The landscape of college athletics is currently experiencing levels of uncertainty and political involvement seldom seen before.

While the House settlement continues to await approval — something that would begin revenue sharing between schools and student athletes starting July 1 — President Donald Trump is reportedly making plans to create a presidential commission on college athletics.

Yahoo Sports reported that the commission is expected to examine aspects of college sports such as player movement in the transfer portal, unregulated booster compensation to athletes, the debate of student athlete employment, preserving Olympic sport structure, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and conference membership along with conference television contracts.

Many of those issues and others have created uncertain times for college athletic programs across the country. A lot of the changes and uncertainties introduced to college sports stem from the introduction of players being able to profit off of their name, image and likeness, which started in the summer of 2021.

Auburn athletic director John Cohen didn’t comment directly on the reportedly planned presidential commission on college sports, but said, “we need the help of the federal government in one way or another.”

“We need help because the structure of leadership is always going to be in peril as long as they are going to have to spend time in court,” Cohen told AL.com at the Lutzie 43 Golf Invitational. “If you can’t make decisions without ultimately appearing in court, you can’t lead. And we desperately need that type of leadership, and that’s why I think eventually this has to happen and I think so many of our representatives in Washington are fully aware of this, and I’m excited about what this can become.”

Alabama Republican Senator and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville has been one of the leaders on the congressional side in advocating for federal government involvement in college sports to create a form of standardization for NIL.

Tuberville made a post on X (formerly Twitter) last Friday saying that he met with President Trump “about the importance of establishing national standards for NIL.”

“College football is the heart and soul of America — but it’s in danger if we don’t level the playing field,” the post read.

Cohen called the current NIL landscape “not sustainable” in an interview with AL.com in February, citing a lack of standardization. Involvement from congress or the executive branch could be one way to create that standardization, and Cohen isn’t the first to suggest some sort of involvement.

Many figures, from coaches to administrators, all over the country, have advocated for federal regulation of NIL since it officially began in 2021. Now, standardization and government involvement both seem closer than ever before.

However, that doesn’t put an immediate end to the uncertainty facing many schools as it pertains to budgeting, roster limits and the general future of NIL.

When asked how Auburn is handling that, Cohen brought up recently hired executive deputy athletic director Jared Benko. Auburn hired Benko in October after he had been the athletic director at Georgia Southern since April 2020.

According to the press release following Benko’s arrival, the university said his role will “focus on strategic planning and implementation of a structure to ensure Auburn can continue to compete at the highest level.”

The release also stated that Benko will oversee business operations, contracts, personnel and funding mechanisms for capital projects.

Cohen told AL.com Thursday that Benko has “a brilliant sense” of business, accounting and budgets, but said even on his side, there is still a lot of uncertainty.

“Even the people at the highest, we don’t know what we don’t know,” Cohen said. “I have a lot of faith in the people who are doing this, but we have asked them to do almost the impossible, and it’s gonna be a little bumpy at the beginning.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m