Board of Directors discusses changes to transfer rule
MORRISON — CHSAA’s Board of Directors mulled changes to the Association’s transfer rule during their meeting here on Wednesday.
Specifically, any change would deal with consequences to violating the transfer rule.
Any potential changes would need to be forwarded from the Board to the Legislative Council for a vote, either next January or April. That route seems increasingly likely, though the Board will continue to discuss the specific change at its next meeting in November.
Currently, certain transfers are able to gain full eligibility via a waiver process. That would not change.
However, transfers can have consequences for an athlete’s eligibility in the sports they played at the previous school. Current possible consequences include:
- Restricted varsity eligibility during the first 50 percent of the sport’s season; thereafter full eligibility.
- A full year of restricted varsity eligibility (if deemed athletically motivated).
- A mid-year transfer results in no varsity eligibility in all sports the athlete participated in during the last calendar year. There are additional consequences the following season.
Three options to change the transfer rule were presented to the Board on Wednesday:
- Restricted varsity eligibility for the last 50 percent of a sport’s season, as well as postseason.
- Restricted varsity eligibility for the last 25 percent of a sport’s season, as well as postseason.
- Restricted varsity eligibility for an entire calendar year from the date of transfer, save for certain, very select circumstances. This would get rid of the mid-year transfer rule.
The Board is seeking feedback from member schools prior to its next meeting. Athletic directors and coaches should contact their district representative to provide input.
As such, other ideas to change the transfer rule may present themselves ahead of the Legislative Council meeting. Those would be discussed at the November Board meeting.
“It is clear that there is no real consensus among the membership on what they’d like to do when it comes to our transfer rule,” CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico said. “There is still a long way to go in this process. Any changes we choose to make will have consequences we haven’t thought through yet, so we have to be really careful and not jump to any conclusions.
“That is why we’re trying to do as much research seeking feedback from the membership to further this discussion,” he added. “This isn’t about what the Board or the CHSAA staff wants to do, it’s about what the membership wants to do.”
