Changing Schools Often Sparks Controversy, Scrutiny : Transfers: State’s lenient rules often prompt players to change schools to find better athletic programs.

What do USC quarterback Todd Marinovich, professional wrestler Jim (The Anvil) Neidhart and Angel pitcher Bert Blyleven have in common?

All have signed documentation on file at the Southern Section office dealing with student-athletes transferring from one member high school to another within the section.

Marinovich made headlines in the spring of 1986 when he transferred from Mater Dei to Capistrano Valley after passing for more than 4,358 yards and 34 touchdowns in two seasons. Marinovich became the national career leader in passing yards before finishing at Capistrano Valley.

Neidhart is a television mainstay as one half of the World Wrestling Federation’s tag team champions, but in high school, he was a standout shotputter. In 1972, Neidhart left Katella and won a Southern Section shotput title for Newport Harbor the following season.

Blyleven made an appearance on behalf of his son, Todd, in a successful hardship appeal two years ago. Todd, a pitcher, decided to transfer from Mater Dei to Villa Park without a change of residence during his junior season. He did not lose a year of eligibility.

The Southern Section’s files are filled with thousands of cases of student transfers from the past 40 years, but associate commissioner Dean Crowley estimates the cases have doubled, and in some instances, tripled in the past three years as more students change schools.

In the first six weeks of the 1990-91 school term, Crowley and his staff handled 325 transfer cases in which students changed schools without a change of residence. During the same period, the staff heard 106 appeal cases in which student-athletes sought to retain eligibility without a change of residence.

The era of single-parent homes, gang and drug problems and the Southern Section’s transfer rules are to blame for this increasing game of leapfrog. The section’s transfer rules, while fair, are among the most lenient in the nation.

Under the section’s rules, student-athletes who transfer without a change of residency are declared ineligible for one season only in the sport the student participated in the previous year and only on the varsity level.

Many states have stricter rules declaring a student ineligible for one year in all sports and two years for the sport in which the students participated in in the previous year without a change of residency.

“The state of California is a model for the athlete who transfers without a change of residency in that it allows a student to continue to play except on the varsity level,” Crowley said. “It’s the fairest rule we’ve found in the country.”

But rules can be circumvented for athletic gain.

Perry Klein and his family discovered how easy it is to play the game when Perry, a senior, and his family transferred from Palisades, an area not known for a strong high school football program, to football hotbed Carson High for the 1988 football season.

Klein helped Carson win a City 4-A football title. Then his family moved to Santa Monica where he played volleyball for the Vikings that spring. Santa Monica is known for its strong volleyball program.

“There are some instances where parents who have the financial means can circumvent the rules,” Crowley said.

Orange County has had its share of athletes who have transferred to further their athletic ambitions in recent years.

Football standouts Marinovich, Matt Spence, Johnny Mountain, Danny O’Neil and cousins Derek and Leland Sparks have made headlines by transferring to county schools. None lost eligibility because all changed residences.

To further their high school football careers, Spence transferred from Mater Dei to Capistrano Valley, Mountain transferred from Foothill to Anaheim, O’Neil went from Corona del Mar to Mater Dei and the Sparkses went from Van Nuys Montclair Prep to Mater Dei.

O’Neil, who transferred midway through his sophomore season in 1988, said he made the decision to move, but added, “I was persuaded by my family. My parents and my older brother (Kevin) urged me to transfer.”

O’Neil was the subject of controversy before ever donning a uniform at Mater Dei. Dennis Evans, principal at Corona del Mar, filed undue influence charges against Mater Dei with Southern Section officials, and O’Neil sat out three weeks of the basketball season during the investigation.

O’Neil, now a redshirt freshman quarterback at Oregon, said he started thinking the worse during the inquiry.

“I had some doubts about going to Mater Dei and the controversy only magnified my doubts,” he said. “It seemed I was getting put down, and the school (Mater Dei) was getting all kinds of adverse publicity.

“I was thinking, ‘What if I’m declared ineligible for the rest of my career?’ It got to the point where I suggested to my parents, ‘Why don’t I just go back to Corona del Mar and drop the whole thing?’ ”

Mater Dei was placed on probation for a year after the investigation, but O’Neil retained his eligibility. He said he doesn’t regret the decision to transfer to Mater Dei, although Corona del Mar won two Division VI titles after he transferred.

“I would tell anyone who is thinking about transferring to only do it if you feel 100% sure about the decision,” he said. “If you have any doubts at all going in, don’t do it. You may live to regret it.”

Edison was the target of a recruiting investigation in 1982. The Huntington Beach Union High School District hired a state-employed administrative law judge to investigate recruiting allegations by former Edison Coach Bill Workman after his program attracted several blue-chip athletes in the 1970s.

