The NCAA was founded in 1906.
The history of the NCAA is a pretty fascinating one since it was founded because students kept dying trying to play college football. The schools needed an organizing body to set standards to basically stop involuntary manslaughter from happening on collegiate football fields and the solution was the NCAA.
The NCAA was always governed by the schools, collectively. It is the schools. They set up rules. Then set up more. Then set up more.
But the funny thing about rules is, when you’re trying to win, they’re really more like guidelines.