Athletic directors from schools around West Virginia told state lawmakers that they continue to have strong concerns about loosened sports transfer rules.
In particular, they expressed concern about upper grade students — juniors and seniors — switching schools and leaving behind sophomores and freshmen to fill out teams. And they questioned whether schools in rural communities or areas with economic struggles are bound to fall behind schools in areas with greater advantages.
“We’ve been in it for two years now, and we’ve seen some negatives, so we’d like to talk a little bit about that,” said Jamie Tallman from Union Educational Complex in Mount Storm, Grant County.
The athletic directors spoke Tuesday afternoon before the Joint Standing Committee on Education during interim legislative meetings at the state Capitol.
The bill that passed in the 2023 regular legislative session allowed student-athletes to transfer schools at least one time and keep their athletic eligibility.
Since then, the policy has been a consistent subject of consternation across West Virginia athletic programs — and a recurring topic of debate among lawmakers.
Those debates have focused on the limited time young athletes can maximize their own opportunities versus the desire for teams to have continuity.
“When the transfer rule changed, it allowed greater flexibility for student athletes to transfer schools,” said David Viands, athletic director at Jefferson County High School and president of the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association.
“We went from a one-time transfer before the ninth grade year with a possible transfer back to the home school to now where student athletes can transfer at any time. And what we’re seeing as a result of that is a very large transfers statewide.”
In 2023, he said, there were 432 statewide transfers for fall sports.
In 2024, he said, there were 433.
The athletic directors said there is no data for 2022 because the rule was not yet in effect. In essence, the main transfers that year would have been among ninth graders under the old rule.
On the field, the athletic directors said, the transfers are having an effect on competition.
In 2023, Viands said, there were 159 football games shortened because scores got so out of hand that the game clock was set to run without stopping.
In 2024, he said, there were 255 football games shortened via the running clock.
“We do need to be careful. We need to evaluate the long-term implications of this rule and possibly look at solutions,” Viands said.
Viands underscored the concern about transfers among upper grade students.
“We’re seeing transfers and juniors and seniors basically to go join a better team or to win a state championship,” he said.
“That sounds great for the schools accepting the student athletes, but it does create disparity in schools that if you lose a lot of seniors and a lot of juniors, you’re now playing freshmen and sophomores and you’re playing against the school that these student athletes went to.”
Steve Campbell, the athletic director at Musselman High School in Berkeley County, said he worries that community support is eroding. He asked for a change.
“We need to come to a common ground because we’ve got to co-exist. Let’s move the needle forward and let’s put our heads together and find something that works. But I have, as of yet — and I know probably 80 ADs across the state — the number zero that likes this arrangement. And the same goes for the coaches I know,” he said.
“But I have yet to find anybody that says ‘Man, that transfer rule is rock solid.’”
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