It’s probably too early to tell whether the PIAA’s new transfer rule is really stopping many transfers for athletic purposes. But it is certain that the new rule has had an effect on the basketball playoffs.
In the WPIAL, California junior Malik Ramsey averaged more than 20 points a game in the regular season, but was ineligible to compete in the playoffs because of the PIAA’s new rule. California lost to Sto-Rox, 72-57, in a WPIAL first-round game last Saturday.
On the eastern side of the state, there is a more high-profile case of ineligibility that will seriously affect one of the best teams in Pennsylvania. Lynn Greer III is a highly-touted junior point guard at Roman Catholic High School in the Philadelphia Catholic League. Greer has scholarship offers from Florida, Oregon and Iowa, among others. But Greer has been ruled ineligible for the PIAA playoffs. Roman Catholic has won three PIAA titles in the past five years and Greer scored 20 points in last year’s title game.
Ramsey and Greer are victims of a PIAA rule that went into effect Aug. 6. It states that a student who transfers after playing a sport in their 10th grade year, will be ineligible to participate in the postseason at their new school. The student-athlete, however, can still compete in the regular season.
Ramsey transferred from Laurel Highlands in the fall, thus making him ineligible. Greer left Roman to play at vaunted Oak Hill Academy (Va.). He never played a game for Oak Hill and transferred back to Roman before the start of basketball season. But District 12 (Philadelphia Public and Catholic League) ruled Greer ineligible to play under the new rule. Greer appealed his case to the PIAA, but the PIAA upheld the District 12 decision by a 5-0 vote. Greer can still play in the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs.
The District 12 ruling on Greer comes as a surprise to some because District 12 has been heavily criticized for turning a blind eye to athletically-motivated transfers in recent years. But not this time.
The PIAA’s rule does allow eligibility for some student-athlete transfers after the 10th grade, provided they fit under one of the “exceptions,” such as a change in residence necessitated by a change of employment by a family member. Or “a demonstrable change in income or other financial resources that compels withdrawal from a school.”
But according to the PIAA’s new rule, a transfer for academic, developmental, spiritual and/or social reasons is not a reason for eligibility. A change in residence resulting from a family separation, unless court approved, is also not reason for postseason eligibility.
“The [Ramsey] kid from California, he indicated he went to California for a better education, but the rule specifically says that’s not a reason to grant eligibility,” said WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley. “This school year, a lot of people transferred and got in under the wire before the rule went into effect in August. A number of those kids have played and impacted teams and seasons.”
O’Malley agrees that it is still too early and still hard to tell if the new rule actually is deterring some transfers made for athletic reasons. I guarantee you some parents really don’t care if their son or daughter has to sit out a postseason for one year. They’ll still transfer.
But just this past Monday, the WPIAL ruled four transfers ineligible for the postseason in different sports because they transferred after they played a sport in 10th grade. Among the ineligible are:
• James Johnson, a sophomore, for football playoffs at East Allegheny in 2019. He transferred from Central Catholic after playing last season.
• Ryan Andrekanic, an 11th-grader at McKeesport who is ineligible for the postseason in football and basketball next season because he played both sports this year before leaving Serra.
“The new rule is a step in the right direction as it relates to the attempt to control transfers motivated by athletics,” said O’Malley. “I’m not so sure it’s a total deterrent, but it’s a step. What might deter someone even more was if they used the same language and said the eligibility is limited to only JV competition for one year. That may be even more of a deterrent.”
Other transfer news
• Sophomore Nahki Johnson announced on Twitter that he has transferred from Steel Valley to West Mifflin. Johnson already has a few Division I college offers and it will be interesting to see how the WPIAL rules on his eligibility.
It just so happens that Rod Steele left Steel Valley to become West Mifflin’s new coach in mid-January. The PIAA has a rule that says a student-athlete can be ruled ineligible for a year if he transfers to follow a coach. Now, Johnson transferred before Steele was hired, but Steele was rumored to be going to Steel Valley in December.
At the minimum, Johnson will probably be ruled ineligible for the 2019 postseason at West Mifflin, under the PIAA’s new rule.
• The WPIAL class of 2020 in football isn’t blessed with big-time recruits. Sure, there will be future Division I college players, but the class doesn’t exactly have a plethora of Power 5 conference type of players. One of the most heavily-recruited players from the class of 2020 has transferred out of the state.
Nikhai Hill-Green, a junior linebacker at North Catholic, tweeted last week that he has left and enrolled at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. St. Frances was No 4 in USA Today’s final national rankings of 2018. Hill-Green has been offered by Michigan, Boston College and Duke, among others.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: February 21, 2019, 12:30 p.m.
