breeze article

SoCal High School & Prep Report

"Free Agent" Transfers: What Does It
Mean For Prep Basketball--(January 27, 1998)

Today's edition of the Daily Breeze, a Westside Los Angeles paper covering the entire South Bay, and the other beach communities from Torrance and Redondo on up to Malibu and Pacific Palisades and as far east as Beverly Hills, published a very important and timely article on the prevalence of high school transfers for athletic reasons, and what such transferring portends for the present and the future of prep and high school athletics here in SoCal. This is especially timely because if you've been watching the SoCal basketball scene lately, especially among the "bigger" name programs, you can't help but notice that there have been a rash of transfers. The topic has been all over the Internet newsgroups and bulletin boards, including some people questioning the concept both here on our message boards at SoCalHoops, and especially over on the "Fan Forum" message board at Michael Miller's West Coast Hoops.

The Daily Breeze article is not only timely, it's informative. Because the Breeze does not have a web site and there is no way for most of you out there to read this great article, we're going to reprint it. And as we do on those occasions where we reprint material in it's entirety, with attribution, we state that we are doing so only for educational and non-profit purposes, to inform those of you who are interested not only in high school sports but also in the quality of the education that your children receive. Really, we don't have advertising here, we make no money off of this exercise, and in fact maintaining SoCalHoops.com actually costs us money (not to mention time, which my family and partners keep reminding me is money) every month. So, having laid out SoCalHoops' case for "fair use", here is the article from the Daily Breeze, reprinted in it's entirety. And please, please, please, do go out and buy lots of copies of this paper. Do it on a daily basis; spend the money, a whole quarter, because it's a great source of local prep news and reporting, and covers the Westside and South Bay in a way the Times just either can't or won't.

FREE AGENTS
Prep Athletes Transfer In Search of Opportunities

By Erle Stephens
DAILY BREEZE STAFF WRITER

Coaches have their dreams.

So do players.

Jim McClune had his own visions. One of his players, Brandon Granville, would be entering his senior season at St. Bernard High. As a sophomore Granville helped deliver the school a CIF Division IV-AA championship. Now the highly recruited guard would give McClune another possible title.

"He was with us all during the summer," said McClune, who has been the Vikings' coach for 15 years. "I was really under the impression that he was going to be back." Instead, Granville had his own vision. Just around the corner, a basketball powerhouse was building at Westchester High.

Not only did the Comets have a talented group returning, two notable big men in David Bluthenthal and Chris Osborne had transferred into the school. Granville, an All-CIF point guard, wanted to be part of an experience he wouldn't have at St. Bernard. "I wanted to be able to play with better players and play for a great team," he said. "How many chances do you get to play on a team that can -win a state title?"

Granville's decision to attend Westchester reflects what many athletes are doing. An increasing number are transferring for a myriad of reasons. It could be because another school offers more playing time. A higher-profile team could mean a better opportunity at landing a scholarship. Or it could also be a way to escape playing for a team that will lose often.

How prevalent is it? Venice Basketball coach David Goosen said it is as much a topic as drawing up a practice schedule. "I was thinking one day how we're going to be in trouble next year because we won't have any guards" Goosen said. "In the next ,breath, my assistant coach just says,'Oh, somebody will show up,' and he was dead serious when he said it."

Changing schools is nothing new. In the past, athletes like John Walsh and Perry Klein became well-known for their controversial moves to other schools for their senior years. Klein moved twice: from Palisades to Carson to play football, then to Santa Monica to play volleyball. Walsh, also a quarterback, transferred his senior season from West Torrance to Carson, then returned to West after the football season.

But what about the teams that are left behind? What about the coaches whose grand plans change overnight? What about the players who must make the transition to new surroundings?

Transferring is an issue that some coaches believe has had a negative impact on high school sports. "The open enrollment situation and recruiting that is going on in the spring and summer leagues, has kind of turned high schools into a free agent system," said Banning boys basketball coach Marc Paez, who watched one of his players (Reggie Berry) move to San Pedro High during the off season. "It's very rare to see a good player stay at the same school for four years.

