Oak Cliff Faith Family has built a super team in girls basketball this offseason, with at least eight high-profile recruits transferring to the UIL charter school after four-time state champion Andrea Robinson left DeSoto to become head coach in March.
But whether some or all of the elite prospects are eligible this season remains to be seen.
The University Interscholastic League told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday that it expects a district executive committee meeting to be held soon regarding the Faith Family transfers.
“UIL staff has been coordinating with the chair of the local district executive committee [DEC] and school officials at Oak Cliff Faith Family. We expect a hearing to be scheduled soon at the DEC level,” the UIL said in a prepared statement.
Dallas ISD assistant athletic director Brian Barnett is the chairperson for District 13-5A, which includes Faith Family and seven Dallas ISD schools. He did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, and DISD had not made him available for an interview as of Wednesday afternoon.
Robinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Area coaches say they think the total number of Faith Family transfers could be closer to 13. Of the eight confirmed players, four are ranked among the top 100 in the nation in their recruiting classes.
Sisters Milania, Gianna, Natalia and Nadia Jordan were all starters and stars for Southlake Carroll’s state-ranked Class 6A team last season, with Milania and Gianna earning all-state honors. Former Carroll ISD athletic director Steve Keasler, who is now at North Texas, said he marked on all four of the sisters’ previous athletic participation forms that he thought they transferred to Faith Family for athletic purposes.
Five-star junior forward Amari Byles, the 17th-ranked player in the nation in the Class of 2026, and four-star combo guard Amayah “Sunshine” Garcia (the nation’s 49th-ranked recruit for 2026) transferred to Faith Family after helping Class 6A powerhouse DeSoto to a state runner-up finish in 2023 and a regional final appearance in 2024. Both players’ parents spoke at a DeSoto ISD board meeting Sept. 16 and said the district is trying to block them from being eligible.
Jeffery Chatman, who replaced Robinson as DeSoto’s head coach, declined to comment. DeSoto football coach and athletic director Claude Mathis also declined to comment.
The parents for Byles and Garcia mentioned academics as one reason they left DeSoto, but DeSoto had a higher score than Faith Family on the state’s latest accountability ratings for the 2021-22 school year, which measure student achievement and school progress. Faith Family received a “not rated” and a score of 69 — basically a failing grade — while DeSoto was rated a C and had a score of 76.
The parents said their daughters have offers from Ivy League schools and other prestigious universities and didn’t think they were being pushed academically or adequately prepared for college. Garcia’s parents said there were often fights at DeSoto, which played a role in her transfer, while Byles’ parents said they had a problem trying to transfer a high school credit their daughter obtained in middle school.
Mansfield Lake Ridge coach Stephani Gray declined to comment on how the PAPF was marked for her former standout, four-star senior forward Joy Egbuna, who is now at Faith Family. Egbuna is rated the 97th-best player in the country in the Class of 2025.
The other nationally ranked player who transferred to Faith Family is four-star point guard Finley Chastain — No. 18 in the Class of 2027. The second-ranked player in Texas attended middle school in Prosper before moving to Florida to play for national champion Montverde Academy.
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