Blue-chip running backs Mike Dotterer, Kerwin Bell, Dino Bell and Theo Langford helped Edison earn the reputation as “Transfer Tech” in the 1970s. Workman, now head coach at Orange Coast College, was cleared of charges of allegedly recruiting, but his reputation as a recruiter lingers eight years later.

“The allegations and investigation was one of the worst things that has happened to me and my family,” he said. “My own district put me through hell for two months with an investigation that was based on an unsigned letter.

“When it was over, no one apologized to me. It still bothers me. People who don’t know the situation and never will still make comments to me about it. They take for granted we were doing things illegally. We never got the true recognition for our accomplishments because of the transfer notoriety.”

Derek and Leland Sparks, now living in Santa Ana with Derek’s mother, June Sparks, who recently moved from Wharton, Tex., were granted eligibility by Southern Section administrators after a well-publicized hearing.

Mater Dei is Derek Sparks’ fourth high school in four years--he changed residences every time--and the school is the third in five years for Leland. Derek Sparks, a running back, won the state’s sophomore of the year award two years ago at Banning High in Wilmington. Before enrolling at Banning, Sparks attended Wharton (Tex.) high his freshman year.

Leland, a quarterback/wide receiver, repeated the 11th grade at Montclair Prep and was seeking a fifth year of eligibility. He was ruled ineligible hours before Montclair Prep’s game against Farrington. He petitioned the Southern Section for one more year, but was denied.

In the process of gaining eligibility for the Sparkses, Mater Dei officials had problems obtaining transcripts for the students. Both have been placed on academic probation at Mater Dei, and both are playing on the football team.

“Mater Dei immediately opened itself up for a lot of criticism when it accepted the Sparkses,” said John Johnson, Brea-Olinda principal. “When you read that three different transcripts were produced in order to get the student eligible, you start to wonder.

“The public perception was to question the ethics here.”

Even so, it’s not unusual for parents to want the best academic or athletic programs for their children, says Gary Meiger, assistant superintendent of instructional services for the Fullerton Union High School District.

“You see more parents shopping for schools, whether it’s for academics or athletics,” said Meiger. “It’s the nature of some folks who feel that they can make a better choice for their children to shop for a better marching band, theater program or even a sports team.

“People today want the privilege of choosing the best English teacher or the best football coach.”

Bill Boswell, who serves as athletic director for the Huntington Beach district, said many transfers result from a parental decision to move to highly successful sports program.

“It’s a case of the grass looking greener on the other side,” Boswell said. “If one program looks better, some parents are going to think that program is better suited for their kid.

“But the values we end up teaching our kids are more damaging than the end result.”

Southern Section rules pertaining to transfers

212. Residence Eligibility

A student has residence eligibility upon initial enrollment in:

(a) The ninth grade of any California Interscholastic Federation high school, a California Interscholastic junior high school under provisions of Rule 303.

(b) The 10th grade of any California Interscholastic Federation high school from the ninth grade of a junior high school.

(c) Any California Interscholastic Federation school as a foreign exchange student.

214. Transfer Without Change of Residence

A student who transfers from school A to school B without a change of residence on the part of the parents or legal guardian from school attendance Area A to school attendence Area B shall be residentially eligible for all athletic competition, except varsity level competition in sports in which the student has competed in any level of interscholastic competition during the 12 calendar months preceding the date of such transfer, provided the athletic eligibility is approved by both principals of the schools involved. The students shall be ineligible for all sports for all sports for one calendar year in the event that either or both principals decline to approve the athletic eligibility. The student shall become eligible under the rule after one calendar year from the date of the first attendance at School B. Each CIF school shall establish rules and procedures to review an individual case in the event that either principal declines to approve such athletic eligibility, upon appeal by the student to the CIF Section.

214.1

The above rule pertains to all public to public, private to private, private to public and/or public to private transfers under State Rule 214.

214.2

The attendance area of a student enrolled in a private school is defined as the public high school attendance area in which the student resides.

214.3

Under certain conditions beyond a student’s control or in certain hardships including those germane to residence Rule 214, the Commissioner may waive the residence rule. Such cases must be presented in writing to the Commissioner by the principal of the school in which the student is enrolled. Such a request will have added weight if it has league approval. (It is expected the principal will screen and review each case prior to submission as to its respective merits.)

214.4

A student whom is eligible for athletics in a member school continues to be residentially eligible in that school no matter where the parents may move or reside, or where or with whom the student resides.

215. Change of Residence

Transfer Eligibility. A student may have continuing eligibility provided the student is compelled to move from any school to a California Interscholastic Federation School:

(a) because of a bona fide change of residence of the student’s parents or guardian from one school attendance area to another, or

(b) because of a Board of Education ruling within a school district which has two or more high schools, provided the change of schools is not the result of disciplinary action.