CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The 2023-2024 high school sports season is a few weeks old and the recently-passed student-athlete transfer rule remains a hot topic of discussion among coaches and athletes.
The bill, which worked its way through the state legislature in March, allows student-athletes the opportunity to change schools one time during their high school career without having to change residency. Under the previous rules from the WVSSAC, a student would have to sit out a year of competition if they elected to transfer unless they received a waiver.
At his regular press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jim Justice weighed in on the law, House Bill 2820. Although students changing schools has been commonplace for decades, recent lopsided scores in football have led some to believe that the new rule is directly and adversely affecting the competitive balance in the state.
“We’ve got to revisit this because all we are going to end up doing is have five or seven or whatever super-teams in the state,” Justice said. “And we are going to destroy high school sports all across this state if we don’t watch out what we are doing. It is a bad move. I don’t know any other way to say it. We should not have done this. Now we have to live with it. We need to revisit and come up with a better solution to what we’ve got.”
In addition to his role as the state’s chief executive, Justice is also the head coach of the Greenbrier East High School girls basketball team. His program has benefitted from several transfer players during his tenure.
Justice allowed the bill to become law in March without his signature. Today, Justice explained why he did not oppose the bill’s passing at the time.
“I tried to stop the tide. The vote was so significant in favor. I felt like it was a mistake. I felt like vetoing the bill would have only led to an override, which is a waste of time. I feel like that it has to be revisited.”