Tennessee’s TSSAA votes on restrictions to one-time transfer rule
· Yahoo Sports
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed House Bill 25/Senate Bill 16 into law back in February and since that time, student-athlete transfer throughout the Volunteer State have run rampant.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) legislative council, gathered on Tuesday to go over the parameters with the state’s one-time, restriction-free transfer rule, which is set to begin on July 1st, 2026.
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Per reports from the meeting that took place with the vote, the biggest change and voted unanimously 12-0, was any student-athlete that had already previously transferred would have to go through being approved through the filing of a hardship. That hardship would then have to be heard by TSSAA officials before becoming approved or denied by the state.
“The rule that was passed gives a student an opportunity to transfer without penalty, if it is their first transfer after having established an (varsity) athletic record,” TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said, according to a report by Stephen Hargis of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
“When this transfer rule goes into affect, which is next (school) year, this provision is only for those students who are transferring the first time after having an established athletic record. This way you’re not treating kids differently when it’s their first transfer just because they didn’t know what the rules of the game were going to be.”
If the student-athlete hasn’t yet transferred in his high school athletic career, he/she can get one free transfer throughout their eligibility. The number of Tennessee high school student-athletes transferring figures to rise as data gathered by the TSSAA showed that the number of student-athletes who transferred before the 2025-26 season more than doubled from the figures at the start of the Fall 2024 semester.
Hargis’ report states that since the transfer rule was signed into law back in February that around 200 student-athletes had already announced their intention to transfer via social media. With the changes made to the one-time transfer rule, that may curb the number of student-athlete transfers taking place around the state.
More about the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association
“The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, along with the affiliated Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association, is an organization which administers junior and senior high school sporting events in the U.S. state of Tennessee.”
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