New AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon faces stiff challenges: ‘I wasn’t looking for easy, I was looking for impact’

The three living former AHSAA executive directors appeared Thursday with the newly appointed Heath Harmon. They are, from left, Dan Washburn (1991-2007), Alvin Briggs (2021-2024), who is retiring on Sept. 1), Harmon and Steve Savarese (2007-2021). (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

MONTGOMERY — With NIL deals for teenagers clawing at the state’s borders and players transferring from school to school in unbridled flight, Heath Harmon agreed to step into one of the most problematic periods in Alabama high school sports history by promising to enforce the rules and protect traditions.

Harmon, 49, was introduced Thursday afternoon as the sixth executive director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association. He will succeed Alvin Briggs beginning in early July.

Harmon, who is currently serving as Oxford High School’s principal, was non-committal on what he may or may not do to embrace or fight rampant transfers and the likelihood of Alabama high school players earning money off their name, image and likeness.

Thirty states allow it, including Florida, Tennessee and Georgia and the vast majority of SEC states. In Alabama, state Rep. Jeremy Gray (D-Opelika) introduced a bill late last year supporting NIL in one of only two Deep South states to have so far banned it; Mississippi is the other.

“I consider myself a transformative leader,” Harmon said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean change. It means building capacity with everybody. It’s very important that we determine what our core purpose is.”

He said leadership in the new, more financially centered landscape of high school athletics, which has bled from the collegiate sphere, “is going to take stamina and courage” and he hopes he will shape it for years to come.

“I knew it was going to be very rewarding and also very challenging,” Harmon said of his new position of authority. “I understand it, I feel the significance of it. That’s what drew me to this job. I wasn’t looking for easy, I was looking for impact. … I didn’t take this job to take another one. If I’m effective — and I think I will be — then I’ll be here for a while. I’ve got a lot of gas left in the tank. I want people to say I was effective and protected what needed to be protected and allowed our association to evolve.”

Harmon will assume the directorship of Alabama high school sports in what is probably the most consequential moment for its future survival since Herman “Bubba” Scott, who served the longest as executive director at 25 years, handled integration early in his tenure in the late 1960s.

“That was the toughest time because of integration,” said Steve Savarese, one of three former AHSAA executive directors who attended Thursday’s announcement. “He was able to bring the association together. Without his leadership in 1968, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Where high school sports in Alabama will be in five or 10 years is unimaginable but Savarese said he is confident Harmon can handle what is to come.

“I have total confidence in the central board of control in their choice,” Savarese said. “They would not choose anybody who could not take this association to the next level.”

Harmon didn’t say if he supports or opposes NIL deals for high school athletes but is keenly aware many people in his conservative state are cautious to embrace major change.

“I need to see where we are and have a solid plan but not act so quickly as to be reckless,” he said. “I want to feel things out. We don’t want to do anything to hurt our core purpose.”

Harmon said maintaining the purity of high school athletics is “a huge priority.”

“We’ve got to protect what we have,” he said. “We’ve got to look at our traditions — that’s where I begin when I think about my entrance into the position. … That’s always a challenge. We’ve got to have an eye to the future too and we can do that without running roughshod over tradition.”

Harmon was asked what he will do about a general feeling that “certain schools get away with things” and replied: “If we have a rule, we’re going to enforce that rule. If you want to change it, there’s a process for that.”

Harmon was approved as the new executive director earlier Thursday in a special meeting of the AHSAA’s Central Board. Briggs will retire on Sept. 1 after serving since 2021.

Harmon graduated from Munford High School and has been an educator for 27 years, serving as an English and history teacher, coach, athletic director and principal.

“Coaching and playing in the state of Alabama prepares you for understanding the impact of athletics,” he said. “It’s a laboratory for life.”

Harmon earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, English and history from Jacksonville State, a master’s degree in secondary education, English and educational leadership from the University of Alabama, an educational specialist degree from UA and is a graduate of the 2023 Alabama Superintendents Leadership Academy.

Harmon said he prayerfully sought and accepted his new job and understands its ramifications.

“I feel the weight of it,” he said. “When you get that call, it’s unreal exhilaration. Then you hang up and it’s, ‘Oh, wow.’”