Coaches and athletic leaders are asking lawmakers to put guardrails on West Virginia’s controversial high school sports transfer rule. 

A 2023 West Virginia law permits student athletes to change schools one time during their high school career without having to change residency. They’re eligible to play immediately.

The change has been linked to lopsided football scores and athlete injuries. Athletic directors worry it will affect community fundraising for programs.

“A lot of our concerns aren’t things that are quantifiable. We can’t quantify how this tears apart the community fabric aspect of our programs,” David Viands, president of the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association, told lawmakers Tuesday at the state Capitol. 

“They’re displacing students who have lived in that community and have been in that community for a long time,” he continued. “We need to evaluate long-term implications for this rule and look at solutions. 

During the 2024-school year, 433 athletes transferred to high schools during the fall sports season — tripling the number of transfers from years before the new rule went into effect.

“We’re seeing a lot of mid-season transfers. In Jefferson County, just this season we had four mid-season transfers … right before basketball,” Viands said. “We get the transfers right before the season starts.” 

Viands said it also favors kids who have the financial ability to transfer; students or parents often have to provide transportation. The new transfer rule has been largely utilized by the state’s more urban areas, like Charleston, Morgantown and parts of the Eastern Panhandle. 

“It does create a disparity in schools that if you lose a lot of seniors and juniors, you’re now playing a lot of sophomores and freshmen,” he said. 

Despite Gov. Jim Justice and some Republican lawmakers saying the rule needed to be revisited, House members declined last year to take up a bill to fix the transfer rule. 

“We’re seeing exactly what we thought was going to happen with this in place. I strongly suggest we look at this this session,” said Del. Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson.

Del. Jimmy Willis, R-Brooke, questioned why lawmakers should intervene in students’ ability to choose where they play if they’re working toward a collegiate athletic scholarship. 

“Why should we tell them not to go there?” he asked. 

Viands noted that only a small percentage (fewer than 2%) of high school student-athletes receive athletic scholarships to attend college.

Jamie Tallman, an athletic director in Grant County, hoped lawmakers would revisit last year’s failed bill. The measure, House Bill 5011, would have allowed rising freshmen and sophomores to transfer, giving up eligibility for a year, but closed the portal for upperclassmen.

“That’s something we could live with,” Tallman told lawmakers. 

Viands said the state must slow down the high numbers of junior and seniors transferring schools for sports. 

“We move somewhere towards a little more restrictions and guardrail to the transfer for athletics,” he said. 

The legislative session begins Feb. 12.

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