BREAKING NEWS: Lott named first-ever executive director of Gulf States Independent Athletic Association
Former Macon East coach and headmaster Glynn Lott has been tabbed as the first-ever executive director of the new Gulf States Independent Athletic Association, effective immediately. (File photo)
By GRAHAM DUNN
MONTGOMERY -- The Gulf States Independent Athletic Association board of directors is expected to name former Macon East Academy headmaster Glynn Lott as the organization’s first executive director.
The announcement came through a press release by the GSIAA earlier on Friday.
Lott will be officially announced at a press conference in the coming days. He will assume his new duties effective immediately.
“When this all started, it was not for me to find another job,” Lott said. “The purpose was to try and help the schools in the state of Alabama. For them to have a meaningful say-so in how they want their athletics to be run. I could see what was happening and knew now was the time to step up and help.”
Lott officially resigned his position as school headmaster at Macon East earlier this week. This came about after he spent 32 years at the school in many capacities including the head coach for football, softball and basketball.
The Burkville native and 1983 graduate of Lowndes Academy spent his career in the Alabama Independent School Association, starting with basketball, boys and girls, at Macon Academy (1985-90) and later with Meadowview Christian School (1991-94).
When Macon Academy moved to Montgomery County and relocated in Cecil 1995 as Mason-East Montgomery Academy, Lott was hired as the head football coach. He added athletic director to his title in 1997 and coached championship-caliber programs in football, basketball, baseball and softball during the next 30 years.
Lott was inducted into the AISA Hall of Fame in 2013. He has served as the director of the AISA Coaches Association since 2008, is a past president of the AISA Headmasters Association and has served the past several years on the AISA board of directors.
Now, he takes on an endeavor that will most certainly have major implications on high school athletics in the state of Alabama and possibly beyond.
“I’ve been driving around the entire state for close to a year gauging interest and asking others to join if we do this,” Lott said. “If I’m not willing to step up and lead this association, why are the schools going to be willing to do it?
“I reached out to a former player of mine to help see if (a new league) was possible. Would the structure fit? And it did, really well. So the pitches to the schools started to happen and once we put together maps, a draft of a unique way to govern athletics began, and the level of interest exponentially increased as I traveled around the state to gauge interest.. I knew at that point for this to work, somebody had to step and run this association.”
Lott said he will continue to concentrate on memberships as well as sponsorships for the new league, which will begin competition next fall.
“We have started to ramp up the push for other founding sponsors, exclusive rights, first rights of refusal, and some new ideas and thoughts on how we will organize and pursue sponsorships,” Lott said.
“We will release that info when the time comes. But our board is set, our bylaws are complete, and we are excited about the future of high school athletics in the great state of Alabama, and maybe even surrounding states. This will truly be a new, unique association that will be nothing like any organizations many are used to seeing in the southeast US.
“Oh, and everybody is welcome to join.”
The new league plans to present Lott officially during a press conference next couple of weeks. At that point, detailed information will be provided including governance structure, league origins, membership, eligibility, and sponsor information.
Both public and private schools are expected to be included in the membership, along with schools from surrounding states.