This report is from former AJC High School reporter Todd Holcomb in the Georgia High School Football Daily Newsletter.
Banks County football coach Blair Armstrong, who won a state championship at Peachtree Ridge in 2006, agrees with Lincoln County’s Larry Campbell that private schools have an unfair advantage in Georgia high school sports and wants to see change.
But Armstrong takes his solution a bit further: He believes that the Georgia High School Association should classify private schools by using a 2.0 multiplier – not the 1.5 the GHSA used from 2000 to 2008. That would push 15 of 24 football-playing private schools from A to AA and even send Woodward Academy and St. Pius into the highest class.
Armstrong also believes city schools such as Buford have an unfair advantage when they can accept students from outside their district boundaries.
“They [public and city schools] have an unfair advantage, and … you are blind, stupid or both not to see it,” Armstrong said in an e-mail to GHSF Daily on Wednesday.
Here are Armstrong’s comments:
“I really am having a hard time keeping my mouth shut, so maybe I just need to get this off my chest. I have coached football and other sports for 31 years, in two states. I have been blessed to have won a few games in that time. I have also watched a great idea, with the 1.5 multiplier, be made fun of by people who really don’t understand what is going on.
“It isn’t about recruiting. I am sure some of it goes on, and anyone who says it doesn’t is either blind or stupid or both. And most of the time, it isn’t the coaches that do the recruiting. It is the parents, anyway. Of course, I know for a fact that sometimes the coaches hint that they may be needing a TE in a few years, ‘so maybe you folks could go to some youth league games and find us one.’ I know that happens. I won’t mention names, but I have had it happen to me at every public school I have coached in here in Georgia.
“I coached in the GISA [the Georgia Independent Schools Association] for one year, so when folks say recruiting doesn’t happen, I just smile. Ask any coach who has coached in the private schools and now coaches in the public school and see what answer you get.
“But, let’s get off recruiting. The reason Larry Campbell and other great public school coaches in this state haven’t said much is [that] they aren’t complainers. They work hard, touch kids’ lives and do their best to inspire their players to work and play hard.
“But here is a fact: City and private schools have an unfair advantage. I can’t believe the GHSA has let this go on so long. I guess the legislators have their kids in private schools, I don’t know.
“They have an unfair advantage, and again, you are blind, stupid or both not to see it. As a AA public school, I draw from my county only. Only kids from Banks County are allowed to attend my school. I am fine with that. That is who I am supposed to have. But private and city schools can draw from a much bigger area.
“For example: Buford can draw from over 17 AAAAA high schools’ districts just in Gwinnett County. However, they can also draw from the HallCounty schools, Forsyth schools, Barrow schools, and they have even gotten kids form further away than that. Every city school and private school has a wider territory to draw kids from than the public schools. How is that not an unfair advantage?
“That would be like telling the Falcons: You can get players from all the colleges in Georgia, but all the other NFL teams can get players from all over the USA. Would that be fair? I am not sure of the best way to fix it, but it should be a 2.0 multiplier, in my opinion.
“I hope some other public school coaches who have been coaching in this state longer than I have and some legislators who truly care about public education will address this situation.”
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