Andy Coats changed college football.

One of the lead attorneys in a 1982 lawsuit against the NCAA, Coats helped Oklahoma and Georgia win the anti-trust case that allowed college football teams to do their own television deals. Prior to that, the NCAA had complete control. It limited the games. It controlled the exposure.

The Supreme Court didn’t agree with that.

Once the courts opened the way for teams and conferences to negotiate their own TV deals, it started college football down a path of great chance. TV increased the exposure, which increased the revenues, and in turn, schools built bigger and better facilities. They paid coaches more. They charged fans more, too.

For better or worse, the game changed.

But before all that happened, someone had to take on the NCAA.

Jenni Carlson: Did they have to twist your arm? You’ve said in the past, after all, that fighting the NCAA is like fighting the IRS. No one wants to do it.

Andy Coats: We had done it once before. There was a guy named Kerry Jackson who was a quarterback at Oklahoma. Switzer had asked me to represent Kerry Jackson in a lawsuit against the NCAA over his eligibility, and so we were getting ready to do that. Kerry Jackson hurt his arm and couldn’t play anyway, so we didn’t go ahead with that case. And then the firm had brought a lawsuit against the NCAA earlier and lost in the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. I can’t remember what the issue was, but we’d been there a couple times anyway. But it was exciting and a challenge legally. I thought after we looked at he law a little bit we were in very, very good shape on the question of the anti-trust violation. The NCAA usurped that. They didn’t even vote. They just took it over and ran it for all those years.

JC: Did you play football as a kid?

AC: I played some in high school. I got into a car wreck and got my face banged up and had to quit playing contact sports for a couple years. I played golf instead.

JC: At least you picked a sport you could play for years.

AC: Absolutely, and besides that, I need the money. (Laughs.)

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