LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is urging the NCAA to restore the records, titles, and awards of female athletes who competed against transgender women in collegiate events.
In a letter sent Monday to NCAA President Charlie Baker, Coleman joined 25 other Republican attorneys general in requesting that the NCAA "restore to female athletes all championships, titles, wins, awards, records, and other recognitions that were wrongfully awarded to male athletes competing in NCAA women’s category events."
“Kentucky is at the epicenter of college athletics, and we must continue to protect women’s sports from unfair politics that let men invade women’s sports and private spaces,” Coleman said in a news release Tuesday. “As the Attorney General and a father of two daughters, I’m eager to see these records be corrected and these women honored with awards and recognitions they worked so hard to earn.”
The request follows a February 11, 2025, letter from the U.S. Department of Education that similarly urged the NCAA to review and revise affected records. The attorneys general said the policies previously "created, promoted, and encouraged by the Biden Administration and the NCAA not only enabled biological men to compete against women in sporting events across the country, but denied deserving women the recognitions they had earned in events that you managed."
They cited recent policy changes under President Trump, including a January executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and a February directive titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” The latter directed the U.S. Secretary of Education to prioritize Title IX enforcement against institutions that allow transgender women to participate in women's sports.
“We appreciate the NCAA’s February 6, 2025 updated ‘Participation Policy for Transgender Student Athletes,’ which limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes ‘assigned female at birth only,’” the attorneys general wrote. “We encourage you to extend this policy to practice as well. Athletics is not only about what happens during competition.”
Coleman was among six attorneys general who successfully challenged a Biden Administration rule that would have expanded protections for transgender students under Title IX. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 in favor of the states.
It’s unclear how many Kentucky athletes have records that would have been affected by competition against transgender athletes.
It’s unclear how many Kentucky athletes have records that would have been affected by competition against transgender athletes.
One high-profile Kentucky athlete mentioned in the discussion around this issue is Riley Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer for the University of Kentucky. Gaines tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Championships with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete who later won the 500-yard freestyle. Gaines has since become a prominent national advocate opposing the participation of transgender women in women’s sports.
The attorneys general also noted that the University of Pennsylvania, where Thomas competed, had recently announced it would review and update records to comply with Trump administration directives.
“We urge the NCAA to develop a plan to restore all appropriate recognitions to the women athletes who were wrongfully denied all that they earned,” the letter concludes.
Attorneys general from 26 states signed the letter, including Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
More sports:
CRAWFORD | Blueprint, not buzz: Cignetti outlines his plan to keep Indiana climbing
ACC to require availability reports before football games; impose fines for storming field
SPORTS PAGE | Crawford and Schoengart preview local college football teams ahead of preseason
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
