Virginia high school faces recruiting questions after 30 football players transferred this spring

A Virginia high school raised eyebrows internally when 30 new students transferred to the school this spring with the intention of playing on the football team.

Hayfield Secondary School (Alexandria, Va.) is now under investigation by the Virginia High School League (VHSL) for the net gain of 23 new students at a time when enrollment was dropping countywide, according to the Fairfax County Times. The association does not allow transfer or enrollment of school “made because of athletic ability,” according to its handbook.

This February, head coach Darryl Overton joined the school after departing Freedom High School (Woodbridge, Va.), where he led the team to back-to-back state championships in 2022-23 and went 89-19 over nine seasons at the helm. In an interview with the Washington Post, he said that Hayfield presented an opportunity Overton “felt like I needed to take advantage of an couldn’t let go past.” According to WaPo, Hayfield had more than 130 players on its football team last year, while Freedom had 54.

This spring, Hayfield’s director of student services and an assistant principal noticed what the Fairfax County Times called “curious paperwork” and reported it to the school principal.

A parent, Regina Dorsey, spoke to the Fairfax County Times and made allegations about ongoings within the football program that have led to the investigation. The outlet wrote that there had been reports of recruitment improprieties, bullying, and more, including:

“… high fees paid to an outside fundraiser for the football team, conflict-of-interest concerns with a nonprofit that Overton runs, Playmakers Elite Athletic Training, and questions over whether school officials improperly declared football players “homeless” so that they could transfer to Hayfield through a loophole for homeless youth.”

The Fairfax County Times spoke with Cesar Zambrana, the founder of 1st Teamsports LLC, which helps high school teams raise money. Zambrana told the outlet that the fundraising funds were split 80-20 between the Hawks’ nonprofit booster program and the fundraising company.

The loophole accusation was related to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act, which allows homeless youth to enroll in a school without all documentation.

The outlet also wrote:

Sources say Overton and his coaching staff allegedly targeted single mothers in the Hayfield school district, particularly those with children playing football or other sports at Hayfield, allegedly offering them money in exchange for using their address for transfer students, effectively making the mothers guardians of the transfer students, according to sources.”

In an interview with the Fairfax County Times, VHSL executive director John Haun cited a rule against proselytizing, which is defined in the handbook as a school representative subjecting “a student from another school to undue influence by encouraging him/her to transfer from one school to another for League activities.”

Read the full story at the Fairfax County Times.