Good reasons to replace the OSSAA exist, but Stitt's and Republican legislators' aren't them
To watch it as it happened, begin at the 21:30 mark of this video and stick with it for about 25 seconds.
It’s Gov. Kevin Stitt, deep into his final state of the state address, after explaining all the things he wanted to do for folks just like him and before crying about the McGirt decision all over again, calling for the dissolution of the OSSAA, long the overseeing body of high school sports in Oklahoma.
Stitt laid it on thick.
“A student can transfer to a new school, but if they want to excel in athletics, their opportunity may be blocked by an unelected and unaccountable high school sports association, the OSSAA,” he said. “Last year, we heard stories of students who follow the rules, did everything right to transfer schools, and yet the OSSAA denied them the chance to play basketball at their new school.”
Actually, that’s not what happened at all, because the students — four basketball players who followed a coach to Glencoe — went so far as to represent Glencoe at summer team camp before they’d enrolled, thus breaking the rules. But enough about that, because charting Stitt’s fast and loose relationship with the truth would require being here all day.
“Your ability to play sports shouldn’t be contingent on your parents’ ability to afford an attorney,” he said. “It’s time to eliminate the OSSAA and secure our progress with open transfer.”
And about one second after that, Republican legislators were on their feet, even state Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, Speaker of the House Kyle Hilbert and Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, all three of whom could be seen sitting down again when the camera angle returned to the one aimed at Stitt.
Spelled out, it is the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association and, full disclosure, though its mission is righteous, I’ve been a long-time critic.
In long form, you can read about all of my complaints here.
In short form, it’s because over 30-plus years covering high school sports in the state, the organization has remained without vision, short-sighted and unimaginative, having little sense of the value of its product and therefore no real inkling to promote it in any meaningful way.
There’s no reason — except, perhaps, budget — it shouldn’t have a media operation as effective as Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or the Oklahoma City Thunder. Instead, the OSSAA puts on the games, stages championships and that’s it. It is the tag agency and post office of sports.
Only here’s the thing.
The governor and legislature, which are way more excited about killing it than about doing anything for public education, have no idea how to replace it and certainly have no more imagination than the OSSAA has now.
The potentially exciting possibilities of a state takeover are thus: a new arbiter of prep sports that could come in with a new vision, a new charter and a new sense of what’s possible to run and showcase an already outstanding product, complete with a professional staff and budget to pull it off.
Yet the killer of those possibilities are the very folks who want to replace it in the first place, who, even though there’s a bill kicking around, have nothing more than they had on Monday: an applause line.
Begin with Stitt, who decried the fact OSSAA leadership is “unelected and unaccountable.”
Well, the bill on the table to replace it, Senate Bill 1890, seven pages long you can read right here, introduced by senator Casey Murdock (R-Felt), includes no elected leaders to run the new OAAC — Oklahoma Athletics and Activities Commission — he aims to bring into being.
As for “accountable,” Murdock’s solution would create a commission chosen almost entirely by the governor, senate president pro tempore and house speaker — Stitt, Paxton, Hilbert were it to become law today — the only exception being one representative chosen by the state superintendent or the state superintendent themselves.
The OSSAA’s current board is selected directly by member schools and districts.
What could possibly go wrong under Murdock’s plan?
What could be less independent, which any such commission must be to be effective?
What better reason to blow the whole thing up than the current overseeing body, put there by the entities it oversees following its own rules?
At one point in his bill, Murdock writes, “The rules shall, at a minimum, address eligibility for student participation, usage of athletic facilities, student recruitment, a code of conduct and disciplinary procedures for violations of the code of conduct.”
What’s “recruiting” if not filling your summer team camp roster with athletes who’ve never even been enrolled to be students at the school they’re representing, which is just what happened at Glencoe after Garrett Schubert was hired to coach boys basketball.
Perhaps they were coming anyway, but they’ve got to get there first.
It’s just so classic.
Don’t reimagine a thing because it could be so much more than it is, because it’s stuck in time, doesn’t showcase its product and has no media strategy to propel high school sports into the state’s consciousness in a bold new way.
No, just replace it because it’s pissed you and a few constituents off — the nature of any sports association like it in the first place — and all you know to do about it is enact revenge by eradicating it, having no clue what the challenges of an enterprise like it are in the first place.
Another time, perhaps, we’ll dig deep into the bill, put together a top five or 10 list of all that’s certain to go wrong if passed.
Now, it’s enough to reflect on why it’s happening, who stands to benefit and who would be showcased should it become enacted.
Because it’s sure not the kids.
So now we’re debating dismantling the group that runs high school sports, music, debate, robotics and more across Oklahoma because some folks don’t like transfer rules? That isn’t reform — it’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) governs athletics and extracurriculars for 482 schools statewide and is member‑driven, with schools voting on rules and policies. 
Yes, critics — including legislators — say OSSAA’s transfer eligibility decisions contradict the state’s open‑transfer law and hurt students, and that accountability is needed.  But eliminating it entirely without a clear plan risks chaos — inconsistent rules, legal fights, and disruption of a century‑old structure that coordinates everything from basketball playoffs to band competitions. 
If reform is needed — codifying transparency, due process, and aligning athletic rules with state law — do that. But abolishing the body that organizes these activities without a ready alternative? That’s leadership by flame‑war, not governance.