Missouri should consider changing transfer rule for high school athletes | Opinion

Ever since I wrote last week about Kylan Mabins, the Springfield, Mo. high school football player who was denied the opportunity to play because he transferred schools, I’ve been thinking about the fairness of this Missouri state policy.

Would a one-time transfer waiver for high school athletes in Missouri work?

My initial thought: College athletes can transfer once without penalty. Why not allow high school students to switch schools without jeopardizing their eligibility?

But those in the know say allowing kids to transfer schools without a legitimate reason would cause a free-for-all at high schools across Missouri. I certainly would not want that.

Allegations of using undue influence to entice a kid to transfer are rabid now. Giving high school students free reign to leave for another school would be disastrous, athletic administrators at the secondary education level told me.

Instead, the Missouri State High School Activities Association should consider a change in its bylaws that governs extracurricular activities for Missouri high schools.

One possible solution to MSHSAA’s transfer policy makes sense: Remove a student-athletes’ former school from the decision-making process.

Reform MSHSAA’s transfer rule

As it stands, for a student in Missouri to transfer and remain eligible to compete in sports, they must meet one of many exceptions set forth by MSHSAA. Of course, hardships waivers are considered but the outcomes of those requests are unpredictable.

When a student transfers, administrators at their former school are required to provide information to the new school about the reason for the move.

Answers are mostly subjective, former high school football coach Carl Reed told me. How would an activities director or coach know the real reason a kid leaves for a new school?

In most cases, they don’t, said Reed, a college football analyst for 247Sports and CBS Sports. He knows better than most. He coached 10 years at four Missouri high schools, including at two private institutions in the St. Louis area.

Over the course of a decade coaching high school football, Reed witnessed personal politics ruin many childrens’ opportunity to play ball at their new school.

Under MSHSAA guidelines, a student cannot transfer to another school due to athletic reasons or undue influence — being recruited to a new school, that is.

If a kid seeks more playing time elsewhere and leaves his original school for that reason alone, he cannot compete in that sport at the varsity level for 365 days.

Same applies to a student-athlete recruited to attend a new school. He or she is automatically sidelined for a year.

Both rules are fair and reasonable and provide a level playing field for member schools and their athletes. In bordering Kansas, transferring schools for athletic reasons is prohibited, too.

Unless a student’s parents move to a permanent residence in the attendance area of the new school, a student risks losing one full year of eligibility, according to officials in Kansas. This also isn’t fair to students in the Sunflower state but at least there is uniformity with the rules in each state.

In extenuating circumstances, a student’s family can appeal to MSHSAA for a hardship waiver, but the results of those hearings are not guaranteed to go in an athlete’s favor, Reed said. The fate of a kid’s playing status should not be left to their former school, he said.

The authority to grant eligibility should be left to MSHSAA, Reed said.

“If a kid transfers and he has residency in a public school district or is accepted into a private school, he should be able to play,” he said. “It should be that cut and dry.”

It isn’t.

Grievances sidelined Springfield QB

Personal grievances between rival high schools sidelined Springfield’s Glendale High School quarterback Kylan Mabins for five weeks this season. It took a judge’s order to unearth the shenanigans that caused Mabins, a college football prospect in southwest Missouri, to miss games this season.

To be frank, coaches and administrators at Springfield’s Kickapoo High School – Mabins’ former school – played the kid like a flute.

Last month, Greene County Circuit Court Judge Derek Ankrom found credible evidence that two athletic administrators in Springfield Public Schools intentionally misled MSHSAA officials about Mabins’ transfer.

Josh Scott, athletic director for Springfield Public Schools and Scot Phillips, athletics and activities director at Springfield’s Kickapoo High School, colluded to use fraudulent evidence to block Mabins’ transfer, Ankrom ruled.

Heading into the weekend, Scott and Phillips remained in their respective roles. But should they be allowed to influence any more school children?

After reading the findings in Ankrom’s order, why hasnt Scott, a MSHSAA board of director, stepped away from the volunteer position until his role in this mess is clearly defined. It’s the right thing to do. His and Phillips’ ability to lead young people is in doubt.

Through a spokesman for Springfield Public Schools, both denied any malfeasance in Mabins’ case. I’m not buying those claims..

In granting Mabins’s request for relief, Ankrom took the administrators to task in a court ruling that allowed Mabins to play this season.

“The public has an interest in preventing schools, school districts, and school officials from allowing past and petty grievances between schools and athletic coaches from influencing decision-making that has a real impact” on the life of a child, Ankrom wrote.

He continued: “And the public has an interest in preventing schools, school districts, and school officials from using a child entrusted to their care as a pawn in a tug-of-war between adult coaching staffs and athletic directors.”

For decades, college coaches kept many athletes from transferring to another school of their choice. A few years back, the NCAA addressed this unfair practice, instituting a one-time transfer rule that allows a student athlete to compete immediately at their new school.

Might high school athletes such as Glendale’s Mabins benefit from a similar set up at the scholastic level? He probably would. But that scenario is highly unlikely in the immediate future.

An adult in a position of power with an ax to grind could derail a child’s future. A kid could be ruled out of competition without a shred of evidence. Where’s the due process in that scenario?

Until real reform occurs, MSHSAA’s best course of action would be to limit the amount of influence a kid’s former school has in the decision making process of a transfer student.