"I think it's very unfortunate. There isn't that sense of loyalty to a coach or school, or that sense of camaraderie with teammates." No sport has seen more change than basketball. High-profile programs like Crenshaw and Mater Dei, along with local teams like Westchester and Inglewood, often attract players who want to make bigger names for themselves.

Westchester's Ed Azzam has certainly benefited from Granville, Bluthenthal and Osborne entering the program. But he's also lost players to other schools.

Azzam remembered when current college players Danny Walker and Jason Hart left before their senior years. Had they been around during the early part of Azzam's coaching career, the 20-year veteran would have been hurt. "There was a time when I got angry and I took it personally," Azzam said; "But you can't because kids are going to make up their own minds. "If I worried about all the stuffI can't control, I'd have a heart attack tomorrow."

Granville admits the lure of playing for a state title contender was too much to pass up. But he also said the decision to attend another school was a tough one considering the success and stability at St. Bernard. The toughest part was to explain his decision to McClune, which Azzam encouraged. "We had a good relationship," Granville said of his former coach. "I still go to some of their games and I've talked to him about recruiting and other stuff. But it was hard at the time. I had a good time at St. Bernard. I know Coach (McClune) was disappointed but I felt like I had to do what's best for me."

McClune understands that now. At the time, he wasn't sure what to think. "This was a real first for me with a player of this quality", he said. "I was in shock for a number of days. I took it kind of personally for a bit of time. But I don't think it was a rejection of me and St. Bernard. I think it was more of an attraction to what was going on at Westchester."

Inglewood boys basketball coach Patrick Roy isn't a proponent of transfers, but he doesn't see anything wrong with kids making that decision. One of his players, senior guard Bradley Jackson, has played at El Segundo and South Torrance the past two years.

''I really don't knock the kids," Roy said. "Let's say a talented kid feels that Mater Dei's basketball program gives him a better chance for a scholarship. Well, every parent's dream is for their child to get a college scholarship. "If kids are able to get in school through official means, they should be allowed to participate."

Junior Portia Mitchell is a 6-foot-4 center at Narbonne High, one of top girls basketball teams in the state. As a sophomore, Mitchell helped North Torrance reach the CIF semifinals. Mitchell said her reasoning in moving to Narbonne was to play under Coach James Anderson and play with and against better players "I don't think there's anything wrong with transferring, as long as it makes the kid happy," Mitchell said. "I know a lot of coaches get upset about it and send things to CIF, but if it makes you happy, go ahead and do it."

Some coaches believe the decision to transfer isn't always to the benefit of athletes. South Torrance boys basketball coach LaMont Henry believes that players are losing out on their overall high school experience by changing schools. He suggests that academics are being put aside for athletic gain. "If a player is bouncing from school to school, it's bad because the kid can never adjust," he said. "Some put athletics over academics and it should be the other way around,

"Parents need to be more wise and pay attention to what's going on. If they want their kid to go to a basketball school, wouldn't they look around before he gets to high school?"

Then there are the coaches who would like to build a program around a talented young player, they have. They admit there is now a fear of losing that potential star to another school. Goosen has seen Bluthenthal leave Venice and understands why. Though he wouldn't say who recruits and who doesn't, he says kids are being wooed and openly wonders what his high-scoring junior, Glen McGowan, will do over the upcoming spring semester. McGowan himself transferred from University High.

Roy and others who have taken in players from other schools can understand coaches who feel they've been abandoned. "I definitely feel that it's unfair," Roy said. "Here's a coach who is trying to build a program and they have to focus on keeping this player. But on the flip side, there are some programs and some coaches who don't do whatever is necessary to get that player a scholarship.

"I had a player who's now at Morningside. He left because he felt he could get more playing time. I never said a word. If that young man leaves because he's bettering his chances for himself, who am I to stand in his way?"

In the end, all agree that the decision to transfer ultimately ends with the athlete.

"I can understand people saying that I didn't show any loyalty and how could I do that," Granville said. "At the same time, you have to look out for yourself. I've got to do what's best for me."