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By Greg Riddle | Dallas Morning News (TNS)
This summer, the University Interscholastic League revealed two startling statistics.
As many as 15,000 athletes could transfer to Texas high schools this school year, either changing schools within the state or moving in from out of state. And less than 1% of all transfers were ruled ineligible last year.
The UIL, which governs public school extracurriculars in Texas, prohibits students from transferring for athletic purposes. UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison talked Monday at the organization’s legislative council meeting in Round Rock about how a more mobile society has created the need for new guidelines to ensure that schools are following long-standing transfer rules that have been in place since 1981.
“We are in an entirely different world than we were from really not that long ago,” Harrison said. “We have some keystone eligibility rules that we need to keep at our core, and a lot of that is related to having a community and educational basis to our activities and having as level of a playing field as we can possibly provide to schools. There are some instances where that doesn’t feel like that is happening anymore.”
The most significant step that the UIL took Monday was approving a proposal to expand the jurisdiction of its state executive committee and allow it to investigate schools with an inordinate number of Previous Athletic Participation Forms (PAPFs) for new students. When Harrison was asked what is considered inordinate, he said that the state executive committee will have to determine that going forward because there currently isn’t enough data available since some schools aren’t completing PAPFs for students they think won’t play varsity sports when they first arrive at their new school.
The UIL also approved a proposal that will allow the state executive committee to impose penalties on local district executive committees when it is determined they aren’t acting in a manner consistent with the rules. The UIL’s SEC will now be able to appoint an independent individual to oversee the conduct of DEC meetings.
Coaches have long questioned the fairness of DECs and say that because they are made up of schools in the transferring athlete’s new district that there is a conflict of interest because schools have to compete against the student for playoff spots.
Coaches argue that schools fear retribution if they vote against other schools’ athletes in hearings.
The UIL said that in some cases, schools aren’t filing timely PAPFs when new students transfer in. To help change that, the UIL approved a rule change Monday that mandates that any transfer to a school in grades 9-12 must now complete a new student questionnaire before competing at any level of athletics.
DEC rulings are difficult to get overturned, as the UIL’s state executive committee denied 85% of the 197 appeals that it heard over the last four school years. That could change, as the UIL approved a rule Monday that would allow it to grant exceptions for students who are determined to have transferred for athletic purposes.
All of the new rules will go into effect Aug. 1, 2025.
“I think we were guilty of trying to find a simple solution to remarkably complex challenges,” Harrison said. “What we learned is it’s going to take a more complex set of solutions. The rule changes are just the first step. They will help us learn and really focus what steps two and three look like in the near or not so near future.”
New UIL executive director
UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt is retiring at the end of this school year. The UIL said Monday that it hopes to have his replacement in place by March 1.
Breithaupt has been the executive director since 2009 after previously serving as associate director and director of athletics for the UIL.
Girls flag football
There was a lot of talk at the legislative council meeting about the possibility of adding girls flag football as a sanctioned sport somewhere down the road.
In September, Pennsylvania became the 13th state to sanction the sport, according to ESPN. The UIL said at the time, “For the UIL legislative council to consider sanctioning any new activity, there needs to be established programs and widespread participation across multiple districts and regions of the state, along with a strong push from member schools.”
Fort Worth ISD and Houston ISD already have leagues, and Dallas Cowboys youth development manager Danny McCray said he expects to see more than 75 schools playing the sport statewide this spring and that by the spring of 2026 that number could grow to 120 to 150. McCray, a former Cowboys player, said Dallas ISD has committed to playing and that school districts in Austin, El Paso, San Antonio and Brownsville are also expected to join by 2026.
The Cowboys were among 14 NFL teams that started a pilot program for the sport, and Houston ISD started a league in 2024 when the Houston Texans raised $1.4 million to fully fund girls flag football in every HISD high school for the next three years. Men’s and women’s flag football has been approved for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
On Monday, the UIL denied, rejected or took no action on a proposal to add girls flag football as a sanctioned sport.
Good news on officials
Michael Fitch, executive director of the Texas Association of Sports Officials, shared some positive statistics Sunday at a time when there is concern about a shortage of officials statewide.
Fitch said his organization now has 17,000 members and is back to its pre-COVID numbers. Membership was up 6% last year, with the number of basketball officials growing by 20%. Volleyball membership was up about 10%, and football saw a slight increase.
Shot clock update
The push for an adoption of a shot clock in Texas high school basketball continues. Johnnie Carter from the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches said his organization surveyed boys and girls coaches statewide and that 62% were in favor of adding a shot clock.
In 2021, the National Federation of State High School Associations announced that states could adopt a 35-second shot clock for high school basketball games beginning with the 2022-23 season. In January, the NFHS said that 27 states were using a shot clock in some capacity last season.
No action taken
On Monday, the UIL denied, rejected or took no action on a proposal to add mixed relays in every relay at track and field competitions, a proposal to add boys volleyball as a sanctioned sport, a proposal to sanction rugby as a UIL sport, a proposal to put limitations on audio and visual effects in a stadium or arena, a proposal to allow certain pyrotechnics at athletic events, a proposal to allow certain noisemakers at athletic events and a proposal to allow Guardian Caps during football competitions.
The UIL also denied, rejected or took no action on a proposal to allow schools to use tethered drones in football games at stadiums that have a seating capacity of less than 30,000. Louisiana allows the use of drones at games, but they can’t fly over the playing surface, players box, or any other people, they must be kept at least 10 yards behind the end zones and not along the sidelines, and the drone should be kept 30 to 150 feet in the air once launched.
