.jpg)
Wlaf1450A four-tiered violation structure instituted in the wake of one-time transfer rule
By Clayton Carroll
NASHVILLE, TN (WLAF) – The TSSAA has recently rolled out a clear, detailed recruiting violation structure and punishments.
There is no question that recruiting has gotten out of hand in high school athletics, whether it be in East Tennessee or across the state. Now that the one-time transfer rule has been put in place, it is obvious that schools will try to get as close to the recruiting “fence,” if you will, as possible.
To avoid any confusion and to attempt to prevent schools from blatantly recruiting, the TSSAA recently released a four-level recruiting violation chart with the punishments that would be enacted if those violations occur.
The TSSAA is reminding all schools to “let admissions handle all enrollment conversations, never recruit students enrolled at another school, avoid all social media interactions with prospective student-athletes before enrollment, and to promote your school, not just your athletic program.”
A level one violation is titled “indirect solicitation.” This involves a coach or someone with connections to the school “liking, commenting on, or sharing a prospective student’s social media post before enrollment.” The program would be punished with one year of probation, a loss of 50% of an offseason, a $750 fine, and the student may be declared ineligible.
A level two violation mostly applies to coaches or staff responding directly to transfer requests and questions instead of referring the families to the school administrators. This violation also regards schools promoting their athletics programs instead of the school as a whole.
As for the punishment, it is essentially double the punishment of a level one violation. The program will lose 50% of its offseason for two years in a row, two years’ probation, a $1500 fine, along with the student possibly being ruled ineligible.
When it comes to a level three violation, the punishments increase significantly. To receive a level three violation, a coach would have to directly contact a student enrolled at another school, or a third-party contact would have to encourage a student enrolled elsewhere to transfer.
If this violation occurs, the program loses a full offseason for one year, followed by 50% of the offseason for another year, along with one year of restrictive probation and one year of regular probation. The coach will be suspended, or additional punishments may be enacted as well. The player will be ineligible for at least one year, and a $2,750 fine will be handed out.
The final level is the level four violation, which requires “extra benefits” being promised to an athlete. To receive this violation, the contact would be the same as a level three violation, in addition to offering “money, gifts, tuition assistance, jobs, housing, transportation, or other extra benefits.”
A three-year offseason ban would be instituted, three years of total probation, a coach suspension or other punishments, the player being ruled ineligible for one year, and a $4,000 fine.
In addition to all of this, repeated offenses may result in more serious penalties. However, if schools self-report, the violation may be lowered and the punishments less severe.
To sum up the violations, all contact, whether indirect or direct, with a student enrolled at another school is strictly prohibited, especially if the pitch is promoting the athletics program, not the school as a whole. This also applies to social media posts encouraging students to come to the school, or over-promoting the athletics program as opposed to the school.
In short, the TSSAA is trying to create a new balance between the potential good of the one-time transfer portal and the bad of recruiting and pulling kids from schools that they are already enrolled in. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 7-22-2026 6AM)