Transfers often are trouble

February seems to bring out the scandal-mongers in high school basketball.

Just as the City Section playoffs begin, anonymous sources and others, who have been saving up their best material, start spreading the news, perfectly timed to knock teams out of the postseason.

This month, Woodland Hills Taft had to forfeit six West Valley League victories and at least nine nonleague victories for using two ineligible players. Last season, Los Angeles Fremont was pulled from the playoffs after City Section officials discovered six ineligible players.

In 2004, Westchester was banned from the playoffs as punishment for a recruiting violation by an assistant coach.

That’s three big-time boys’ basketball programs barred from City playoff action in the last four years.

“Am I concerned that three high-profiled programs have been eliminated? Absolutely,” City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said.

And what do these three programs have in common? Transfer students.

At Westchester, it was Amir Johnson, who transferred from Los Angeles Verbum Dei. At Fremont, it was several players who came from New York and Boston. At Taft, it was a player who came from Los Angeles Ribet Academy via Cameroon and another player who came from Virginia.

Obviously, lessons aren’t being learned.

Coaches are putting their teams’ seasons in peril if they don’t conduct or demand a thorough examination into the eligibility of a transfer student. That means asking tough questions, following up on rumors and not ignoring suspicious activity.

In the case of Taft, one of the transfer students, Bernard Kamwa from Ribet, was initially cleared by school officials but there were questions about his eligibility from the outset. In the end, a legal guardianship issue could not be resolved, and Fiege declared him ineligible.

“We felt what we had in our files satisfied the requirements,” Taft Athletic Director Mark Drucker said. “When we went back into the file, there were things not there.”

Drucker has come to the conclusion that every transfer student must be dealt with in a more serious manner.

“There definitely needs to be a chain of command and a sign-off of anyone who transfers,” he said.

Fiege said her office is ready and willing to answer any questions from schools about transfer students.

“We really are here to support them,” she said.

If it’s determined that a school has allowed an ineligible player to participate, the consequences can be severe and affect the entire team.

“This has to stop because innocent kids are hurt,” Fiege said.

Coaches and administrators simply need to take a more cynical approach when it comes to transfer students to protect their programs. If it means parents and players need to step forward and voice their concerns without fear of retribution, so be it.

A red light needs to be going off somewhere when a new student-athlete suddenly shows up on campus, especially if he is 6 feet 8.

Secrets are difficult to keep these days. Successful coverups are non-existent. Paperwork trails reveal plenty when uncovered, and people are more than willing to turn in those who ignore or break the rules.

Inquiries by a Boston Globe reporter tipped off the City Section about player eligibility concerns at Fremont.

As for who spilled the beans on Taft: “We were made aware of it,” was all Fiege would say as to finding out about Kamwa’s guardianship issue.

Transfer rules are not difficult to understand. Really. To be eligible to play on the varsity, players who switch schools must also change residences along with the person or persons with which they were living. That means mom can’t stay in the old residence while her son lives with an uncle, an assistant coach or a teammate’s family.

Even girls’ basketball is having its own problems, with defending champion Harbor City Narbonne being banned from this year’s playoffs for using an ineligible player last season.

The good news is that the City Section is cracking down on teams and individuals who don’t follow the rules.

Now if only schools would ask the right questions and make additional demands when concerns develop after initial eligibility clearances.

No one is saying a coach or an athletic director should be making surprise weekly visits to a transfer’s residence, but those who choose to ignore suspicions and rumors have no right to complain when their team is suddenly removed from the playoffs for using an ineligible player.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com