GSIAA UPDATE: Founding board moving towards approving bylaws; group hearing from public schools

By TIM GAYLE

The 18 members of the founding board of the Gulf States Independent Athletic Association are busy working on bylaws and rules for the new association in preparation for its next formal meeting in November.

The 18 members are split evenly between private school representatives from the Alabama High School Athletic Association and the Alabama Independent School Association and those nine from each association are evenly divided between headmasters and athletic directors. The founding board members were selected over time since the introduction of the GSIAA in late July, but were formally approved at the Sept. 2 meeting of the association.

“The first criteria was geographically,” said Macon East Academy headmaster Glynn Lott, a leading organizer behind the GSIAA. “One big thing with the AISA was to make sure each section was covered. In the (Alabama High School Athletic Association member) private schools, it was geographically, along with how much interest they’ve shown (in the new association). Some of them have been there from the very beginning of the CHOOSE Act, whereas some of them have come on board since they started looking for a place for their school to compete.

“One thing we asked if you serve on this board is that you are showing an interest in one day participating (as a GSIAA member) within the next two years. If you’re not interested, we ask you not to participate.”

At the Sept. 2 meeting, the 18 members officially decided on bylaws and regulations, along with suggestions on selecting an executive director later this fall.

“Most of the decisions that were made were for bylaws or articles of incorporation,” Lott said, “so that we could get our lawyer to file as a 501(c)(3) organization so that we could open up membership on Nov. 1.”

And while the founding board membership is currently set at 18, Lott said there was the possibility of adding more board members in the near future.

“There’s a chance we could expand it, especially geographically, if we add more schools in different regions,” he said. “We’ve talked to a couple of different associations about joining, smaller associations that are looking to join that we have told them we would give them representation also.”

The membership is expected to include 8-man football teams -- 10 programs currently participate in the Alabama Independent School Association -- and also could include home school associations.

In addition, a group of large public-school football programs in several Southeastern states have expressed an interest in joining the GSIAA and participating in their own division, operating under bylaws that permit name, image and likeness considerations and unique transfer rules. 

“That was discussed at the meeting,” Lott said. “We didn’t exclude them from the bylaws. There is a chance that public schools could participate.”

The Gulf States Independent Athletic Association (GSIAA) was officially introduced to perspective members on July 24, offering membership to 93 private schools in the Alabama High School Athletic Association and the Alabama Independent School Association, although participation is open to any private school in the state of Alabama.

Organizers went through bylaws from 15 different athletic associations to build a template for the founding board members on issues such as name, image and likeness, recruiting and transfer rules. The organizational structure of the association includes a Board of Control and an executive director, along with committees that report to both. At the top of the structure is the Member Assembly, dubbed “the owners,” that provide one vote to each member school. Amending the bylaws or even changes within the group that may only apply to one of the classifications requires two-thirds approval.

The decision to form the association took shape in the wake of a Jan. 23 decision by the Alabama High School Athletic Association to put the 61 private schools in two classifications separate from the public schools for postseason play.

The GSIAA founding board’s next meeting will be a Zoom meeting in early October, followed by a formal meeting in November.