:no_upscale()/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/VSC4CCVEFJAPXM3P53G5ZESVWY.jpg)
HOUSTON — SMU football coach Rhett Lashlee opened his press conference Monday by speaking out against potential legislation that could open the door for high school athletes to transfer freely and create a transfer portal.
“There is some proposed legislation probably coming down the pipe that may threaten the way things are done in the state, and we have to stand strongly against that,” Lashlee said. “To potentially allow a transfer in a high school setting would be detrimental to Texas high school athletics as we know it.”
House Bill 4460, filed in the Texas House of Representatives this legislative session, would allow athletes to transfer once during their high school careers outside of their own district boundaries for athletic purposes. It would prevent the University Interscholastic League from penalizing an athlete or school district if a student chooses to transfer for athletic purposes and meets the transfer requirements. The bill was left pending in an April 18 committee hearing.
“I have an experience being in other states that allow free transfers, and it ruined high school athletics in those states,” Lashlee said. “I know myself, and I believe all of the other college coaches would agree ... we stand strongly against that. We’ve got to do what’s best for the young men and women in our state, and what is best is not to allow people to transfer high schools freely without moving.”
The voucher system that is being discussed in the Texas Legislature could also lead to high school athletes transferring schools. It could allow parents to use their property tax money to pay for private school tuition.
Joe Martin, executive director of the Texas High School Coaches Association, referenced the situation in Florida, where athletes are allowed to transfer freely between Florida schools and are immediately eligible after transferring.
“The transfer rule would be a huge problem,” Martin said. “It would just open up Pandora’s box.”
It could also dramatically affect attendance.
“We play 12 state football championships at AT&T Stadium. Florida plays eight [state title games],” Martin said. “Our average attendance at AT&T has been over 215,000 [per year] in the last several years. Florida’s total attendance this past year, for all eight state championship games, was 28,000.
“We’re community-based athletics. In Florida, those kids are from all over. They didn’t grow up there, they didn’t go to elementary school there. There is nobody backing them. There is no Friday night lights like we know them in Texas. There are some things out there that would really hurt us on Friday night.”
On Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/dmn/15f33e3f-2b09-43c9-bc83-e08fca5e9d02.jpg)