The TAPPS state executive committee ruled Tuesday that the Liberty Christian football team must forfeit the games in which a player competed and drop out of the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. TAPPS said the program violated a bylaw known as the "follow the coach" rule.
TAPPS said the rule bars a transfer student from varsity competition in a sport for one year if a coach at the new school coached or trained the student in the previous 12 months. In a statement, TAPPS said Liberty Christian assistant coach Antonio Griffin coached senior receiver Jace Johnson on the LionHearted 7-on-7 team.
Local 7-on-7 coach Undra Hendrix II said the rule can be read as a way of recruiting a player. Hendrix said on social media that he coached Johnson on the West Texas Elite 7-on-7 team from his sophomore year at Abilene Cooper High School, and that Johnson transferred to Liberty Christian for his senior year. Hendrix said he later merged West Texas Elite with LionHearted after moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Parents, local coaches and several social media accounts, including the wife of former Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, have called on TAPPS to reverse the decision or to state their disapproval of it.