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Reaction mixed on transfer rule

By DAVID MURPHY
Published January 25, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Last year, Jacob Bess transferred from Central to Hernando and this year became a star on the Leopards' cross-country and basketball teams. Andy Leavine played football for Central last fall, then wound up wrestling at Springstead, where he was joined by Seth Metz, a former Crystal River wrestler and football player who transferred over the summer.

All three likely would have fallen under the 10 exceptions listed for the new transfer guidelines passed Tuesday by the FHSAA - which essentially say transfers have to sit out one year or not play varsity - allowing them to compete in their current situations.

But with four high schools in close proximity and a magnet school that has drawn several of the county's top athletes, the ruling was of some interest to area coaches.

"If you make it a hard-and-fast rule, there are kids that slip in cracks in between and it doesn't treat them fair," Springstead girls basketball coach Greg Linley said Monday before the bill was passed. "It seems there are enough exceptions, though, where if a kid runs into money problems or something, they are going to give him a pass. If I read it right, there are enough loopholes that kids won't get jammed in."

Though most coaches seem to agree the spirit of the law is in the right place, many also feel there always will be ways around the rule.

"I've never recruited a kid in all my years here," Central coach John Sedlack said. "Once I left college, my recruiting days were over. But I know its going on. People know its going on. People lie about it, people find truth they want to find about it. ... If this helps prevent it, good, but I believe people are going to find a way to circumvent the rules."

Sedlack added that a lot of it boils down to the honesty of school administrators.

"There are a lot of people in our business that don't have integrity," he said.

There are other issues unique to rural counties like Hernando.

For instance, the rule will make it harder for a team such as Florida Air Academy to load up on transfer and international players who have helped it amass a 46-game win streak. It also will hurt foreign-exchange students who aren't blue-chip athletes, such as Hernando's Jan-Marc Alberding, who was the kicker for the football team and played soccer during his year abroad.

"We want to give our foreign-exchange students the full American education experience," Laing said.

Hernando Christian Academy is one school adamantly opposed to the change. It, like many small private schools, contends the ruling will hurt the type of athletes who typically transfer into HCA: Kids who obviously are not in search of athletic glory.

"We will abide by it though," HCA athletic director Mike Drummond said.

Linley, who grew up in Connecticut, encountered a similar rule. His brother, Jay, was three years younger, but played basketball at the same parochial school. Linley graduated, but Jay decided to transfer midway through his career. Per state law, he sat out a year, then returned and eventually received a Division II scholarship.

If it isn't like that, Linley said, "you open Pandora's box if kids can move around at will. It could be kids, could be parents, but you are wondering what goes on behind the scenes to make the kids go."

It should be interesting to see how the rule is enforced and what type of appeals eventually are accepted and which are rejected. Coaches said they also are interested to see how a school such as Nature Coast, which features special programs and draws students from across the country, is affected.

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:55:16]