India, April 5 -- President Donald Trump tried to put some teeth into his latest attempt to save college sports. The threat of cutting funding to cash-starved schools that don't comply is real, even if the stricter rules Trump wants to come out of the executive order he signed Friday could take a while to figure out.

In the order signed hours before the women's Final Four tipped off, one of the biggest weekends in college sports, Trump went after eligibility rules, transfers and the spiralling costs associated with an industry that now pays its players millions of dollars per year. He called on federal agencies to ensure schools are following the rules and threatened to choke off federal grants and funding - a similar approach his admini...