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PIAA...Unreal

bkmtnittany1

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Jan 12, 2014
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Just found out this is true. A female athlete from the state of Maryland plays in the state playoffs on Thursday nite. Her team loses. On Friday she transfers into Neumann Goretti and scores 16 pts in a state semi-final game for N-G last nite...my beef is if she had transferred into the school N-G beat, the PIAA would have ruled her ineligible because it was for athletic purposes...awful.
 
I've heard this story from several people over the weekend, but can't tell if it's just a rumor, or a fact.
 
Just found out this is true. A female athlete from the state of Maryland plays in the state playoffs on Thursday nite. Her team loses. On Friday she transfers into Neumann Goretti and scores 16 pts in a state semi-final game for N-G last nite...my beef is if she had transferred into the school N-G beat, the PIAA would have ruled her ineligible because it was for athletic purposes...awful.

Heard the same thing. Apparently there are girls from like 6 or 7 different states on that team.
 
I've heard this story from several people over the weekend, but can't tell if it's just a rumor, or a fact.

Just spoke to a friend of mine who is a college coach and was there recruiting last nite...he told me it is true...if it is I find that awful. Considering I was a public school coach for 20+ years and had to deal with this nonsense all the time...
 
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Just found out this is true. A female athlete from the state of Maryland plays in the state playoffs on Thursday nite. Her team loses. On Friday she transfers into Neumann Goretti and scores 16 pts in a state semi-final game for N-G last nite...my beef is if she had transferred into the school N-G beat, the PIAA would have ruled her ineligible because it was for athletic purposes...awful.
High school athletic associations are much like the NCAA...hard to figure out exactly what they’re doing.
 
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This stuff much like with the NCAA has grown beyond the PIAAs control. It's not just the private schools. You have parents renting there kids apartments outside the school districts in which they live just so they can play for another school. I do know that a number of other states have more stringent rules and the PIAA met last summer but could not come up with any consensus on making the transfer rules tougher.
 
Just found out this is true. A female athlete from the state of Maryland plays in the state playoffs on Thursday nite. Her team loses. On Friday she transfers into Neumann Goretti and scores 16 pts in a state semi-final game for N-G last nite...my beef is if she had transferred into the school N-G beat, the PIAA would have ruled her ineligible because it was for athletic purposes...awful.
Why, per PIAA rules, was it OK to transfer to Neumann Goretti but not the school that Neumann Goretti played? Is one a private and the other a public school? Does one have a major/degree that the other doesn't offer (tic)?
 
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This stuff much like with the NCAA has grown beyond the PIAAs control. It's not just the private schools. You have parents renting there kids apartments outside the school districts in which they live just so they can play for another school. I do know that a number of other states have more stringent rules and the PIAA met last summer but could not come up with any consensus on making the transfer rules tougher.
Some states are getting less strict...I know WV took out the rule that the transfer couldn’t be for athletic reasons only.
 
Why, per PIAA rules, was it OK to transfer to Neumann Goretti but not the school that Neumann Goretti played? Is one a private and the other a public school? Does one have a major/degree that the other doesn't offer (tic)?

The school N-G played was a public school. I believe that the PIAA will not let a public school athlete transfer into a school and become immediately eligible. I know that when I coached there was a 60 day wait...but private schools, your eligible in 20 minutes.
 
I would go so far as to block Stevens possible transfer out of PSU.....because it seems to be mostly for athletic reasons........ We must draw a line...
 
I can recall coaching my bball team in a summer league game against a parochial school..it was on a Thursday nite....we played and as we were walking out of the park the opposing coach was recruiting 2 of my players! % minutes after we were done...and you know what? Not a thing I could do about it. However, if the coach was from a public school I could have reported him and got the entire school in trouble.
 
piaa basketball has gone from bad to worse since going to 6 divisions. the public schools outnumber the Private almost 2 to 1 but the private dominate basketball across all six divisions. There should be 4 public school divisions ... A to AAAA and 2 private school divisions A and AA. Private schools can recruit and public must stay inside the district with tight scrutiny on transfer. 40 year old problem with a simple answer and they cannot even come close to getting this right.
 
Maryland has different divisions for Public and Private Schools for this very reason. It wouldn't be fair for the Dematha's of the world to be taking on Arundel in football. Rock Creek Christian has 50 students but half of them are star basketball players from all over the country. Having them play rural Smithsburg in a single A title game would be totally one sided. These divisions make sense for competitive purposes.
 
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Shouldn't the PIAA really only be dealing with public schools. Let the private schools do whatever they want but those private schools don't participate within PIAA sanctioned events unless they follow PIAA rules.

