CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A bill that would return oversight of transfers in high school athletics back to the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission is headed to the floor of the state Senate.
House Bill 4425 passed the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday and would repeal a 2023 law that permitted a “one-time transfer” for high school athletes. WVSSAC officials, coaches, and administrators testified in the bill’s favor during the committee’s meeting ahead of the vote.
“We would just like to make sure that you would repeal this and give us a chance to redo this whole thing. I don’t think there’s anybody in this room or in the state that thinks what we’re doing is working. We just need to find a way to do it better,” WVSSAC Board of Directors Vice President Steve Wamsley said.
Wamsley is the principal of Tygarts Valley High School and spent more than 20 years in coaching as well. The WVSSAC enforces the rules implemented by its Board of Directors and Board of Controls, primarily made up of representatives of member schools.
“Every rule we have has been put in place either by our schools, by the state Department of Education, or in this case, a unique one, by the state legislature, so that’s why we’re asking for this one to be repealed so we can address it, and we want to address it aggressively as quick as we can with our membership and try to create some stability back in it,” WVSSAC Executive Director Wayne Ryan said.
Ryan cited a growing lack of competitive balance as one of the primary reasons to tighten the restrictions on eligibility for athletic transfers. Data collected by the WVSSAC indicates that margins of victory are getting bigger and bigger around the state.
“We’ve had to change the mercy rule in softball, baseball, soccer, and we’ve had to change the game-shortening rule in football to now take effect in the third quarter. We had 303 games shortened last year in high school football,” he said.
Coaches and administrators called before the committee detailed the ways that open transfers have affected community support for athletic programs. Frankfort High School athletic director Jay Hesse believes a disconnect is forming between schools and their towns.
“When too many athletes start to transfer, schools lose that community feel. Supporters begin asking a question: Is this really our team? And that question matters because we rely on a community, and that community is invaluable in high school athletics in West Virginia,” he said.
Some have called into question the value of winning under a system that makes it easier for schools to aggregate talent from other school districts. Championships are being cheapened according to Spring Valley High School athletic director Tim George.
“School A won a state championship. Well, how many transfers did they have? That’s the first thing that people want to know. How many transfers did they have? To me, that makes it a little less meaningful than when you were playing with your buddies that you’ve grown up with since you were this tall,” he said.
George also stated that since the implementation of the transfer law, suspicion of recruiting for high school programs has grown. He said his concerns include at least one instance he suspects involved financial incentives.
“Undue influence and recruiting is a big piece of this puzzle, and I think that it’s made recruiting and undue influence more common and more likely. That’s not something that we tolerate at Spring Valley. That’s the last thing we want is to have kids being recruited to our school or kids being recruited away from us,” he said.
Winfield High School football coach Eddie Smolder reiterated his belief that the ultimate goal of high school sports is not championship success or college recruiting. He fears that the heart of youth athletics is being forgotten by some of his counterparts.
“We want to create better men and women, and we also want to teach them all the life skills they need to be successful and represent their hometown school, their community, and their programs the way they should be represented in high school,” he said.
The bill goes to the Senate floor for passage with just a few days remaining in this year’s regular legislative session. If it were to pass, the WVSSAC Board of Controls would have an opportunity to implement new policy later this month.
“We would give them some proposals, and we would take this to them in March. We would let them choose what would become our immediate emergency rule, which would take effect right away as soon as the state department of ed approved it,” Ryan said.
