STILLWATER — Glencoe Public Schools, along with families of affected studentathletes and Coach Garrett Schubert, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Payne County District Court, challenging Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association’s enforcement of Rule 24, commonly known as the “linked rule.” The suit has sparked broader discussions about fairness, consistency, and OSSAA’s overreach in scholastic athletics.
The OSSAA oversees athletics, fine arts and other extracurricular activities for more than 430 school districts statewide.
The lawsuit was filed in the wake of the OSSAA Board’s unanimous denial last week of Glencoe’s appeal of ineligibility decisions for four high school basketball players. The board upheld that the players violated Rule 24 due to their attendance at a team camp earlier this year before transferring to Glencoe — a move the plaintiffs contend was lawful and properly executed.
In May of this year, Glencoe High School hosted a team camp featuring newly-hired Coach Garrett Schubert. Four players, acquaintances of Schubert, later filed transfer paperwork when the Oklahoma Department of Education transfer portal opened in June.
On June 1, the transfer portal opened. Glencoe officials maintain they followed OSSAA guidance, noting a May 20 advisory from the association stating that summer participation before June 1 would not affect eligibility.
The OSSAA Board of Directors met in Oklahoma City on Aug. 13, and voted unanimously to deny Glencoe’s appeal, upholding the students’ ineligibility under Rule 24. The rule specifies that participation in camps run by school coaches or following a coach to a new school can trigger a one-year exclusion from participation in activities regulated by OSSAA.
The following day, Aug. 14, Glencoe Public Schools, families of the affected students, and Coach Schubert filed a lawsuit in Payne County District Court seeking injunctive relief and a court ruling that OSSAA's decision was unreasonable. The suit also seeks a temporary restraining order and later, a permanent injunction against Rule 24’s enforcement in this case. The lawsuit asserts that OSSAA later claimed those athletes should have unenrolled from their prior districts before registering, a requirement the suit says does not exist.
What is Rule 24?
OSSAA’s Rule 24 prohibits varsity participation for a year if a student participated in any sports camp or clinic run by the receiving school or its coaches within 12 months of transferring — or if they followed a coach to the new school. The children of coaches are exempt.
However, Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a cease-and-desist order to OSSAA in September of 2024, criticizing Rule 24’s enforcement as “heavy-handed” and misaligned with the state’s open-transfer law. He warned in a statement that the rule “lends itself for arbitrary and capricious enforcement.” OSSAA paused enforcement temporarily in response to the injunction. The Glencoe ruling is the first time Rule 24 has been enforced since Drummond’s cease and decist.
We followed the rules
In an interview following OSSAA’s denial, Glencoe’s attorney, Hannah Whitten of Whitten, Burrage, told Oklahoma’s NPR radio station KGOU, “There’s been no requirement to unenroll your kid before the school year starts and before the transfer portals open... So they did everything to the letter of the law.”
In a later statement, Whitten emphasized, “We are deeply disappointed in OSSAA’s decision, but we will not stop fighting for these students... The harm being done to these kids is real, immediate, and entirely avoidable.”
Glencoe Superintendent Jay Reeves framed the ruling as an erosion of school-choice principles. He told think tank Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs that, “Families are told they have the freedom to choose the best school for their kids... but this decision sends the message that your choice can be taken away by an unelected body that changes the rules at will... And right now, OSSAA has shattered that trust.”
Coach Schubert told reporters, “We tell kids to work hard, do the right thing, and follow the rules... These boys did exactly that, and they’re being sidelined... It’s wrong, and it’s why we’re going to court.”
State officials react
Rep. Ty Burns, R-Pawnee, who represents the Glencoe area, attended the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) board meeting last week and said what he saw confirmed his belief the association’s structure prioritizes bureaucracy over the needs of students and families.
Burns, a former public school teacher and coach, previously studied OSSAA policies through an interim study in 2022. The study examined the association’s finances and governance, student eligibility rules for transfers and included testimony from parents and attorneys who raised concerns about hardship waivers and transparency.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Burns said the board voted unanimously to deny an appeal on the eligibility of Glencoe High School basketball players and to reject a hardship request from another student. He said these are just two examples of why the current system should be dismantled.
“The OSSAA is structured in a way that is unfair to student athletes and families,” Burns said. “They make families jump through hoops and waste time and money just to keep overwhelming power and control in the hands of their board. When the board votes unanimously to protect the status quo, it proves they are protecting the establishment, not the kids.”
Burns said the 12-member board, composed mostly of school superintendents, operates with little accountability while controlling decisions that affect students statewide. “It’s time to dismantle the OSSAA and build a new system that stands independently, not controlled by the hierarchy of superintendents,” Burns said.
In 2022, Burns authored House Bill 3968, which would have allowed students transferring during the summer to a school district outside their residence to remain eligible for sports, with exceptions for dependents of active military personnel.
“We are 50th in the nation in education,” Burns said. “We should be empowering kids rather than sacrificing them. The only way forward is to abolish this broken system and replace it with one that puts students and families first.”
Governor Kevin Stitt, speaking to StateImpact, criticized the ruling saying, “It is disappointing that OSSAA would continue to perpetuate a system that bars students from the opportunity to compete... I urge the OSSAA to reconsider their position and let all eligible students compete.” Sen. Avery Frix, R-Muskogee, warned “Oklahomans believe in fairness and opportunity. OSSAA’s decision here undermines both, and it’s why the Legislature must look closely at reforming how these decisions are made.”
Rep. Chris Kannady, R-OKC, speaking to OCPA, declared: “This is yet another example of OSSAA weaponizing vague rules to hurt kids... every parent in Oklahoma should be concerned.”
OCPA President Jonathan Small released a statement this week criticizing OSSAA.
“Unelected, taxpayerfunded bureaucrats at OSSAA appear to constantly scheme up ways to undermine and ignore state law, which allows students to transfer to publicschool districts regardless of where they live,” Small said. “OSSAA produced no evidence of any ‘recruitment’ of student athletes at Glencoe, closed their eyes to reams of evidence indicating that no recruitment occurred, and even ignored the fact that at least one of these young men sought a transfer due to alleged mistreatment by a coach at his former school. The OSSAA is a quasi-state entity and must be brought under serious state oversight. The OSSAA’s war on parents and students must be defeated.”
OSSAA has refused to comment citing pending litigation, and has not yet responded to an open records request from Cimarron Valley Communications seeking minutes and voting records as to when OSSAA first suspended, then reinstated Rule 24.
What’s next
The lawsuit seeks immediate court-ordered relief — temporary and permanent — to reinstate the players’ eligibility, arguing OSSAA’s actions were unreasonable and inconsistent with its own protocols. Each student may also individually appeal through OSSAA’s process, but that is a separate, more arduous route.