New association drawing strong interest from public, private schools to break away from AHSAA

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

MONTGOMERY — Officials with the fledgling Gulf States Independent Athletic Association said Thursday that they don’t want the organization to be viewed as a counterpunch to the Alabama High School Athletic Association but revealed they are drawing interest from a vast number of private and public schools.

Newly appointed GSIAA Executive Director Glynn Lott, who has coached multiple sports for 32 years at Macon East Academy, said at a press conference at the Cramton Bowl that schools can begin applying for membership on Nov. 1 with a goal of beginning play in all sports in the fall of 2027.

Dissatisfaction with the AHSAA’s controversial split of public and private schools earlier this year — especially unequal competition and travel — the promise of equal representation and what officials said will be a better and fairer revenue-sharing model is attracting a lot of interest from private and public schools to leave the AHSAA and join the GSIAA, Lott said.

Lott said he has seen enthusiasm to join the new association in his meetings with most of the private schools statewide.

“I’ve been to Mobile, I’ve been to Huntsville, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, all those places,” Lott said. “When I’ve been there, everybody showed up. I probably have talked to every private school in the state except maybe 14. When I went to Mobile, every private school was there.”

Lott said his goal is for 50 schools to begin play in the fall of 2027. The deadline to join the GSIAA for the 2027-28 academic year is April.

“I’m a worker bee,” Lott said. “I’m not gonna sit in an office every day and hope somebody walks in and gives us a membership or a sponsorship.”

While Lott and possible GSIAA Assistant Executive Director Joe Lee couldn’t name specific schools, they said they are confident major public schools and private schools such as McGill-Toolen, UMS-Wright, St. Paul’s and Briarwood Christian will jump from the AHSAA.

“We have had calls from some of the largest private schools and public schools in the state of Alabama that they’re very interested,” said Lee, who played for Lott at Macon East.

Lott said each school will have a vote in setting policy.

“It’s an association being built by the schools for the schools,” Lott said. “It is something that’s out there that’s a little different in that every school has a voice. I don’t have a voice. I’m just going to run the association. The schools will be the boss. They will decide that there will be nothing that can be done without a majority vote of two-thirds of the members. So, there’s truly an equal representation and some people don’t have that at this moment. … It is protected for class so that larger schools can’t gang up on smaller schools and force them into doing something different than what they may want to do.”

Lott, who is still coaching football at Macon East, said he constantly gets text messages from coaches he doesn’t know who want change.

“I get a phone number saying our kids can’t do this anymore,” he said. “The interest is there. We’re getting calls every day. We are getting some interest from some other schools out of state. I talked to one in Tennessee yesterday. Some of their schools have broken off from the Tennessee association and they’re looking for something.

“There were some issues on both sides. When I looked at travel, the competition, it does not work well (for private schools). I think the best solution is to form your own group. Due to the level of interest, we have expanded that to public schools.”

The GSIAA will not have an enrollment multiplier nor a competitive balance factor, which the AHSAA embraced in the past and was often criticized as punitive by private school coaches, and revenue distribution must be fair for all members, Lee said.

“The way the formula works out right now is that it’s 50 percent of the surplus (revenue) goes to all schools equally and then the rest of the 50 percent of the surplus goes to the schools divided on enrollment because, in my opinion, you’ve got larger schools that you know they’re bringing more to the table, so why are they not getting back more?” Lee said.

Lee said he doesn’t want acrimony between the GSIAA and the AHSAA.

“I have no beef against them,” he said. “We want to work together with each other. Cross play is an important thing for their schools and our schools. But when I look at the two classifications, the Single A and Double A that they put the private schools into, the travel and the competition … when you’re looking at the enrollment number of 400 (students for ninth through 11^th grade) playing teams that have 100, 120, that’s not fair. And then those same schools are having to travel four-hour round trips for region games to do that.”

Lee said most private schools who have expressed an interest in leaving the AHSAA have three complaints.

“First, there’s no representation,” he said. “They can’t make any decisions. They can ask for something but how are they going to get it passed? Then how unfair the play is and the travel. No matter how many teams come, we’re not going to put them in a situation where they have to play teams that they shouldn’t be playing.”

Lott said smaller championship venues will be considered and could be preferred.

“Everybody’s infatuated right now with these huge venues to play in and I don’t know if you get your atmosphere,” he said. “That’s what the basketball coaches have told us. You play in some places, and it feels like the courts are a thousand feet away from you. You can’t get involved. It’s no cheering. The kids have said that too.”

Other highlights from the press conference included:

• Transfers must move at least 60 miles from their current school inside the GSIAA to be eligible to transfer within three days of making the move. Those who transfer less than 60 miles must sit out a year.

• The GSIAA will offer full-time and associate memberships. A full membership requires at least four varsity sports and will receive revenue sharing. The associate membership could also include home schools.

• Initial sports offered will be football, flag football, cross country, volleyball, basketball baseball, softball and wrestling.

• Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) is not currently addressed in the GSIAA’s bylaws.

• Classifications will be based on enrollment “but we’ll look at not just by size but is it competitive?” Lott said. “How can we split it where the travel’s not atrocious?

• The GSIAA plans to announce corporate sponsors soon.

For more information, visit GSIAA.org.