GHS Athletic Director Reacts to Fallout on Local Teams; Writes
Letter to Senator
Gilroy – Gilroy High athletic director Jack Daley is one person who has taken the opportunity to write letters to local representatives, asking that Senate bill 1411 and Assembly bill 2312 not be passed.
“I think it opens up a can of worms and I’m not really sure what the rationale is,” Daley said. “I just think it’s a mistake to allow transfers just for sports. We’re about school first.”
Daley, who has been the athletic director at Gilroy High for five years, also sees the bills introducing a dangerous level of recruiting into high school sports and allowing athletes to “sell their services to the highest bidder.”
The bills could also allow student-athletes that have been kicked out of athletic programs for disciplinary reasons to jump ship without ramifications.
“Is that a message we want to send, that you can just go somewhere else?” Daley said. “There has to be a message that behavior matters…What we do in our lives impacts us. We don’t always get do-overs.”
Right now, Gilroy High follows the rules the Central Coast Section has laid out for transfer students. Daley believes the way the transferring of student-athletes from school to school is handled by the section right now is fine.
Students must prove a “bona fide change of residence” to the CCS if they move within Gilroy High’s boundaries. In other situations, the student-athlete usually has to fill out extra paperwork to prove there’s good reason for the transfer, especially if it’s a second or third transfer, Daley said.
“Sometimes they say no because the reason they offered is not considered hardship,” Daley said.
