Coaches say recruiting, transfers are making the ground beneath them shift

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“You have to have a backbone in Montgomery. If you don’t have a backbone, you don’t need the job. I don’t think in the last three years (the AHSAA) has done anything about it, so it’s like the wild, wild West.”

St. Paul’s coach Ham Barnett

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By ARTHUR L. MACK

MOBILE — St. Paul’s coach Ham Barnett didn’t hold back about how player transfers are damaging high school football, nor on where to place the blame.

“It’s unfortunate what high school football has become,” he said this week during the annual Mobile County High School Football Media Days. “It’s not an amateur sport anymore because you got adults my age who are making phone calls and doing things they shouldn’t be doing.”

How can it be stopped?

“You have to have a backbone in Montgomery,” he said of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s leadership. “If you don’t have a backbone, you don’t need the job. I don’t think in the last three years (the AHSAA) has done anything about it, so it’s like the wild, wild West.”

Barnett also said he wouldn’t beg players to remain in his program if they’re talking of going elsewhere.

“I’m not going to be a coach who kisses my player’s butt asking him to stay,” Barnett said. “If you want to go somewhere else, go somewhere else. We build our relationships because we love our kids. We really, really love them.”

Alma Bryant coach Bart Sessions said the AHSAA has not done enough to discourage adults from persuading players to transfer to other schools in what he said is a “transient society.”

“When I started coaching, it was unheard of to have somebody transfer across town to play a sport,” Sessions said. “I still believe that a young man who is dealing with a little bit of adversity and scratching and clawing with his teammates at the same school has tremendous value.”

Sessions said even middle school players in feeder programs must be protected.

“Some of these guys who are cheating are gonna steal ’em,” he said. “There are more of them than they really want to admit.

Blount coach Ray Nelson said he and his fellow coaches are more concerned about interference from outsiders trying to recruit players to their schools instead of the transfers themselves.

“The action of transferring is not an issue,” Nelson said. “Myself, and my peers, are more frustrated with individuals calling other people’s kids. Now, if a parent shows up to your school, no questions asked, then that parent can do what he or she wants to do. I think the issue is when other schools are reaching out to your kids. How we’re going about recruiting kids is the issue and that’s where the frustration comes out.

“Back in the day, you played where you grew up but you have to remember the residential zones are not the same as they once were. Some of the places where people grew up, those places are no longer available to live there.”

Theodore coach Steve Mask, the recipient of notable players transferring from other schools, including four-star Alabama commitment Micah DeBose from Vigor, said his program has handled the issue correctly.

“We had several players transfer in but you can get the AHSAA, the FBI, the CIA to come talk to me,” he said. “We’ve done nothing wrong. Six of the kids that are coming back to Theodore are coming back to Theodore where they live. They transferred somewhere else when they were in the eighth grade and apparently where they went didn’t work out and, apparently, they decided to come back home.”

Mask said because of the state’s home-school rule, parents are well within their rights to send their kids to Theodore.

“The other two transferred because of educational opportunities or whatever they wanted to do as far as graduating early or those kind of things,” he said. “It just worked out. As far as the transfer rule, I just wish the kids who came back to Theodore never left to begin with. Apparently four years ago, somebody saw fit to play somewhere else and now they’re saying, ‘I want to go back home and play with my friends.’

“If the parents want to transfer their kids and they’re doing it the right way, then so be it. But the underlying whispers that you see, that’s the problem and I hope we can clean that up.”

Mask said he believes most players want to play where they grew up.

“We haven’t had hardly any kids transfer out, knock on wood, but (as coaches) if you take care of your kids, do what you’re supposed to do, they won’t go anywhere else,” he said. “Take care of your own and they’ll take care of you. I don’t want these guys to think about going anywhere else. If they do, we’ll hug them and wish them well.”

Mobile Christian coach Charles Lawson has been hit especially hard by two defensive standouts transferring — first when Sterling Dixon left for Spanish Fort last summer, then when Kentonio Kelly recently left for Vigor.

“A parent’s going to be a parent and a parent is going to look out for their child and do what’s best for their child,” Lawson said. “I can’t knock any parent doing that. As far as the transfer thing, it is getting out of hand in that the college game is getting into the high school game. What I’m trying to say as a first-year coach is, ‘I’m going to be loyal to you guys and I expect the same thing back in return.’ But I’m not going to knock a parent about doing what is best for their kid. The kids that have left, I’m still in contact with them, I still talk to them and just letting them know, ‘Hey, once you graduate and move on, if you need me, I’m still here.’”

Leopards quarterback Damien Gatson, who has committed to play baseball at South Alabama, said he stayed with Mobile Christian primarily out of loyalty.

“I’ve been with these guys for a good minute and I want to stay with them,” he said. “That’s the kind of person I am.”

Other coaches, such as Mary G. Montgomery’s Zach Golson, have not been dramatically affected by transfers.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate in the three years that I’ve been here that we have not had a lot of guys to leave,” he said. “We had a couple of guys move in last year. They were guys who moved into Semmes or they lived in Semmes and moved to other schools. We’re going to do everything we can to develop our players to their fullest potential. The guys that we have recognize the value in that.”

Golson said there is no secret MGM has become a much stronger program by keeping almost all of the players in Semmes at home.

“We had a plan to be the best Class 7A program in the state and that’s what we told our guys,” he said. “I told them nobody’s going to fight harder for you and we expect you to show up.”

LeFlore offensive lineman Antonio Gibbs, who has committed to South Alabama, said it’s not beneficial for a player to transfer for his senior year.

“It’s not going to do anything for you,” he said. “It’s not where you play but how you play. Sure, the coaching might be a little different but if you drop a ball, you’re still going to be you. If you can’t get stronger where you’re at, what’s going to make it change when you go to a different place? One of the reasons I stayed at LeFlore is because of the relationships. Going to another school will not change who you are.”