A rule change will make some high school student-athletes who transfer ineligible for the postseason, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced May 16.
Beginning with the 2018-19 school year, transfer students who do not meet one of the bylaw exceptions will sit out the second half of the season and the postseason.
Previously, student-athletes who did not meet one of the exceptions sat out the first half of the season of the sports they played during the previous 12 months.
The change passed by a 450-244 vote of member schools and was one of eight bylaw revisions that schools approved in voting held May 1-15.
“About three years ago, many of our coaches associations approached us about their concern that teams were using the tournament as a recruiting tool, building teams, stacking teams,” OHSAA executive director Dan Ross said. “(They could) build a team and get to the state tournament. There’s going to be good parts and there’s going to be bad parts, but (the transfer issue) was probably the one that people had the most conversation about.”
In other OHSAA news announced May 16:
•The 2018 football state championship games again will be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. The OHSAA is hoping to line up Ohio Stadium, where the state finals were held from 2014-16, for 2019 and 2020.
•Member schools containing grades seven and eight will be permitted to form interscholastic teams consisting of students from two or more schools within the school district/system. Such requests must be submitted annually to the OHSAA in writing by the superintendent of each public or non-public system.
•Pickerington North athletics director Molly Feesler was elected to the Central District Athletic Board. She will serve from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2024.
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