This transfer is bigger than most.
Transfers happen at all schools in all sports. When the transfer involves a player rated one of the top 20 boys basketball prospects in the nation for his graduating class and has transferred to perennially top-ranked Mater Dei, it’s going to get plenty of attention.
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So we’ve looked into the transfer and potential eligibility of Bol Bol at Mater Dei.
Bol, a 7-foot junior, withdrew from Bishop Miege High in Shawnee, Kan., this past fall. He is the son of the late Manute Bol, a 7-foot-7 center who had a long career in the NBA. Bol Bol reportedly has scholarship offers from Creighton, Kansas, and St. John’s.
Upon leaving Bishop Miege, Bol Bol applied at Mater Dei. He was accepted at Mater Dei on Tuesday. The process of trying to get him eligible to play basketball for Mater Dei then began.
It doesn’t look good.
After Bol withdrew from Bishop Miege, he took classes at an unknown school to stay on track for graduation in spring of 2018. Mater Dei is Bol’s third school within one school year. That could fall outside of CIF-Southern Section restrictions for transfer eligibility.
CIF-SS officials declined to discuss Bol’s status until they received and reviewed Bol’s transfer paperwork.
Bishop Miege coach Rick Zych said via email Bol left the school “with All F’s.” Bishop Miege is on the quarter system, unlike the semester system commonly used in California. Zych’s email also stated that Bol attended Bishop Miege for the school’s first quarter and four weeks of the second quarter.
(Editor’s note: On Jan. 13, Rick Zych retracted his statement regarding Bol’s grades at Bishop Miege.)
According to the CIF-SS constitution and by-laws, “The student is academically ineligible until they complete a regular grading period at their new school with a minimum 2.0 GPA and all other CIF eligibility requirements are met.”
Asked about Zych’s description of Bol’s academic standing, Mater Dei athletic director Tia Meza replied via email that Mater Dei, following privacy laws, would not release specific information regarding Bol’s academic transcripts. She added “MD follows CIF State and CIF-SS academic guidelines and Bol Bol’s transcripts (which are based upon Semester and NOT Quarter Grades) indicate that he is qualified to enter MDHS and that he will be academically eligible to participate in high school athletics in California.”
Mater Dei declined to identify the school Bol attended between leaving Bishop Miege and enrolling at Mater Dei. Meza said Bol took classes at an accredited high school in California.
The CIF-SS office wants student-athletes to be eligible to participate in interscholastic sports. It will go as far as it can to make that happen.
But if all of the boxes on a student-athlete’s transfer eligibility paperwork cannot be checked, then the student-athlete is not going to be eligible.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Edison’s Dave White was selected the 2016 California football coach of the year by CalHiSports.com. This past season was White’s 31st and final season as Edison’s coach. White was also the Register’s Orange County coach of the year. He announced his resignation before the season began so that he would have time to watch son Garrett play football at Yale.
• White is the first O.C. coach to be named state football coach of the year since Mission Viejo’s Bob Johnson in 2001. Among previous coaches of O.C. teams to get the honor are Bruce Rollinson (Mater Dei, 1994), John Barnes (Los Alamitos, 1993), Bill Workman (Edison, 1980), Clare Van Hoorebeke (Anaheim, 1967), Dick Coury (Mater Dei, 1965) and Tex Oliver (Santa Ana, 1931).
• Edison wants to announce its choice for White’s successor by the end of next week. Athletic director Rich Boyce said Edison received 31 applications for the position. It was hinted here two months ago that, should they apply, Santa Margarita assistant coach Jeff Grady and Canyon coach Mike Ogas, both Edison alums, would be leading candidates.
• Mater Dei is No. 4 in CalHiSports.com’s state boys basketball top 20. Esperanza debuted in the top 20 this week at No. 18. Santa Margarita is No. 20.
• Fairmont Prep is No. 9 in the girls basketball state top 20. Clovis West is No. 1.
• Fairmont Prep, ranked No. 1 in O.C., is in the seven-game girls basketball Matt Denning Hoops Classic at Mater Dei on Saturday. The Huskies play Mark Keppel of Alhambra at 3 p.m. O.C. No. 3 Mater Dei plays Westchester at 4:30 p.m., and county No. 4 Troy plays state No. 14 Windward of Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m.
• IMG Academy in Florida is said to be openly recruiting California high school athletes so the commissioners of the 10 CIF sections have circled the wagons and informed IMG to knock it off.
• Services for Mark Thornton, boys basketball coach for many years at Capistrano Valley and Dana Hills, are Saturday at 1 p.m. at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.
• Services for Dave Cowen, longtime athletic director at Woodbridge and an administrator at Magnolia and Kennedy, are Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. at Calvary Church of Santa Ana. A light dinner reception follows there in Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations are asked to made to Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Homes of Hope or Calvary Christian School Scholarship Fund.
• “The First Pitch Baseball Dinner” on Jan. 21 at the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge previews the Sunset/Trinity Baseball Challenge and the Newport Elks Tournament. The event begins with social hour at 6 p.m. Guest speakers include Arizona coach Jay Johnson, Nevada coach T.J. Bruce and Cypress College coach Scott Pickler. Cost is $90 per person, or $800 for a table of 10. For more information, call 714-878-4207.
• When the first in-season CIF-SS boys and girls basketball polls are released Monday they will include “watch lists” for the Open Division. Those will be large groups of teams that a panel considers to be candidates for the Open Division. The number of Open Division candidates will shrink as the season nears the start of the playoffs.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
