OSSAA Rules High School Athletes Allowed 1 Transfer To Different School

Starting next summer, high school athletes will be allowed to transfer one time to a different school without having to sit out a year. Coaches believe this change could have a big impact on high school sports.

“My first thought was more paperwork,” said Dale Condict, Wagoner's head football coach and athletics director.

He calls the OSSAA’s latest ruling proactive. The change will soon allow student athletes the chance to transfer to a different school without the penalty of having to sit out for a year.

Condict says he’s not surprised by the rule changes, given the nature of how everything is happening at the collegiate level. Instead, he will focus on the things he can control, including relationships and culture.

“It’s going to be a huge change; there’s going to be a learning curve,” said Condict. “We’re going to have to navigate it for a while to really understand how much movement’s really going to occur.”

The OSSAA is addressing concerns raised by the change. Assistant director Grant Gower says the goal is to keep an even playing field in all sports.

Gower says he doesn’t have concerns about an abundance of athletes transferring to a specific school to create a potential super team.

“Will that school be able to accept transfers?” asked Gower. “When it’s all said and done, that capacity is what’s going to drive the number of transfers that a school may be able to accept.”

Condict says he isn’t worried about an athlete transferring to a school in a higher district to get more recognition.

“The number of division one football coaches and programs that have come in here in the last year, I’d put that against anybody,” he said.

The change goes into effect next July.