The FHSAA will consider a proposal to broaden its eligibility rules in regard to transfers.
Here’s a copy of the news release about the matter on Tuesday:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) today announced a significant policy proposal to broaden student-athlete eligibility by narrowing the focus of the “follow-the-coach” rule, which targets impermissible transfers for athletic purposes. Under a proposed “previous contact” bylaw, which will go before FHSAA’s Representative Assembly in January, transferring student-athletes would be allowed to play at their new school in sports that do not involve the coach in question and could even play the affected sport at a sub-varsity level.
A second proposed bylaw change would introduce a new layer of mediation to the FHSAA appeals process, providing even greater due process opportunities for student-athletes and schools that wish to challenge sanctions. The new mediation layer would be available after a case has been considered in a sectional appeal but before it reaches a final appeal to the FHSAA Board of Directors.
“Our goal has always been to provide the best possible environment for our student-athletes and maintain a level field where everyone plays by the same rules,” said FHSAA Executive Director Roger Dearing. “These proposals would help make sure enforcement actions are consistent and would affect only those student-athletes or schools whose actions require sanctions to ensure fairness all around.”
The proposed bylaws were developed by FHSAA administrators to eliminate uncertainty that has followed the 2012 enactment of House Bill 1403. That state law altered previous FHSAA policies limiting a student’s ability to participate in athletics following certain school transfers. The proposed bylaw changes, which would continue to prohibit recruiting for athletic purposes, were developed in part through input from high school officials who responded to a “core value” survey conducted by FHSAA during the summer.
The most significant proposal would change Bylaw 9.2.4, which has come to be known as the “follow-the-coach” rule because it prohibits students from transferring schools in order to play for a coach who guided them in a non-school activity, such as travel ball or a club team. The intent is to prevent coaches from using those activities as a tool for improper previous contact. The new “Previous Contact Rule” would eliminate a provision that prohibits affected students from participating in all sports at the new school for one year.
Under the proposed bylaws:
“This set of proposals will go a long way to make sure student-athletes get to keep playing the sports they love, while also making sure blatant recruiting is discouraged and punished,” Dearing said. “This approach will be fair to everyone – the schools, the coaches and, most importantly, the student-athletes themselves.”
By far the greatest number of all sectional appeals – 46 percent of the total over the past two years – involve ninth-graders, most of whom have entered high school for the first time. A provision of the proposed bylaw changes would eliminate the need for many of these appeals by allowing eighth-graders to select their high school without having to consider whether an athletic coach there also served on the staff of a club team or other non-school activity.
While considering the changes, FHSAA surveyed high school athletic directors, administrators and coaches. Almost two-thirds of survey participants have worked in athletics for at least 10 years, and they had strong feelings about eligibility requirements:
The proposed bylaws will go before FHSAA’s Representative Assembly in January. If approved there, the provisions will take affect for the 2014-2015 school year.
