It’s safe to say that private school athletics in Alabama are entering a new era.

Following months of turmoil, debate and alterations, programs across the state will get back to focusing on sports themselves over the coming weeks.

But the impact of recent changes will still be felt throughout the academic year, and the potential for this to be the last go-round for some schools in the Alabama High School Athletic Association will be another closely followed storyline.

That possibility came about through a series of events beginning with an AHSAA meeting in October 2024 that brought school representatives together to discuss Alabama’s CHOOSE Act.

As Macon East Academy headmaster and football coach Glynn Lott explained, that meeting was the first instance in which he had seen a plethora of private school officials communicating in one room.

And what those individuals found is that they were all experiencing the same struggles within their athletic departments, yet had few options to remedy them.

That eye-opening discussion was followed by the AHSAA announcing in January that it would be splitting its athletic playoffs into two groups, public schools and private schools.

After having seven classifications for years, the AHSAA’s public ranks moved to a 1A-6A model, while the private schools were organized into groups for 1A and 2A programs based on student population and other factors. Public and private schools can still play each other during the regular season, but playoff action will see them separated.

While there were still some initial concerns from the public school ranks, the majority of vocal opposition came from the private sector. Those two overarching classifications created a plethora of imbalances when it comes to scheduling, on top of the fact that schools in less populated regions will face greater travel demands as a result.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, and every two years there’s the same discussion,” Lott said. “Everybody’s mad when something happens with reclassification, and there’s never enough time for something to be done.”

Lott and other private school officials expressed some of that skepticism before opting to take matters into their own hands.

A meeting was held July 24 in Montgomery with over 80 representatives from AHSAA and Alabama Independent School Association members present, with the primary goal being to map out a more sensible future for private schools in the state.

The Gulf States Independent Athletic Association was the result, as the present parties were able to create an initial framework and come to terms on a new organization.

INFANT STAGES

The GSIAA will include all current members of the AISA as well as any private schools in the AHSAA who wish to join. With the organization still being in the early stages of establishing itself, it is expected to begin sanctioning athletic competitions during the 2027-2028 school year.

“For us to survive, we needed to do something so it didn’t become a monopoly of only one option out there,” Lott said. “That’s kinda the reason I started this, to give people another option.”

The GSIAA will be designed and run entirely by private schools, and any rule or bylaw change will require a two-thirds vote from all members.

According to Lott, the GSIAA is approaching this endeavor with three primary goals: governance, travel adjustments and competitive balance.

“There’s just some schools that aren’t able to compete at certain levels due to sheer numbers,” Lott said. “It’s just not going to be a fair fight, and when you have a ninth- or eighth-grader that has to play against a senior, that’s not good.”

With the organization still being in its infant stages, Lott and company anticipate there being plenty of hurdles to overcome between now and the fall of 2027. For example, simply securing the GSIAA moniker took extensive effort.

“Coming up with a name was unbelievably tough because of all the trademarks and stuff we can’t use,” Lott said with a laugh. “It took forever to just get some names to vote on, and there’ll continue to be other obstacles like that.”

The headmaster and coach added that he has already met with lawyers to get the organization formally set up, and the next step will be securing locations for the GSIAA’s postseason action.

And all the while, Lott and his peers will talk with the private schools currently in the AHSAA and gauge their likelihood to make the switch next fall.

Lott anticipates that the AISA will vote to do away with athletics in September, and he’s even received some calls from regional programs in Georgia, Florida and Mississippi about joining the new organization.

“In a couple of years, we would love for the independent schools to all be playing under one umbrella,” Lott said. “But we’re also encouraging them to join the AISA for academics, to keep making the independent schools in the state stronger.”

BALDWIN PERSPECTIVE

The local perspective features varying opinions, with coaches appearing to adopt a “wait-and-see” mindset when it comes to recent schedule changes and the formation of this new entity.

“We’re at a point where we’re still gathering information because we want to do what’s best for our school,” Bayshore Christian Athletic Director Jeff Hauge said. “So we just don’t want to make any kind of quick judgement because we have had a wonderful relationship with the AHSAA over the years. But we’re also going to investigate anything out there that can help us.”

The Eagles were one of the programs aided by the AHSAA’s changes in January, as after playing against zero Baldwin County foes in 2025, all but one of Bayshore’s football opponents in ’26 will hail from either Baldwin or Mobile counties.

“So for us, it helped. We replaced three games that we probably would’ve had a hard time winning,” Bayshore Christian head football coach Jacy Todd said. “And our travel is much better because after having four trips of over two hours last year, we only have one this year.”

And with the Eagles having just started playing football in 2024, they believe the recent changes could help create some local rivals as well.

“I’m excited because with the private schools it means we’re playing places that are probably closer aligned to our beliefs,” Todd said. “And maybe it starts some rivalries that we wouldn’t have had in the past with places like Bayside and Snook or even Mobile County schools.”

Bayshore Christian head coach Jacy Todd, left, looks on while his players work on their leverage during a fall camp practice Monday, Aug. 3, in Daphne.

Parker Gillam / Gulf Coast Media

However, Hauge did emphasize that he’s wary of potential hurdles in the GSIAA’s formation, specifically when it comes to smaller-revenue sports, junior varsity competitions and regional unity.

“The challenge I see early on is: Will all of the private schools in our area buy into this?” Hauge said. “Because we also don’t want to get to the point where we’re travelling two hours for a basketball game on a Tuesday night.”

So while the future of private school athletics in Alabama is still up in the air, Lott and company are looking to provide a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the GSIAA.

“I do think having a voice is extremely important,” Hague said. “We would potentially have a stronger voice regarding rules in this new league, and that would be one of the most important things.”

But in the meantime, the coaches of Baldwin County will get back to worrying about what’s happening between the white lines. Other schools did not respond to Gulf Coast Media's request to participate in this story.

“We really have to focus on what we can control and just compete our hardest,” Todd said. “If we play schools that are twice our size or larger than that, then we’ll just let the chips fall where they may.”