Student Athlete Recruiting Case Study

Introduction The elevation of high school athletic competition along with an emphasis to win has become a driving force for school sporting programs and coaches to look for a distinct advantage over the competition. Coaches are seeking the latest nutrition, strength and conditioning, and strategies be become a winning program. In recent times, prohibited recruiting and suspicious transfers of high school student-athletes has been on the rise (Hoffaman, 2015). The ethics of illegal recruiting and questionable transferring at the high school level is routinely evaluated as new incidences transpire each year. High school athletic associations across America have transfer rules in place to help prevent students-athletes from enrolling in a

The ethics of “encouraging” student-athletes to enroll or transfer to a school who has a successful athletic program have been questioned throughout the history of organized interscholastic athletics (Wolohan, 2013). In the State of Michigan, there are many such cases that go unreported while others are and few make the news headlines unless it is a star athlete (Dumas, 2013). The driving force of illegal recruiting stems from coaches and parents desiring the best athletic opportunity for their son or daughter. Hence, it is the student-athlete who gets caught up in the middle and is the one punished due to the selfish desires of adults. Therefore, each occurrence that is reported is looked at on an individual basis as each situation may be unique to the circumstances (DeSensi, 2010). Moreover, rules and codes of conduct have been established at all level of athletics to prevent illegal recruiting and questionable transferring. However, this still has not deterred it from

According to the MHSAA executive director, Jack Roberts, during the 2011-2012 school year there were over a 1,000 students who transferred during the school year (Dumas, 2013). Of those who transferred, 352 requested that the transfer rule be waived so as the student-athletes could participate in a MHSAA sport (Dumas, 2013). Under the previous rule, a student-athlete could transfer at the beginning of the semester to another school and would be ineligible to play any MHSAA sport offered during that current semester. Hence, a student-athlete football player could transfer in January of a current school and be eligible to play football the next school year in the fall. The new rule states that if a student-athlete participates in an open gym program, summer 7 on 7 football drills, is coached by an AAU basketball coach or any other sport that is MHSAA sanctioned, and then transfers, they must sit out for 180 days or a full school year (Dumas, 2013). The only exception that a student-athlete would be able to participate in a MHSAA sanctioned sport is to fit in one of the 15 categories of acceptable transfers (Dumas, 2013). The new rule has been implemented for the 2014-2015 school year in the hopes to reduce the amount Undue Influence of