Committee proposes transfer rule change
and helped Harrisburg win a PIAA title.
Bob Tonkin is the secretary/treasurer and football chairman of District 9. He came up with ideas to push six classifications in PIAA sports two years ago and is currently working on proposals to change the PIAA’s transfer rule, and believes PSADA’s idea, and others, should be welcomed by the PIAA.
“The transfers are getting out of control. It’s getting worse and worse and no one wants to take the bull by the horns and do anything,” said Tonkin. “Everybody thinks you can wave a magic wand and things will be fixed. But it’s not that easy. One of the problems is there are some people on the PIAA board who don’t want to see changes and their area is one of the biggest violators of the rule.”
Now the question is will the PIAA listen and react to PSADA’s proposal? Often times, the PIAA board of directors will move on recommendations made by an educational group, such as the Pennsylvania Principals Association or PSADA.
In March, the PIAA created an 11-member competition committee and Lombardi said the committee’s function is to “examine the competitive balance and competitive fairness of everything. They will look at, not only the transfer rule, but the way we classify teams and the classification parameters. The board is aware that in Indiana, success is a factor in classifications. You get so many points based on the success of your team and you might move up or down in classification based on that.”
Lombardi said the PIAA won’t even consider separating public and private/parochial schools “unless the state legislature wants it and I don’t think that’s water the legislature or we want to get into.”
Lombardi hasn’t seen PSADA’s proposed transfer rule, but said it will most likely be examined and considered by the board in May. Tonkin wondered if the PIAA’s competition committee was just “window dressing” for issues or if the PIAA is serious about a change.
“I don’t know if the complaints we hear are as much about the transfer rule as the competitive fairness issue,” said Lombardi. “Because this competition committee has been established, everything is on the table for discussion. If PSADA has done a good job in putting together something that is not narrow in scope, then it needs to have a dialogue and be considered. Even if it is narrow, there might be some points to make the transfer rule better.”