The Georgia High School Association made a significant change on Monday, and now it hopes to get on with the business of guiding competition for its member institutions.
The GHSA's executive committee voted unanimously on Monday to accept the resignation of executive director Gary Phillips -- who will retire at the end of this school year -- a move that could end talk of the state assuming control of high school athletics.
Phillips had been under fire for issues that the GHSA faced ranging from religious expression on uniforms to the proper set-up of goals in the state basketball championships. And some members of the Georgia General Assembly had recently taken the extraordinary step of introducing legislation -- in the forms of House Bill 415 and Senate Bill 203 -- designed to end the work of the 109-year-old GHSA.
The hope, however, is that those bills will now be shelved, or better yet, not necessary.
In fact, Rep. John Meadows (R-Calhoun) -- chairman of the House Rules Committee and one of the most powerful legislators in the state -- who introduced Bill 415, even told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he hoped to use potential legislation as a "stick" in order to see changes made within the GHSA.
Those alterations are already underway -- though some members of the GHSA, including the outgoing Phillips, were not pleased with the atmosphere in which they were undertaken. In fact, Phillips released a statement following Monday's executive committee meeting -- now posted on the GHSA's website -- stating, amongst other things:
"The student-athlete experience is not served by pandering politicians who seek to disband the GHSA and replace it with a governmental body whose bylaws prohibit consideration of any geographic or residency-related factors in determining student-athlete eligibility."
(NOTE: Read Phillips statement in its entirety below)
That said, GHSA members also recognize that the organization must continue to evolve in a constantly-changing state.
"We have to do some in-house organization and structuring and reaching out to the legislature and be in front of the legislature," said GHSA executive committee member Nathan Turner, also the Forsyth County Schools director of activities and athletics.
Yet Turner also added that he believes the GHSA is more than able of tackling the challenges ahead.
"We're very capable of handling our own business. We don't need the state legislature to take over," Turner said. "I would hope there's other important, pressing issues for the legislature to look at in Atlanta and around the state."
The GHSA certainly faces unique challenges in trying to ensure competitive balance between its more than 450 public and private members in a multilayered state that features a burgeoning metroplex in Atlanta but is largely comprised of rural and independent communities.
"Our state is so diverse, and it's interesting hearing the different thoughts from middle Georgia, south Georgia and north Georgia," Turner said. "Everyone has issues, and it's how you handle them.
"We heard about the complaints that the legislators were getting from some fans. In the athletic world we look at those complaints every day. I would invite those legislators to come visit us and see what we deal with every day. At the end of the day we want to do what's right for the kids. It's a work in progress, and we've got to mend some things, but the GHSA does a great job in very difficult circumstances."
And now the GHSA will begin the process of finding a new executive director, beginning with its board of trustees meeting in two weeks time, followed by another executive committee meeting in April.
"There will be a lot of talk between then and now," Turner added. "Gary Phillips did a great job, and we've got to make the right decision when we look for a new director. We've got to bring in the best possible fit whether that be in-house or outside."
- GHSA executive director Gary Phillips' published statement on the GHSA website:
During my sixteen years at the Georgia High School Association - including the last three as Executive Director - my focus has been on providing the best possible experience for the student-athletes and other student-participants at the GHSA's 450-plus member schools. Although, as with any organization, we have not been perfect, we have treated any missteps as opportunities to learn and improve. Overall, I am quite proud of what we have accomplished.
As many of you may know, the GHSA recently commissioned a survey that was sent to every GHSA member school. The goal of the survey was to help the GHSA understand what it is doing well, understand what it can do better, and identify any other concerns or issues important to its members. Ironically, despite the upheaval caused by the assertions of a tiny - but vocal - minority, the vast majority of the GHSA's member schools approve of the job that the GHSA is doing. Of the 339 schools that responded to the survey, almost 80 percent indicated that they "agreed" or "strongly agreed" - the two highest rating options - that they are satisfied overall with their membership in the GHSA. Although the GHSA will always strive to satisfy every school and although there is always room for improvement, this extraordinarily positive response tells me that we are doing the right things.
The prevailing societal and political issues make this era as challenging as any in the GHSA's history. The overall experience of Georgia's student-athletes is not served by turning a blind-eye to the issues of athlete recruitment and eligibility-related fraud. The student-athlete experience is not served by pandering politicians who seek to disband the GHSA and replace it with a governmental body whose bylaws prohibit consideration of any geographic or residency-related factors in determining student-athlete eligibility. It is not served by personal agendas that diverge from the GHSA's mission. And, it is not served by knee-jerk opposition to the GHSA because of some perceived slight arising from past GHSA rulings or decisions. The only way that an organization like the GHSA can work is as a true team, where every person - both leadership and support personnel - has the respect and trust of every other person.
Unfortunately, that is not currently the case within the GHSA. I have therefore agreed, subject to terms tentatively negotiated with the GHSA Board of Trustees, to retire at the end of this school year. Because of the respect that I have for the GHSA and the faith that I have in the job that we are doing, my initial inclination was to fight to the bitter end. This, however, would benefit no one, including the student-athletes whom we are supposed to serve and my family, who has been devastated by the events of the past two weeks.
I appreciate the overwhelming support I have received throughout Georgia and across the country from other high school associations. Thank you for sixteen great years.
