- Michigan
MHSAA rules transfer students ineligible one full year in their sport of choice
The Michigan High School Athletic Association just got tougher on transfers in any given sport.
The Representative Council voted to revise transfer regulations effective for the 2019-20 school year. The new transfer rule will make transferring student-athletes ineligible for one year in any sport played during the previous year at the previous school unless that student-athlete’s situation fits one of the current 15 exceptions that allow for immediate eligibility.
However, the revised transfer regulation also allows that transferring student-athlete immediate eligibility in any other MHSAA-sponsored sport not participated in during that previous year at the previous school.
Simply, if a student-athlete played basketball this season, the 2018-19 school year, and transfers, he or she would be ineligible for the 2019-20 school year in the sport of basketball, not in any other sport, unless he or she fits the current exceptions.
The additions to the transfer rule received vast support from member schools in surveys leading up to the Council’s vote.
“We are hopeful this ‘sport-specific’ transfer rule will be easier to understand, and therefore, more consistently enforced,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “This rule better addresses the changing landscape of transfers, hopefully dissuading those considering moving for athletic reasons while still allowing a full range of sports for those who do switch. It may seem like a punishment to some, but the new rule is actually more permissive for many transfer students, and we saw growing support for these changes from our schools since we began discussing this proposal a year ago.”
