AISA athletics program expected to end

BY DANIEL SCHMIDT

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

CHAMBERS COUNTY — The newly formed Gulf States Independent Athletic Association is expected to result in the dissolution of one of Alabama’s two athletic associations.

At the Fox Sports The Game High School Football Media Days in Opelika on July 29, Alabama Independent School Association athletics director Roddie Beck said he expected the new proposed association would cause the AISA to disband its athletics program.

If that indeed happens after the 2026-27 school year ends, it will end a 56-year run that began in 1970, when the AISA first offered athletic competition for its member schools.

“Obviously, if this new association moves on, this will pretty much be the last year of AISA,” Beck said. “That’s tough to talk about, tough to say.”

The formation of the GSIAA has gained momentum in recent weeks after private school officials from across the state voted to move forward with the proposed association during a meeting in Montgomery on July 24.

While an executive director has not yet been named, play is expected to begin during the 2027-28 school year and be fully implemented when the 2028-29 school year starts.

Roughly 150 to 175 people attended that meeting, and 89 of the 93 private schools affiliated with the AHSAA and the AISA were represented.

According to Beck, Macon East Academy headmaster Glynn Lott — who also heads the AISA’s coaches association — approached AISA executive director Michael McClendon and effectively asked for permission to create a new association.

Lott said the new proposed association was borne out of frustration some private school coaches had with enrollment multipliers and competitive balance enhancements last October.

Those tools were originally intended to even the field between public schools that aren’t allowed to recruit athletes to play for them and private schools that are allowed to.

Lott added that there was disagreement over the AHSAA effectively denying athletic eligibility to students who used CHOOSE Act tax credits to attend private schools. According to Lott, the AHSAA said it considered student-athletes who used such funds to be receiving financial aid, rendering them ineligible.

Then, in January, the AHSAA’s Central Board of Control voted 13-2 to overhaul its classification system, separating public and private schools into their own championship brackets for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.

Those classifications — Single-A Private and Double-A Private — scrapped the enrollment multiplier and competitive balance enhancements private school coaches had complained about months earlier.

While the two new private school classifications still allow for regular-season games between private and public schools, it prohibits postseason competition between them.

However, the restructuring was the last straw for some private-school administrators, and at least one AHSAA member, Autauga Academy, almost immediately opted to return to the AISA.

“Everybody was fussing about the travel and the competitiveness,” Lott said. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and when you do it every two years, or however many years, you go in a classification system — it doesn’t matter when you reclassify; there’re always going to be people upset, [usually] the people at the bottom of each group. They want to be at the top. The line should have always been a couple of more [teams] down or a couple of more [teams] up so it fits them. So there’s always people upset at traveling and all that every two years.”

With those discontentments bubbling underneath the surface, the pieces quickly fell into place due to the two associations not being as separate as they appear, according to Beck.

“A lot of people really don’t know, [but] a lot of those private schools that play in the [AHSAA] have board members on the AISA,” Beck said. “We have six or seven board members who are from private schools in the AHSAA. So, everything just happened to fall in place. It moved mighty quickly.”

To address many of the root issues that drove private schools to the GSIAA in the first place, Lott said the new association will feature a member schools-led governance structure.

Bylaws changes and new rules implementation will require at least a two-thirds vote, and the inclusion and exclusion of specific teams will lead to a more balanced field of play and drastically reduced travel distances.

With preliminary GSIAA meetings now complete, Lott said the next steps are to seat a founding board, finalize bylaws and a handbook and pursue affiliate membership with the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Regarding classifications, Lott said presentations made to prospective member schools have included three divisions for traditional 11-man football teams and one division for eight-man football teams, although those plans have not yet been finalized.

There are currently no defined plans for divisions for other sports, such as volleyball, basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball and track and field.

For the AISA, the decision now has a date attached to it. Beck said its board will meet on either Sept. 16 or 23 to vote on whether to end the AISA’s athletics program.

Beck was quick to draw a line between AISA athletics and the broader organization itself, saying the organization will continue to represent private schools in other capacities.

“The AISA will still be an association. We offer government relations, accreditation and activities,” Beck said. “So, the AISA will still be here. It’s not going anywhere. It would just be that this would be the last year of AISA athletics, and the new association would pick up the following year.”

In Chambers County, two schools currently compete as AISA members: Chambers Academy and Springwood School.

Chambers athletic director and head football coach Jason Allen said that a pivotal meeting at the beach toward the end of May sealed the deal for many AISA member schools.

“We all voted 100% that we wanted to go in this direction with the AISA, so I think if this happens, we’re going to get 100% retention from the AISA schools,” Allen said. “I feel really strongly we’re going to get some schools that are in the [AHSAA], and I think our association is going to be strong.”

Allen added that while leaving the AISA will be bittersweet, it is a necessary step for many private school administrators and coaches.

“It’s been a part of my life as a player and a coach for a long time,” Allen said. “But, we understand that it’s time for a new direction, a new change, and you’re going to see a lot of familiar faces with the AISA. But hopefully we’re going to build a league and a brand that will last a long time and be really good for the schools that are involved.”