HERMITAGE, Tenn. — After much deliberation, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s Legislative Council — which writes and modifies the rules all member schools must abide by — approved a rules change Monday to allow student-athletes to transfer schools without losing eligibility. But it came with a caveat.
By an 8-4 vote, the council passed a proposal to allow student-athletes to transfer schools and remain eligible to participate in varsity sports so long as it falls under the parameters of academic, social-emotional, environmental or mental health needs. The student-athlete can not transfer solely for athletic reasons.
“Now we have a place to start,” TSSAA Executive Director Mark Reeves said. “I know the membership has been looking for some change with regards to the transfer rule for a number of years. There was a desire to loosen up some of the transfer rules, so what was passed today made it easier for those who have legitimate emotional, mental health or school environment reasons to not require a hardship anymore.
“Our legal council said we want to make those pathways easier to find, and I think we did that today.”
Although the ruling does not open the door for a completely unrestricted one-time transfer, it does grant an avenue for student-athletes to bypass the TSSAA’s decades-old requirement that any student-athlete wishing to transfer schools has to make a bona fide change of residence.