The Georgia High School Association’s biennial reclassification of schools has yielded Commerce High a somewhat tenuous scheduling picture for the Tigers’ 2012 football season.
Part of the scheduling dilemma relates to the possibility that more than 30 schools, which met recently to explore a break from the GHSA, will form their own league or enter some kind of agreement with the Georgia Independent School Association.
Most of the schools expressing some degree of interest in a separation are Class A public schools located in South Georgia. The issues dividing those schools and the GHSA relate mainly to the competitive advantages and disadvantages that coaches argue grossly separate some teams, including small public and private schools, according to published reports.
Should those schools leave the GHSA, coaches and administrators tied to the remaining Class A schools like Commerce would face a sure overhaul of tentative 2012 schedules or another reclassification altogether, said Donnie Drew, Commerce’s principal and athletic director.
Drew, who is on both the GHSA’s reclassification committee and full executive committee, said he has “never seen (the conflicts) this bad before,” but that he would be “totally shocked if the schools separated.”
Still, he understands the concerns expressed by some coaches whose charges range from the impact monetary advantages can have on a small athletics program to the outright recruitment of players.
As for Commerce’s position, the school’s most logical choice right now is to remain with the GHSA, Drew said.
“Consider our viewpoint. If Commerce joined another league, what kind of group would we be in? And where in the heck would we have to go to play ball?” he asked. “It’s not like we have a lot of options.”
In the meantime, Tiger football coach Marvin Justice is in the process of scheduling games according to the proposed Region 8-A.
That is no easy task, either. Several teams have stated their intentions to play non-region schedules. Those teams are Lakeview Academy, Towns County and Providence Christian. Woody Gap and Tallulah Falls don’t field football teams. The Tigers currently plan to compete against Athens Academy, Athens Christian, George Walton Academy and Prince Avenue Christian in region play. However, all teams still have time to declare nonregion schedules.
Also involved in the Region 8-A discussion are Pinecrest Academy in Cumming and Lincoln County, each of which filed related appeals to the GHSA’s reclassification committee.
On Monday, the committee denied Pinecrest’s request to move out of Region 8-A and approved, tentatively, Lincoln County’s petition to enter.
Lincoln County beat Commerce in the first round of the state playoffs. The team’s veteran coach, Larry Campbell, is also one of the leading voices calling for the GHSA to address the issues dividing the state’s public and private schools.
Pinecrest will have until Jan. 6 to issue another appeal, which will be considered by the full executive committee on Jan. 10. That is also the day the GHSA is scheduled to finalize the 2012-2014 reclassification.
Banks County, East Jackson and Jefferson are the teams Commerce has discussed nonregion game dates with, Drew said.
But nothing is formal, he added, since the teams considering a break from the GHSA have until the summer to pay dues to the state organization. That means those teams are under no obligation to say whether they intend to participate or not, a reality that could have coaches sweating their schedules for months.
Drew said he would advocate changing when the dues are submitted to avoid this kind of uncertainty in the future.
He also believes the issues surrounding the debate, which has been festering for some time, should be examined closely by those who are paid to lead the GHSA.
“Right now, confidence is being lost,” Drew said. “I would hope as much as I hope anything, if those schools change their mind and they stay on in the organization, that they keep plugging away at the issues. I hope they’ll keep on talking about it. At least then there might be a more serious attempt to come up with another idea.
“We can’t wait for this group. People who work full-time in this organization are the ones who have to come up with the ideas.”
