COACHES UP IN ARMS OVER TRANSFER
RULE
Publication: THE SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL
Published: 09/05/1999
Page: P10D
Headline: COACHES UP IN ARMS OVER TRANSFER RULE
Byline: RICK RYAN
UNLIKE COLLEGE COACHES, most high school coaches either teach at their
schools or hold full-time jobs elsewhere. So they've got a lot of
things to worry about other than players running up and down the
football field.
So they're not the least
bit interested in assuming duties normally
associated with college coaches - that is, recruiting players and
being forced to hawk their programs to mere teen-agers, much like
carnival barkers.
But that's what appears to
have happened with the more-liberalized
transfer rules put in place last year by the state's Secondary School
Activities Commission.
Athletes, especially
football players, have been taking advantage of
the SSAC rule enacted in 1998 that permits students to switch schools
once each year during an 11-day window at the start of fall classes.
The move can be made inside or between school zones. Previous rules
blocked such moves unless a change of residency occurred.
The only adjustment made to
that rule this year was that once a team w
as involved in a scrimmage, its players would become ineligible to
transfer before or during that 11-day period - even if they hadn't
participated in the scrimmage.
"You've got to be
honest,' said George Washington coach Steve Edwards
Jr. "Rules are not supposed to be like that. They're supposed to be
for academics, but that's not the way it is.'
Even tweaking the
guidelines hasn't stemmed the flow of players from
one program to another. Some significant moves:
- Nitro won a state title
emphasizing offense and became a popular
oasis for skill players. Running back Chris Creamer and
fullback-linebacker Chuck Pauley switched from
Jason Ward and receiver Steve Jones came over from Capital.
- William Isabelle, a
6-foot-3, 360-pound tackle and younger brother
of former Kennedy Award runner-up Yubrenal Isabelle,
played for two
years at
second season.
- Ward, in fact, has become
somewhat of a poster boy for the new
transfer rule. He started the first four games for Nitro as a freshman
in 1997, but when J.R. House returned from
to a backup role. So, the following year, Ward wound up at Capital, a
playoff contender that just happened to lose its previous quarterback
to graduation. Voila. Ward starts every game for the Cougars.
But he never moves from his
Cross Lanes residence. And when House
departs for good, Ward enrolls at Nitro and again becomes the starter.
The NFL's free agency system pales in comparison.
Nitro's coach, Robert
"Little' Burdette, has become an unwitting and,
at times, an unwilling salesman for his program.
"Last year's record
had a lot to do with [the transfers],' Burdette
said of the Wildcats' 14-0 showing.
"I didn't write the
rule. What am I supposed to do as a coach - tell a
kid he can't come here? Kids are going to do what's best for them
nowadays. It's happening all over.'
Fair or not, Nitro and GW
have become known as the most desired de
stinations for dissatisfied football players.
But Edwards said he's
"yet to experience a kid coming from one school
to my school. I haven't been able to benefit from it yet, but we do
sometimes get them from other junior highs.'
Edwards points out that GW, in fact, lost a
potential starter this
year to
"My opinion is that
it's the rule and we've got to live with it,' he
said. "I don't think it changes your style much,
but I think it can
put you at a disadvantage with some kids - and parents can be holding
that over your head.
"As a coach, you've
got to run your program the way you want to.
Hopefully, kids will like playing where they're at and will stick with
you. You hope the kids trust you enough to believe you're doing the
right things.'
The rule can both help and
hinder a player's development.
Take the case of Chad Shamblin, a track sprinter who was the leading
rusher and scorer at Winfield as a freshman in 1996. He, too, joined
Nitro's program last year, earned some playing time as a reserve and
had hopes of becoming the featured back upon the graduation of Zack
Collins.
But then Creamer
transferred to Nitro from
the handwriting on the wall and quit the team. One career rescued,
another ruined?
Some coaches have learned to
live with the rule, but still harbor
smoldering resentment.
"I think it stinks.
It's not right,' said one
who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "I can't prove it, but you've
got coaches out there recruiting. They'll tell me they think it's
unethical, but [still do it].
"It hurts our area
more than anyplace else, because we've got so many
schools here. I don't see how it teaches any kind of loyalty. Kids
think: 'Let's go here, they'll have a better team.'
Even if you get
some transfers in, what happens is that you turn right around and some
of your kids transfer out. I'm not going to be held hostage by any
kid.'
The rule itself doesn't
bother some coaches as much as the chaos it
can create.
"I have nothing
against the transfer rule,' said
Greg Cyrus. "But what I don't like is coaches
calling kids and trying
to get them to transfer. By golly, it's high school
football and kids
should be out there having fun - and not going through this. That's
not the spirit of the game.
"You're talking about
15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids. It's hard enough to
play without having the recruiting process starting in junior high.
I've got one kid who's a sophomore who's said that people are talking
to him about moving. I've already sent some comments to Warren Carter
on it.'
Carter is the executive
secretary of the SSAC, which tired of fighting
legal battles with dozens of families every year over transfers, and
imposed its more-lenient rules - a policy that mirrors those of
several other states.
"I don't know who it
helps,' said Hurricane coach Gary Eggleton of
the new rules. "Evidently it makes it easier for
the SSAC to keep
tabs. I never liked it when it got started. It makes it too daggone
easy for someone to get mad and transfer to another school.
"We had a rule at one
time, and maybe it wasn't perfect. But if they
turned them loose [to recruit] like they do in college, without having
to sit out, can you see how hectic that would be?
"I haven't changed my
mind on it. We might get [a local transfer] one
day, but I still won't like it. It encourages recruiting, which is
illegal. Even if a coach never talks to a kid, you've got their
friends who they play summer ball with putting bugs in their ears -
'We do this and that, and you won't be able to do such-and-such where
you are.' "