That would be smart...so toss that one out!
 
Shouldn't the PIAA really only be dealing with public schools. Let the private schools do whatever they want but those private schools don't participate within PIAA sanctioned events unless they follow PIAA rules.

I think your last sentence is the key. I don't see any reason why the PIAA can't govern private schools as well so long as they follow the same rules. Doesn't really seem that crazy of an idea to me but I guess it must be.
 
on a separate private school tangent, I am amazed at how much money parents will pay to send their kid to a private high school for sports. i can understand sending a kid to a parochial school (catholic or christian or whatever religion) because of having religion and other moral related issue as part of the curriculum. Or if you live in a really bad public school system and private school is a much better education. But these schools are $20,000+ a year and i see a ton of parents sending their kid to them solely because a specific sports team is a little bit better than their local public school. Considering I live in a really good public school district of which there really are not any private schools that are equal (or at best maybe similar), I don't understand spending close to $100,000 for high school so your kid can play on a soccer or lacrosse or basketball team that is better than the public school team WHEN your kid has zero chance of being a Div 1A level full scholarship player (which is 99% of the kids). Can anyone explain that to me?
 
I think your last sentence is the key. I don't see any reason why the PIAA can't govern private schools as well so long as they follow the same rules. Doesn't really seem that crazy of an idea to me but I guess it must be.
Supposedly there is a PA law that says you cannot separate the public and private schools for sports.
 
on a separate private school tangent, I am amazed at how much money parents will pay to send their kid to a private high school for sports. i can understand sending a kid to a parochial school (catholic or christian or whatever religion) because of having religion and other moral related issue as part of the curriculum. Or if you live in a really bad public school system and private school is a much better education. But these schools are $20,000+ a year and i see a ton of parents sending their kid to them solely because a specific sports team is a little bit better than their local public school. Considering I live in a really good public school district of which there really are not any private schools that are equal (or at best maybe similar), I don't understand spending close to $100,000 for high school so your kid can play on a soccer or lacrosse or basketball team that is better than the public school team WHEN your kid has zero chance of being a Div 1A level full scholarship player (which is 99% of the kids). Can anyone explain that to me?

A. More money than brains
B. Can't teach stupid
C. All of the above
 
I recall a few years ago sitting at a funeral brunch with a cousin. The nite before his son's bball team( a parochial school) had lost a close game to Imotep Charter. This guy was complaining that Imotep had 3 guys from either outside of Philly or out of state. I started laughing, I told my cousin,"Dude, they just did a better job of recruiting than your coach did!"
 
On a related note, I was at my daughter’s soccer tournament this weekend. The father of one of her teammates asked about the Catholic school my daughter goes to. Said he is sick of the public school and doesn’t like the lack of discipline at the school. He said he would to transfer her to my daughter’s school but she would have to sit out soccer next season due to the district rules.
 
On a related note, I was at my daughter’s soccer tournament this weekend. The father of one of her teammates asked about the Catholic school my daughter goes to. Said he is sick of the public school and doesn’t like the lack of discipline at the school. He said he would to transfer her to my daughter’s school but she would have to sit out soccer next season due to the district rules.
If it's in PA. the sending public school district has to sign off that they think it's not an athletic transfer. She would then be eligible immediately...it's very hard to prove. All the sending parent has to say is its for religious reasons...
 
Private schools make up less than 33% of the number of total schools in PA. Oddly enough they make up about 60% of teams that made the state playoffs in 1A basketball this year.

I can't understand how you would want to move a kid with 4A to 6A talent into a 1A or 2A private school just to say you won a state championship. I wouldn't feel right about that as a coach, a parent or a player. Seems kinda hollow, like bragging about beating the junior high kids as a senior.
 
What is also unreal is if I, as a public school coach, talk to an athlete that resides within my district boundaries but attends a private school about coming to my public school to play bball. That would be considered illegal and I could get the public school's entire sports program on probation. But the Catholic school coach could talk to a public school player at half-time of a game if he wants to...
 
If it's in PA. the sending public school district has to sign off that they think it's not an athletic transfer. She would then be eligible immediately...it's very hard to prove. All the sending parent has to say is its for religious reasons...

Not PA. Here I think you have to sit out an entire year of athletics to go from a public school to a private school, in district. It’s a little bit of public school paranoia.
 
Not a PIAA rules expert....just asking

Didn't Micah Parsons transfer from Central Dauphin to Harrisburg High and start playing right away? What was that about?
 
Just found out this is true. A female athlete from the state of Maryland plays in the state playoffs on Thursday nite. Her team loses. On Friday she transfers into Neumann Goretti and scores 16 pts in a state semi-final game for N-G last nite...my beef is if she had transferred into the school N-G beat, the PIAA would have ruled her ineligible because it was for athletic purposes...awful.

