My View: Boys going to Buchtel eventually will play this year

 

I believe before the start of next school year, the OHSAA will reverse field and allow Timonte Anderson, DeDonte Cheatham, Dierre Smith and Larry Sullivan to play high school football.

Last December, the four boys transferred from Firestone High School to Buchtel High School. Now, the foursome is learning, according to a published report by the Akron Beacon Journal, that they are required to sit one year before being eligible for athletics.

In effect, they will not be allowed to compete during the 2011 grid season.

If these young men had moved from one school district to another school district, I would agree with the OHSAA in standing firm on its decision.

However, Anderson, Cheatham, Smith and Sullivan moved within Akron Public Schools and APS superintendent David James, while he would have preferred knowing about the situation in advance, has no problem with the four being eligible.

Think of Akron Public Schools as one big high school. They moved from one wing of the school to another.  Countless students within the APS system, many of them athletes, have done the same for many, many years.

Everyone connected with high school athletics in Summit County can cite numerous transfers that seemingly took place without so much as a ripple.

We all would scratch our heads and ask, “How is that possible?” And, then go about our business.

What makes this situation different? I believe there are four reasons why these transfers are now in the news.

First, it is a block of four students moving as one.

Second, Anderson, Cheatham, Smith and Sullivan declared their intent to play football for Buchtel, one of the state’s premier Division III programs, coming off a state championship game appearance.

If the four were headed to Buchtel to run cross country, it would be viewed as inconsequential by all parties.

Third, a coach complained. A coach with two state championships on his resume, a reputable coach with a long-running family name in football coaching voiced a protest.

Without complaint, it is quite likely these young men change high schools with no fanfare, just as dozens and dozens of other students have made similar moves within the APS system.

Fourth, the OHSAA recently has made an effort to shore it up its transfer policies. There used to be loop holes and ways to work the system to avoid sitting one year upon transfer.

Quite frankly, transferring and being immediately eligible used to be a simple matter of two signatures. My understanding is that “exception” no longer exists.

I have no doubt Anderson, Cheatham, Smith and Sullivan watched the comings and goings of APS students from one high school to another and thought: “We can do the same.”

In these economic times, and yet staying within the same school district, it seems difficult to prevent a family from pursuing what it believes is a better opportunity to acquire college funds. If a talented music student wanted to move from one APS high school to Firestone High School for its curriculum, surely it would be encouraged, especially if the opportunity for scholarship dollars existed.

Does the same apply for athletics?

I am not in favor of student-athletes moving all over the map. I am all for strict transfer rules when moving from one school district to another.

But Akron Public Schools is one big district.  

To me, a logical compromise might be to bench the young men for all regular-season non-conference games, but to allow them to compete in all Akron City Series contests and all playoff games.

In this way there is a penalty for failing to grasp the revised, tougher transfer rules now being imposed by the OHSAA.  But it also allows Anderson, Cheatham, Smith and Sullivan to experience football in 2011 and affords them visibility and the opportunity to impress a college recruiter.

I believe in some form or fashion the OHSAA will present a similar outcome. 

Related News Stories

• 4/8/2011 – OHSAA football tourney attendance down 83,000 in 2010
• 2/3/2011 – Firestone’s Brown heads list of City Series football signees
• 1/2/2011 – Buchtel football: Top sports moments of 2010

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