a year. But at the same time, we also see kids with multiple injuries, and we worry about their quality of life.”
Walton said the NCAA is against the new model being referred to as a “five for five” arrangement. Walton said the new rules are based on age with Division I athletes getting five years of eligibility if they enroll no later than the academic year following a 19th birthday.
“Or it (the eligibility clock) starts when you enroll full time,” Walton said.
Athletes such as Wisne, who finished high school in 2022 and completed college eligibility during the 2025-26 academic year after playing four seasons, are not eligible to have years added on to their college careers, according to the NCAA. This is the source of the athletes’ complaint filed July 8 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Wisne’s attorney, Diana Florence, said the lawsuit could be filed in any jurisdiction where the initially named plaintiff resides. Given Wisne lives in Colorado, the suit was filed here.
Court documents on the case say the athletes do not challenge the new rules as a whole. The athletes object to the application of the rule by the NCAA.
“….which has in the past decade allowed athletes from the classes of 2017 through 2021 and 2023 onward to play five seasons, while singling out Plaintiffs and 2022 classmates who played four-straight seasons from playing a fifth.”
The plaintiffs are 10 men and two women who competed in basketball, track and field and baseball. They are seeking a jury trial, and they want compensatory damages, and reasonable attorneys’ fees where permitted.
The plaintiffs are claiming “immediate and irreparable harm,” including but not limited to the loss of athletic opportunity, educational harm, lost academic opportunities and the benefits and support inherent to being on a college team.
“Money damages cannot fully compensate Plaintiffs or the class for these harms,” the suit says.
Wisne, who is from Thornton and played scholastically at Horizon High School and Colorado Prep before signing with UNC, declined comment on the lawsuit.
He referred inquiries to Florence, whose work includes in sports and with name, image and likeness and eligibility. Florence said the case is about fairness for all athletes who were 2022 high school graduates. Florence said while she didn’t recall the exact outreach to Wisne to bring him into the lawsuit, when athletes found out the eligibility changes didn’t apply to students from the high school class of 2022, there was interest in becoming a plaintiff.
In June, Wisne signed a professional contract .
“If Brock could’ve chosen, he would’ve taken five years,” Florence said, adding with another year Wisne would have pursued a master’s degree in business administration.
“He knows he wants to play professionally and then work in finance, and he would’ve made more (money) with an MBA,” Florence said.
Wisne is out of eligibility under the current rules. He will go forward with his plan to play in Spain, and make a decision to play in college or go overseas if a decision comes down in the case, Florence said.
“Athletes should have the agency to do what is best for them, not what is best for the NCAA,” the attorney added.
Walton said lawsuits are “popping up all over the country” on the new eligibility model. UNC can’t comment or provide an opinion on the suits including the one in which Wisne is involved.
“We’re just a bystander,” Walton said. “We’re just watching them unfold.”
UNC men’s basketball coach Steve Smiley is also a fan of the new eligibility model. Smiley said itap hard for the athletes to graduate in four years. With the transfer portal now a big factor in college sports, athletes might transfer more than once and they lose academic credits.
Smiley reduced the Bears’ roster from 16 players to 14 for the upcoming 2026-27 season for budget reasons. The coach said redshirts no longer being a factor, this is another reason to carry a smaller roster.
“It makes sense,” Smiley said. “If the ultimate goal is to graduate, then itap good to say, student athletes, hey, you have five years.”