To show how inconsistent the PIAA is:

Zain Retherford won a PIAA state title in wrestling as a freshman at Line Mountain. He and his family moved to the Benton school district during the summer following his freshman year.

He played soccer for Benton during the fall of his sophomore season. But he was ruled ineligible by the PIAA to wrestle for Benton during the winter season, because he transferred for athletic reasons.
 
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To show how inconsistent the PIAA is:

Zain Retherford won a PIAA state title in wrestling as a freshman at Line Mountain. He and his family moved to the Benton school district during the summer following his freshman year.

He played soccer for Benton in the fall during his sophomore season. But he was ruled ineligible by the PIAA to wrestle for Benton during the winter season because he transferred for athletic reasons.

Wow...did not know that.
 
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Not a PIAA rules expert....just asking

Didn't Micah Parsons transfer from Central Dauphin to Harrisburg High and start playing right away? What was that about?

The only things I can imagine is that his family physically moved into the HBurg district and the principals from both public school signed off on the deal that it wasn't for athletic reasons.
 
Supposedly there is a PA law that says you cannot separate the public and private schools for sports.
If I may interject.....I'm still active in athletic administration in NY....all states have public vs private issues. We have been advised that the non-publics who are already (and in some cases members for decades) members of the association, would have to agree to be separated. We are told it would be a losing proposition (legally) to move forward without their agreement.
 
Just found out this is true. A female athlete from the state of Maryland plays in the state playoffs on Thursday nite. Her team loses. On Friday she transfers into Neumann Goretti and scores 16 pts in a state semi-final game for N-G last nite...my beef is if she had transferred into the school N-G beat, the PIAA would have ruled her ineligible because it was for athletic purposes...awful.
Yep. Disgraceful. Screwed the Lady Bucks from Dunmore.
 
Since private schools have the ability to draw from a much larger pool of athletes than public schools, one option is to place all private schools in the largest classification for each sport.
We have a non-public classification committee in each section (like districts in Pa.). We meet at the end of each season and review all pertinent material (rosters, residence as well as won-loss records) and can move schools up or down based on this and other criteria. It isn't as clear cut as just moving every single non public school to the highest classification....some are just small schools who struggle to field a team. We do it on a case by case, sport by sport basis.
 
I was done with the PIAA when Jon Runyon's son won the PA Player of the year(or something like that) while playing football for St. Joe's Prep. The Runyon's live in New Jersey!!! I know there are Private schools that offer scholarships to recruit athletes to play sports. There should be some kind of agreement with the PIAA that private schools have to live by or they can't compete in the PIAA playoffs. In this agreement\contract, they need to agree to all players being PA Residents for at least 1 year or more and prove it with documentation. Also, they need to agree that no player is attending the school on scholarship for athletic reasons and if a player is on scholarship academically, then they must maintain a 3.2 GPA or higher to be eligible to play sports. Easy for me to sit here and type this but something needs to be done.
 
I was done with the PIAA when Jon Runyon's son won the PA Player of the year(or something like that) while playing football for St. Joe's Prep. The Runyon's live in New Jersey!!! I know there are Private schools that offer scholarships to recruit athletes to play sports. There should be some kind of agreement with the PIAA that private schools have to live by or they can't compete in the PIAA playoffs. In this agreement\contract, they need to agree to all players being PA Residents for at least 1 year or more and prove it with documentation. Also, they need to agree that no player is attending the school on scholarship for athletic reasons and if a player is on scholarship academically, then they must maintain a 3.2 GPA or higher to be eligible to play sports. Easy for me to sit here and type this but something needs to be done.

I don’t know, that type of thing has never bothered me. The kid played football in PA. He should be eligible for PA player of the year.
I’ve just never seen any of this as a big deal.
 
I don’t know, that type of thing has never bothered me. The kid played football in PA. He should be eligible for PA player of the year.
I’ve just never seen any of this as a big deal.

When you have coached and lost players to guys who are allowed to walk into your gym and talk to your players and it's perfectly legal, yet if you talk to the same player from your district while he is at a Catholic school it's considered illegal recruiting...then to some it could be considered a big deal. The PIAA is full of crap.
 
The school N-G played was a public school. I believe that the PIAA will not let a public school athlete transfer into a school and become immediately eligible. I know that when I coached there was a 60 day wait...but private schools, your eligible in 20 minutes.
You mean like when Micah Parsons played for Central Dauphin, transferred to Harrisburg, and was declared immediately eligible?
 
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