Seeking Greener Pastures : Athletes Can Transfer Easier Now, Thanks to Open Enrollment

Nate Morton was lost last spring.

Sure, he was a key player on the Ocean View basketball team. A position of honor in a basketball powerhouse. He was a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward with potential.

But there were problems too. Big ones, mainly personal and social, that were beginning to affect all aspects of his life. Basically, he just didn’t fit in anymore.

He needed to go elsewhere.

“I was searching for the Lord, really,” Morton said. “I prayed for three weeks. I had long talks with my pastor. The Lord finally showed me where to go.”

Calvary Chapel High School.

Morton transferred and found peace. He found structure and stability for his life. He found a school that suited his needs. Eligibility wasn’t one of them.

Yet, Morton was told he could play varsity basketball this season. He qualified under new Southern Section rules that allow a transfer to retain his or her eligibility.

“I didn’t even care about basketball when I transferred,” Morton said. “I was looking to straighten out my life. When they told me I could play, I was stunned.”

Although he didn’t know it, Morton was one of the first who took advantage of a new Southern Section rule--one necessitated by the state’s open enrollment policy.

The law, which took effect this year, allows a family to select a school within its district. Next year, a student can go to any school, anywhere, as long as he or she meets entrance requirements.

Needless to say, alarms sounded with coaches. Certainly the sky was falling. Next thing you know, coaches were going to need recruiting budgets.

Their concerns were increased when the Southern Section adopted a rule that allowed a student a one-time transfer, within the first 15 days of the school year, without losing eligibility.

Many are still suspicious, and have a right to be. But the initial phase of open enrollment has not opened the

floodgates. The athletic balance remains the same. Athletes, for the most part, stayed put.

“Everyone thought this was going to bring blatant recruiting,” said Tom Anthony, the assistant superintendent of secondary education for the Capistrano Unified School District.

“Coaches were going to undermine each other’s program. Well, it didn’t happen. If anything, it made them watch each other more carefully. They worked together to keep problems from happening.”

Anthony pointed out that 97% of incoming freshmen in the Capistrano Unified District went to the school in their area. But it’s that 3% who have coaches edgy.

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No transfer student was more controversial than Ike Harmon, a 6-foot-5 junior forward. He played at Century last season, but announced he was going to Santa Ana Valley during the summer.

Harmon wasn’t the only one to take advantage of the rule.

Newport Harbor basketball standout Paul Tayyar transferred to Fountain Valley. The Huntington Beach Unified School District is the only one in Orange County to accept out-of-district transfers. Next year, all districts will because of state law.

Estancia football standout John Faulkner transferred to Mater Dei. Private schools, with no district boundaries, also are covered by the 15-day rule. Faulkner was immediately eligible and is a starting lineman on the Monarch varsity.

But Harmon’s transfer created a stir. The finger pointing began when Santa Ana Valley Coach Rich Prospero played Harmon in three summer league games, a section violation.

Most were certain that Harmon’s move was motivated by athletics, which is also against section rules. A student cannot transfer for athletic reasons unless his family makes a change of residence.

Harmon’s transfer was questioned by Century officials. Santa Ana Valley reached the semifinals of the Division I-AA playoffs last season. The Falcons had point guard Olujimi Mann, considered one of the top juniors in the nation.

Suspicions were flamed when it was discovered that Mann and Harmon played together on a traveling team last spring.

But a district investigation found no wrongdoing. Harmon was ruled eligible by the district and by the section. He contended that he transferred for transportation reasons.

Harmon said his home is a 10-minute walk from Santa Ana Valley. He said it was a 15- to 20-minute drive to Century. Although his brother, Thomas, attended Century, all six of his sisters attended Santa Ana Valley.

“Everybody has been putting this in my face,” Harmon said. “Yes, I knew I could transfer within the district and still remain eligible. But I left because Santa Ana Valley was closer.”

Prospero, who has coached at Santa Ana Valley for three seasons, said no one ever accused him of recruiting until Mann transferred from Mater Dei a year ago. Mann left Mater Dei for financial reasons; his family was unable to afford the tuition. He lived within the Santa Ana Valley boundaries.

“No one believed that,” Prospero said. “So I became the bad guy. Of course, everyone was convinced more kids were coming. I can name an all-star team of kids that were supposed to come to Valley. I haven’t seen one yet.”

Except Harmon.

“I can throw a baseball from Valley and hit Ike’s house,” Prospero said.

Athletic transfers are not supposed to occur.

Each district was told to draw up an open enrollment policy. Almost all came up with a lottery system to prevent students from receiving preferential treatment.

Basically, a student had a window of opportunity in the spring to apply to a school other than the one in his or her attendance area. The applications then were compared to the number of openings at each school. If there were fewer slots than applications, a computer lottery was held.

“We had our concerns,” Anthony said. “You didn’t know how people were going to react. You’re always worried that coaches are going to recruit.”

Anthony pointed out that Aliso Niguel, the district’s newest school, had far more applications than openings. That made it impossible for a transfer to be guaranteed entrance.

The safeguards were there.

Still, sometimes even the lottery system is unfair. Trabuco Hills was declared full, meaning the school could accept no transfers.

