This week, the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Central Board of Control approved the appointment of a task force to investigate non-compliant transfer issues in high school athletics.

The board saw a presentation from Alma Bryant football coach Bart Sessions and Mountain Brook football coach Chris Yeager, who laid out a number of issues with transfers in the state. According to data that the two shared, a total of six schools accounted for nearly 40 percent of all transfers in 2024. 

Central Board of Control (CBOC) President Terry Curtis of UMS-Wright High School requested that the board appoint a task force to study the problem with transfers not being compliant. 

“As I travel across the state to district meetings and other AHSAA events, it is clear that the issue of non-compliant transfers of student-athletes are one of our association’s biggest concerns,” AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon said. “I am proud the Central Board is setting up a task force. It’s not just an issue in our state. It is an issue across the nation”

The CBOC unanimously approved the request to form the task force and a special committee will be compiled of principals, superintendents, athletic directors and coaches to examine the problems and look for solutions. Harmon also announced that the AHSAA is working with DragonFly.com, the online partner it already uses for schedules and rosters, to develop online ways to track more efficiently member schools’ transfer information. 

The AHSAA Legislative Council also voted on a number of proposals submitted by member schools, two of which also addressed transfer issues. Proposal 19 requires all member schools to identify and mark all players who transfer into their schools. The proposal requested the process to begin with incoming ninth graders. 

Proposal 11 also addresses the AHAA’s out-of-season transfer rule and how quickly the transfer student can become eligible to participate in athletics at their new school. While the proposal was ratified, the council also agreed to table Proposal 11 until some “ambiguous language” could be addressed before it becomes an official rule.