By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Revising the transfer eligibility process for Kentucky high school student-athletes has become a necessity in Matt Wilhoite’s first year as president of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control.
“We’ve had a record number of transfers the last couple years and that number has been going up, so there has to be some kind of revisions to Bylaw 6,” said Wilhoite, student engagement coordinator for the Kenton County School District.
According to Bylaw 6 in the KHSAA handbook, any transfer student who competed in a varsity sport at their previous school is ineligible for varsity competition at their new school for one year unless they meet one of the exceptions for waiver of the rule.
Those exceptions have triggered such a high number of transfer requests, inquiries and appeals over the last two years that the KHSAA Board of Control has been discussing ways to ease the burden at several of its meetings, according to Wilhoite.
At their meeting earlier this week, the board found out about a joint resolution filed in the Kentucky House of Representatives to take a closer look at KHSAA eligibility rulings that can impact student-athletes’ ability to participate in 21 interscholastic sports.
The resolution wants the KHSAA to provide information in two main areas:
1. Report of past two school years detailing the transfers submitted, the initial ruling by the ruling officer, whether or not the case was appealed, the results of the appeal, the presence of counsel in the appeal, and the eventual ruling.
2. How recent changes by the KHSAA to implement an electronic system to manage the student-athlete transfer process have been implemented, and how this system has impacted the eligibility determination process, including the appeal process.
“I would anticipate the resolution will pass and we do the report,” Wilhoite said. “But the KHSAA is moving forward with this anyway and I think this might speed up our process.”
Bylaw 6 is designed to prevent athletic advantages by adding transfer players to a team. Wilhoite said the KHSAA needs to make revisions that would establish “guard rails” for transfer eligibility without causing delays that might hamper a student-athlete’s ability to participate in sports.
“The main reason for the association is to maintain that balance and the integrity of high school athletics,” Wilhoite said. “But I think the worse thing we could do is be in a position where state law says you can change schools but the association says you can’t play sports. I think that’s not a sustainable position for the association.”
Top scorers receive 9th Region basketball awards
Senior guards Andy Johnson of Cooper and Caroline Eaglin of Newport Central Catholic, the leading scorers in 9th Region boys and girls basketball this season, were among the leading vote-getters for Player of the Year honors.
Eaglin was voted girls 9th Region Player of the Year by local members of the Kentucky Basketball Coaches Association. She entered her team’s final regular season game on Friday with a 22.0 scoring average.
Johnson and Lloyd senior forward EJ Walker were co-winners of boys 9th Region Player of the Year. Johnson finished the regular season with a 23.8 scoring average. Walker entered his team’s season finale on Friday averaging 19.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
Campbell County senior guard Garyn Jackson was voted boys 10th Region Player of the Year and Walton-Verona senior forward Aaron Gutman shared 8th Region Player of the Year honors with Armelo Boone of Woodford County.
Gutman became Walton-Verona’s all-time leading scorer this week. Walker and Eaglin also broke team career scoring records earlier this season.
Seniors voted KABC Player of the Year in each region are candidates for Mr. and Miss Kentucky Basketball that will be announced in March.
Tim Sullivan of Cooper and Scott Code of Dixie Heights were co-winners of boys 9th Region Coach of the Year. The girls award went to Joel Steczynski of Dixie Heights. Co-winners of the girls 10th Region Coach of the Year were Steve Brown of Brossart and Robbie Graham of George Rogers Clark.
Holmes boys end long wait for winning season
The Holmes boys basketball team defeated Bellevue, 65-38, on Friday to clinch the program’s first winning season since 2015-16 under new head coach Sam Elsbernd.
The Bulldogs will take a 15-13 record into next week’s district playoffs. They went 6-3 during the final month of the regular season with two of the losses coming by five-point margins.
The team’s top scorer this season is junior Mark McCutchen, who entered Friday’s game with a 17.3 average. Three seniors — Joseph Meyer, Dominic Scott and Tony Kutcher — follow him on the team’s scoring stat list.
Elsbernd took charge of a Holmes program that finished 2-22 and 3-22 the previous two seasons. The team’s last winning record was 13-12 in 2015-16.