This created an advantage for other Saddleback Unified School District schools, Trabuco Hills football Coach Jim Barnett said.

“We couldn’t receive a transfer, but they could,” Barnett said. “The rule didn’t help us, but it could hurt us.”

All it would take is a win-at-all-costs coach.

“If everyone follows the lottery system ethically, then we’ll have no problem,” said Rick Falk, girls’ basketball coach at Tustin. “If they don’t, then we’re going to have rosters that look like all-star teams. The 6-10 kid will get 49 lottery tickets.”

So most coaches, like Falk, are taking the wait-and-see stance.

Open enrollment is not a new idea. Three Orange County districts--Irvine, Santa Ana and Fullerton--have had that policy.

But there are concerns about the future, when anyone can go to any school. That policy is already in effect in Colorado and Minnesota.

“When the idea of open enrollment came up, I sent a letter to every athletic commissioner in every state,” said David Stead, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League. “I told them to get informed and watch out. All these terrible things were going to happen. That was seven years ago. I have since sent another letter telling them that none of my fears have been realized.”

Initially, there were some athletes who took advantage of the law. One high school hockey team became loaded with talent.

“But the kids they got were shunned,” Stead said. “They were taking the place of kids who had grown up in that community. There were enough negatives that I think it cut down on transfers.”

A wrestler transferred to a school to better his chances at winning a state title. Instead, he lost to the wrestler who had replaced him at his previous school.

A hockey player transferred, again hoping for a state championship. He didn’t get it. His old eam eliminated his new one.

“Enough of those stories get around and people think twice about moving,” Stead said.

Colorado has had open enrollment for three years. An athlete legally can play at four schools in four years.

“Overall, it works,” said Bob Ottewill, activities commissioner for the state. “It reduces the amount of paperwork a school has to deal with and the majority of the transfers are not for athletic reasons. We have kids playing where they should be playing.”

Still, there are abuses. Ottewill said a highly touted basketball player transferred, legally, to a Colorado high school this year. The kid lives in Wyoming.

The bottom line, coaches say, is nothing will change. Where there’s a rule, there’s a way around it. Always has been. Always will.

In the past, the Southern Section considered a student eligible at the first school where he enrolled, if he or she lived within its boundaries or not. A transfer could retain eligibility if he could show hardship. A student can not receive a hardship if he transferred for athletic purposes. Athletes were also eligible if there was a change of residence, provided they still lived with a parent or legal guardian.

“Everyone knows that if a kid really wants to change schools, he’s going to do it,” Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley said. “If his parents have the financial means, the kid is going to change schools.”

Running back Michael Graham started last season at Mater Dei, then transferred to Edison. He’s now at Covina Charter Oak.

But no case was more suspicious than that of Perry Klein, now a reserve quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons. Klein transferred to Carson in 1988 and helped the Colts win the City Section 4-A title. He then transferred to Santa Monica in the spring to play volleyball.

All three transfer cases were legal because of a change in residences.

“People will circumvent the rules somehow if they want to,” La Quinta Athletic Director Jim Perry said. “We’ve seen it for years. Parents shop kids around.”

The Southern Section has been like a traffic cop, trying to police what can’t be policed.

In 1992, the section had more than 1,100 transfer requests and granted 500 hardship cases.

“People are always going to get around the rules,” said Lisa McNamee, the Costa Mesa girls’ basketball coach. “All you have to do is look hard enough.”

Said Crowley: “Year in and year out, kids slip through the cracks.”

The cracks, some coaches say, will become gaping holes. What they fear is widespread recruiting.

“The rule promotes recruiting at junior high schools,” Barnett said. “Down the road, that’s what is going to happen.”

If it does, only the strong will survive.

“High school athletics are becoming more and more visible,” El Toro football Coach Mike Milner said. “You have to present the most attractive program possible. Young kids are very impressionable.”

And nothing impresses more than winning.

“What always burned me about transfers is we’re sending a message that athletics are more important than education,” Falk said. “We’re starting to get to the point where girls’ basketball coaches are being fired for losing.”

Which can really motivate an unethical coach.

Crowley said there was one instance this summer when a coach from a parochial school, which is not in Orange County, was caught recruiting players.

“He was an overzealous walk-on and he read about open enrollment and went right into kids’ homes,” Crowley said. “He is now an ex-overzealous walk-on coach.”

In the end, administrators and most coaches say open enrollment will work and the abuses will be kept to a minimum, or at least not increase. The benefits will outweigh the problems.

Athletes, they say, will choose to remain with teammates they grew up with. As for the transfers, there is plenty of evidence to support school choice.

At Calvary Chapel, Morton’s grades have risen and he is comfortable. Basketball is merely a bonus.

Ocean View basketball Coach Jim Harris has no qualms about Morton leaving. In fact, he wished open enrollment had come earlier.

Harris wanted his son, Jim, to play for him a few years ago. The problem was the family lived in Lake Forest.

So Harris rented an apartment so he could coach his son.

“It cost us about $11,000, but it was something we both desired,” Harris said. “Who wants to deny that father-and-son relationship? Now they can’t.”