Recruitment in Oregon at the HS level not allowed and than there is this!
High-schoolers or free agents?
Transfers - Top prep athletes in Oregon are switching campuses and uniforms, putting a spotlight on the competitive practice
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
JERRY ULMER The Oregonian
Sam Buckingham played football for Lake Oswego High School last year. Now he's at Portland's Grant High School.
Zach Young played at Lakeridge last year. He has slid over to Lake Oswego.
Travis Dunn played at North Salem and Tyrell Fortune at Parkrose last year. They've landed at Lakeridge.
High school athletes have moved from school to school for years. But the changes in uniform involving some of the state's most prominent football players has ignited a debate among parents and coaches.
Young's transfer is at the center of the storm. In the third game of the season, Lake Oswego beat two-time state champion Jesuit, ending the Beaverton school's 28-game winning streak. Young scored two touchdowns, and Lake Oswego supplanted Jesuit as the state's No. 1 high school football team.
Top college athletes have to sit out a year when they move from school to school. But the association that governs high school sports in Oregon allows local school districts to set rules for transfers.
They vary. Beaverton, for example, requires students to attend their neighborhood school unless both principals agree to a transfer. Lake Oswego, by contrast, allows transfers between its two high schools for myriad reasons.
"I understand that doing what's in the best interest of the kids is the most important thing, and every kid's situation is going to be unique," said Lakeridge football coach Rob Kool, whose team lost Young to its city rival and has a backfield featuring two incoming transfers. "But it can't be as easy as jumping around at will or at a parent's whim."
Superintendent Bill Korach said the Lake Oswego School District doesn't allow transfers for athletic reasons. "That said, we accept the parents' word for whatever the reason is," he added.
After Young's transfer, Lakeridge coaches from several sports requested a forum with Korach.
"I don't know how you change the policy," Lake Oswego football coach Steve Coury said. "No one said anything about it until now. Zach came over, and it's made it a big issue." "Who am I to stop that?"
Zach Young grew up playing football on the other side of the lake. He was a Lakeridge kid all the way.
He started playing for Kool as a fourth-grader and became close with the coach's son, quarterback Robbie Kool. He and Robbie Kool made a dynamic backfield combination for the Pacers the last two seasons and were looking ahead to a big senior year.
Those plans changed in the spring, though, when Young's parents, Tony and Lynda, made a decision.
"We figured that Lake Oswego would be a good place for Zach to land, and just as good scholastically," Tony Young said. "It was a tough decision, because it was his last year. But he's a grown boy now. And we just decided that's the best for our son."
Cutting his Lakeridge ties and telling the Kools wasn't easy for Zach Young.
"They're still my friends, my family. I'm always going to love them," he said. "But I had to make a switch, so I'm over here."
The news stung not only the Kools, but also much of the Lakeridge team.
"But at the same time," Rob Kool said, "he's a great kid and a phenomenal athlete. And if his family views that it's in the best interest of Zach and his future, then who am I to stop that?"
Young became probably the most prominent example of a football player transferring between the schools. Two of Young's Lake Oswego teammates -- senior receiver Anthony Culver and senior linebacker Ross Ehren -- also have made the switch.
Over the years, both schools have been hurt and benefited from the policy. According to Korach, though, the policy is bigger than athletics.
"You can't insert your judgment for the judgment of the parent," Korach said. "Can that be abused? Yes. But we believe the greater good of the district is in believing our parents and trusting our parents to be honest with us." OSAA has stipulations
Under the Lake Oswego district's rules, Young was able to transfer without moving. Even in districts with more stringent transfer guidelines, there are few restrictions on students whose parents move so they can attend another school.
In Oregon, provided a high school student meets a district's admissions criteria, only two rules can prevent a transfer student from being eligible for athletics immediately, according to the Oregon School Activities Association.
Rule 8.6.5, added to the OSAA handbook in 2004, says that a transfer is not permitted to play for the new school for one year if the school has a coach who coached the athlete in an out-of-season sport. Also, a transfer must sit for one year if "undue influence" -- or recruiting -- is proved.
Both exceptions have come into question this year at Lakeridge. Not only did Tyrell Fortune (also a state champion wrestler) and twin brother Tyree come over from Parkrose, but so did former Parkrose assistant football coach Calvin Griggs.
Rob Kool said Lakeridge hired Griggs, after the Fortunes decided to transfer, to fill a vacancy as a receivers and secondary coach.
"We went through all the proper channels -- an investigation and all that -- to make sure everything was on the up and up before we hired him," Kool said. "We were very cognizant of the fact that people would want to say things."
Students entering the Lake Oswego district must prove residency or pay out-of-district tuition, which requires their home district to release them. The Fortunes live in an apartment in the Lake Oswego district with their mother, Kool said.
"Have I personally checked the residence? No," Korach said. "But that's what I've been told."
Still, some are skeptical of how thoroughly districts investigate residency. Three years ago, a group identifying itself as "Metro Parents, Coaches and players" hired a private investigator in an attempt to prove that a Beaverton High School football player was not living in the school's enrollment area.
Clackamas athletic director Jeff Erdman said the North Clackamas School District takes residency seriously.
"I have gone and done a site visit when I thought there was doubt," said Erdman, whose high school, like the other two in the North Clackamas district, competes with the Lake Oswego schools in the Three Rivers League. "I've had a situation when a student wasn't living in a home. Out of 2,300 kids at our school, are there any living at phony addresses? Probably. But I hope not." Young: "It's wonderful"
In the case of Zach Young, the transfer appears to be working out for the student and his new team. In his third game with the Lakers, Young was the catalyst in one of Lake Oswego's biggest wins, the 21-0 victory over Jesuit .
Tony Young said his son is fitting in just as he imagined.
"He was a little nervous going in just because he had been at Lakeridge for three years and had accumulated some friends," Tony Young said. "But he went over there and was welcomed with open arms."
Zach Young has become a Laker. After the win over Jesuit, he went to a school dance and then joined his teammates to celebrate at a fast-food restaurant, a team ritual.
"My friendships are starting to grow, and I'm starting to hang out with them more," Zach Young said. "Everything has just blossomed, and it's working out for the best. It's wonderful. Everyone is really nice. The coaches are great. I love it. It's new. It's different. It's exciting."
Jerry Ulmer: 503-221-8161; jerryulmer20@yahoo.com
©2007 The Oregonian
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