High school student athletes who don’t get much varsity playing time will be allowed greater freedom to transfer to a new school without losing eligibility under a new rule approved at the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s annual full membership meeting last week.
As reported by the Lexington Herald Leader, KHSAA school representatives present approved the new rule — an exception to Bylaw 6, regarding the transfer of varsity athletes from one school to another — by a 168-59 margin.
Under the provision that should go into effect for the 2026-27 school year, varsity athletes who play in less than 20% of their team’s regular-season games in any prior school year as a freshman, sophomore or junior will be able to transfer to a new school and play without having to sit out a year, Jared Peck of the Herald Leader reported.
"That means a football player could play in two games in his prior season and be immediately eligible at a new school," Peck wrote. "For a basketball team playing the maximum of 36 regular season games as another example, the maximum number of games a varsity player could play before Bylaw 6’s eligibility rules apply would be seven."
Per Peck's reporting, Bylaw 6 holds that student athletes must sit out a year in their sport upon transferring to a new school, unless they meet certain exceptions, such as a genuine change of address. The new allowance does not change existing exceptions to Bylaw 6. It also does not apply to seventh- or eighth-grade varsity players, because Bylaw 6 doesn’t govern them, and thus they have complete freedom of movement before starting their freshman years.
During the last legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly, a proposed bill aimed to allow complete freedom of movement of varsity athletes without any loss of eligibility, a situation Bylaw 6 is specifically targeted to prevent because of fears that completely free transfers could create unfair competitive advantages for some schools.
“When the board looked at it in September, they really tried to make sure the purpose was clear. It’s not trying to open the floodgates,” KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett said after the membership vote. “It’s trying to maybe get kids who probably shouldn’t be subject to (Bylaw 6) out of the filter and focus on the athletic advantage aspect.”
“So many of our members are so opposed to a free transfer, they’ll try something that maybe chips away at the problem, which is the wrong kids being ineligible,” Tackett said. “I think we’ve still got issues. In-season transfers are a big issue. And people still get mad at a coach (and) try to transfer. So we’ve got to try to make sure we keep the door closed where it needs to be closed and open where it needs to be open.”
According to Peck, Tackett told school representatives before the vote that this was a step in the process of looking at ways to improve the transfer process and not a final measure.
He acknowledged there could be abuse of the new rule by coaches who play athletes who are at the minimum level just to dissuade transfers. Such circumstances have existed for years with players only having to pinch run in baseball or play a single football snap to trigger Bylaw 6. Athletes who suspect such abuse of the rule can file appeals, Tackett said.
