Guido: PIAA board cracking down on in-season transfers

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, December 19, 2017 | 11:15 PM

It looks like the PIAA might finally be doing something about in-season transfers.

At its last board of directors meeting, the PIAA passed, on a third and final reading, a measure that would require athletes transferring schools during a season to experience a 21-day waiting period before suiting up.

Up to now, as long as principals of the receiving and sending schools signed off on the transfer, the player would become eligible immediately.

The PIAA board for a while got cold feet and considered only a 14-day “cooling off” period on the red-hot issue, but finally went back to the 21-day period.

Criticism has mounted the last couple of years, including recently when Tom Burns, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound, two-way lineman left Palisades High School in New Jersey just in time to join the Conwell-Egan team for a Pennsylvania playoff run.

Last year, Micah Parsons, considered by many the top high school football player in the country, transferred from Central Dauphin to Harrisburg High School during the season, following a reported incident at Central Dauphin.

That caused the PIAA to enact a rule that prevents an athlete from transferring elsewhere to avoid either a suspension or an impending suspension at the school of origin.

The next move by the PIAA should be to institute a date when rosters are frozen for the postseason in all sports.

For instance, Major League Baseball has a rule that freezes rosters on Sept. 1. Anyone coming onto an MLB roster after Sept. 1 is ineligible for the postseason.

If the PIAA doesn't do anything, you could have the following scenario:

It's Feb. 1 and Mr. and Mrs. Knucklehead, the parents of a self-anointed Division I prospect, see their superstar offspring's team is going nowhere in the basketball standings. The school in the next town has the potential for a deep playoff run. They lease an apartment, move and tell investigators that the move isn't for athletic intent. They give the mealy-mouthed excuse that “we only want what's best” for our poor, misunderstood child.

Then Johnny Knucklehead joins the team on Feb. 22 and supplements his new school's playoff run.

At that point, if the receiving school wins a title, there had better be an asterisk beside the receiving school's listing on the championship archives.

Bucs go for 100

Burrell's wrestling program could reach yet another milestone Wednesday night when the Bucs visit Summit Academy in Class AA, Section 3B action.

Burrell will be going for its 100th consecutive section victory.

The last time the Bucs lost a section encounter was Jan. 8, 2003, when Mt. Pleasant handed Burrell a 39-35 setback on the final bout of the night.

Before that loss at Mt. Pleasant, Burrell had a 31-match winning streak.

That means Burrell has now won 130 of its last 131 section matches.

Two for the 10K club

Harrisburg's Bishop McDevitt High School became the first in the nation to boast two graduates hitting the 10,000-yard career rushing mark in the NFL.

Former Pitt star LeSean McCoy hit the milestone Sunday in Buffalo's 24-16 victory over Miami.

McCoy became the 30th player to eclipse the 10,000-yard barrier.

Earlier, McDevitt's Ricky Watters, who played for the 49ers, Eagles and Seahawks during his 11-year pro career, finished with 10,643 yards.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears on Wednesdays.

Tags: Burrell