Taft coach criticizes City Section over latest transfer decision

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Woodland Hills Taft officials protested the transfer of running back-defensive back Shaquille Shelton to Crenshaw, but City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege gave her approval last Friday, ruling he made a valid change of residence, so Shelton played in the Cougars’ victory over Wilmington Banning.

That has caused Taft boys’ basketball Coach Derrick Taylor to criticize Fiege, saying there is a lack of consistency in eligibility decisions.

‘I think the athletic office has a disturbing pattern of inconsistencies in how they handle these cases,’ Taylor said.Taft has encountered frequent confrontations with the Fiege over transfer students and was upset that quarterback Michael Bercovici was denied eligibility last season after transferring from Westlake Village Westlake. Fiege ruled Bercovici’s transfer was athletically motivated.

But in the case of Shelton, a senior and three-year starter, Fiege declined to invoke a similar decision.

More and more coaches and the general public have become confused and frustrated with both the City Section and the Southern Section in dealing with the question whether a transfer is athletically motivated, which forces an athlete to sit out a season even if they move. The problem is there doesn’t seem to be a clear explanation why the rule is invoked in one case and not in another.

Section officials say there must be clear evidence the transfer was for athletic reasons, but others are viewing the decisions differently. And Taft, which has received lots of transfers and also lost lots of transfers, is likely to be in the middle of more decisions and more controversy.

-- Eric Sondheimer