Argyle star quarterback Hayes Hackney ruled ineligible for remainder of 2026 season

Argyle quarterback Hayes Hackney has been ruled ineligible for varsity competition for the remainder of the 2026 football season following a unanimous 6-0 vote by the District 3-5A Division II Executive Committee.

Hackney, who spent his freshman and sophomore seasons leading Prosper Walnut Grove to back-to-back district championships before moving to Argyle for his junior season, was ruled ineligible under Section 442 of the UIL Constitution and Contest Rules, which governs residency requirements.

Argyle, ranked No. 3 in Class 5A Division II by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football with a 7-1 record, will not forfeit any previous results, as Hackney was originally ruled eligible by the District 3-5A Division II Executive Committee in May. Hackney leads all of Dallas-Fort Worth 5A quarterbacks with 2,574 passing yards.

At that hearing, the committee determined that the Hackney family had moved from Prosper to Argyle to be closer to Hackney’s ailing grandparents and his father’s work. But on September 24, the UIL and District Executive Committee received an anonymous email alleging that Hackney was not actually living in Argyle.

The Hackney family still owns its former home in Prosper. The family’s realtor, Victoria DeLaCruz, told the DEC that, due to the neighborhood’s exclusivity, the property was marketed as a private exclusive listing, meaning the house was not publicly listed for sale on sites such as Zillow. DeLaCruz said they had held five to six showings, but having not found a buyer by the time the market’s popular buying season ended, the Hackneys chose to lease the house to another party for one year. The Hackneys could not lease the house for a shorter duration due to HOA regulations. As part of the agreement, Hackney’s father, Mark, said the lessee agreed to allow the Hackneys to show the home with 48 hours’ notice.

DeLaCruz said the length of the sale process is not uncommon for a home as expensive as the Hackneys’.
“Less than 1 percent of the population can afford a home that’s $3 million or higher,” DeLaCruz said. “So your book of the people that you’re looking for is very slim. These homes can take up to a year (to sell).”
While the house remains furnished for the lessee and potential buyers, the Hackney family maintains that they have held no gatherings at the Prosper home.

“I’ve done everything that everybody has asked,” Mark Hackney, Hayes’ father, said. “My house has been checked more times than I can count. When I get a text at 1 a.m. (from Argyle head coach Todd Rodgers) that says, ‘You home?’ and he’s at my door, I remember that. It feels intrusive. I get the questions and allegations, and I don’t have a problem answering. But the truth is the truth. I made Argyle my home. I’ll go on record right now. I left Prosper. I’m not going back.”

Argyle superintendent Dr. Courtney Carpenter and head football coach Todd Rodgers said they have both conducted announced and unannounced home visits to verify that the Hackney family was living in Argyle.

“I took pictures of the house multiple times, just to verify everything I saw,” Rodgers said. “I checked closets, checked the bedroom. I got Hayes up one morning. I’ve been there in the early morning, and I’ve been there in the afternoon. I’ve been there on a Saturday morning after a contest.”

Similarly, Carpenter said the school district independently investigated the new allegations brought against Hackney on September 24.

“We have not simply denied the allegations, or relied upon this student’s previous eligibility determination, but independently examined the concerns raised, verified residency information, gathered supporting documentation, and provided additional evidence addressing specific allegations presented to us,” Carpenter said.

Hackney’s case comes amid a number of high-profile quarterback transfers across the Dallas-Fort Worth area this offseason, several of which have resulted in eligibility hearings involving different circumstances and individual determinations by district executive committees. Hackney is now the third-such transfer to be ruled ineligible, following Colton Nussmeier at Denton Ryan and Laykon Brassfield at Lewisville.

Hackney is expected to appeal the ruling through the UIL’s established appeals process.