GHSA reclassification results in LC remaining in Class AA

The Georgia High School Association has a tiger by the tail with its classification realignment system and the new multiplier rule it is trying to implement, according to LC athletic director Mike Oberg. GHSA began hearing appeals from schools Monday after new numbers were released last week.’Monday will be a nightmare at GHSA. I don’t know what will happen. They could have 100 schools appealing to move. They could just give up on their own plan,’ Oberg said Friday.The new multiplier requires schools to count out of zone students as two students. ‘We reported 20 out of zone students and that is legit. We have 27 but seven of them have parents working in the system and are exempt. Some of these other schools, you wonder about their numbers,’ Oberg noted.The multiplier does not apply to AAAAAAA schools because there is no higher classification to force them into. It also does not apply to Class A which is already divided into public and private divisions. That is likely where chaos will erupt. For example, Holy Innocents has 374 out of zone students and a revised enrollment of 924 but can play in the Class A private division if it wants to.’Basically, they have told schools in A and AAAAAAA there is no penalty for recruiting kids. None of this is settled. It’s a big mess. Some schools have more pull at GHSA than others so you don’t know what will happen. All I know is we are solidly in AA and we will play whomever they put in AA and try to beat them,’ Oberg added.It is very likely LC’s region will change drastically. Oberg and others in the system have looked at the numbers and feel the region that makes most sense would put LC in with Northeast Macon, Southwest Macon, East Laurens, Bleckley County, Dodge County, Putnam County and Monticello. ‘I talk to coaches all over the state and what we hear is Bremen, Heard, Callaway, Temple and Haralson County want to be a five-team region and they’ve got some pull,’ Oberg said.Under the new rules, the largest AA school is Therrell with an adjusted student count of 928. The smallest is Bryan County at 554. LC is #30 of 57 AA schools with a count of 785.Oberg is head baseball coach at LC and looks at the numbers with his sport at the forefront of his mind. ‘If it stays like it is, Lovett, Worth County and Redan will move down to AA which means our classification just got a lot tougher in baseball,’ he concluded.Note: Since this article was published, GHSA placed LC in Region 3AA with Bleckley County, Dodge County, Monticello, NE MaconSW Macon and Washington County.