Indiana tables changes to ‘past link’ bylaw

Indiana will still consider strengthening its “past link” rule for student-athlete transfers, but not until later this summer.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association had been discussing changes to a bylaw added last year that ruled transfers who worked with a coach, manager or trainer who also served one of those roles at the receiving school in the year prior or 90 days after the transfer is ineligible for 365 days.

A new proposal by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and Indiana Football Coaches Association would have amended the bylaw to include freshmen, according to The Indianapolis Star.

From the article:

“Basketball coaches were concerned that they are developing kids in middle school and then an AAU coach gets them to come to a different high school,” IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox said. “That’s where that proposal started. But there are some concerns with it right now as it might impact other bylaws. We’ll take a closer look at it and talk about it further at our retreat in June.”

Cox said he expects there will be a continued push to add incoming freshmen to the “past-link” rule. He said nearly half of the three-hour meeting involved discussion on the “past-link” proposal.

“It will definitely be a topic of discussion moving forward,” he said.

The original “past link” rule was unanimously approved by the IHSAA Board of Directors in May 2015. Michigan and Colorado have similar rules to prevent recruiting at the high school level.

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