SPEAKER_00 0:04

You're listening to the Hanging with the AD podcast, where we break down hot topics in athletic administration and lessons learned through leadership. Now, here are your hosts, Josh Matthews and Don Baker.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome to another special edition of the Hanging with the AD podcast. Today we catch up with a friend of the show, Dr. Kurt Miller, who serves as the athletic director at O'Conee County High School in Watkinsville, Georgia, and is the vice president of the Georgia High School Association Board of Trustees. Kurt, thanks for sitting down with us today.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Thanks for having me. Now, you uh have been given, as we would say, in my house, the wonderful opportunity to serve as the committee chairman again for the GHSA Reclassification Committee, unopposed, I might add, uh, which met today, which is Monday, August 23rd at the GHSA office in Thomaston, Georgia. Uh meeting was to begin discussions really on reclassification for the 2223 and 2324 school years. So we understand that no votes were taken, but we'd love to hear uh what was discussed at this initial meeting today.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Right. Yeah, I think one of these, this uh committee is either congratulations or condolences. It's uh sometimes it's sometimes it's really fun. And uh, you know, there's sometimes it's challenging, and then this year is going to be a challenge. Uh, I'll back up going into last reclass. We changed some things. Uh that the committee all agreed that um, you know, going into that reclass, we we didn't want people that were in the schools to be directly involved in the the process of placing schools in regions. We felt that that would be an unbiased deal that the GHSA office could do. And uh I think our membership was very appreciative of that. And that's something that this this uh body this year, we're gonna do the same thing. We're gonna do our best to try to get our process and like I guess our formula together. And then once the FTE numbers come in in late October, early November, we would like for the GHSA office to do that once again and in place those schools and regions. I think that that that takes out, you know, some things that could happen that that may not should happen with uh, you know, with people in a school building. And and uh so I think that's that's the right process there. You know, most of the the skeleton and the sticks and bones of of last reclass are gonna stick. You know, the the right now the multiplier people are are happy with the multiplier at 2.0 and and then you know with the out of district student athletes. So, you know, unless something comes up between now and October 3rd, that would that's a Sunday that the committees will meet. You know, I think that that we're kind of we're gonna go off what we did today and have some time to think about it. And we'll come back on the third with reclass and and you know, vote a plan in. Not sure what that plan is gonna be, but we'll vote that in.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

That's good. Uh uh, Kurt, uh, I think all three of us are fans of the GHSA office and the folks down there. And uh I agree, I think that's a good idea to let them do it. They did a great job last time as well. But everyone involved with Georgia High School Athletics is always tuned in to the reclassification process. And we have gone to back to the two-year cycle, uh, which made it come up a little bit quicker this year. And folks uh who uh like to write about it and like this reclass process, they're probably happy because we're right back in the thick of it two years later. So, a couple of questions I was gonna ask, and one of them you just kind of answered there. When is the next reclassification committee meeting? And what does the overall timeline look like for this reclassification process?

SPEAKER_03 3:27

You know, we discussed that today. Um we we were there, I think an hour and a half, and you know, everybody that was in attendance and everybody on the committee had an opportunity to uh to speak up, uh, present a proposal. That's something we've always wanted to do. We wanted to be transparent and we've welcomed any proposals. We welcome anybody to come speak. So uh we met today, and as of right now, our next meeting will be October the 3rd, in making at re at the reclass meeting. Uh at that time, we will we will put forth a proposal from the reclass committee to the full state executive committee to be voted on on uh October the 4th. And then at that point, that'll be our process for reclass for the next two years. I will say this uh just for basic committees, I think September the 4th is the deadline for all committees to um, you know, any like a sport committee, basketball, one act play, literary, golf, if there's something that needs to be presented from those coaches or regions throughout the state, September the 4th, I believe, is the deadline to get that into the GHSA office and Steve Figueroa to be on the agenda for the fall state executive committee meeting.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Now, Kurt, it seems every time we do reclassification, or at least lately, there have been particular issues that the committee's task with addressing, whether those issues have come from within the committee or without. I think we go all the way back to the Tom Murphy days. There have been specific issues after today's first meeting, and I imagine there's been several conversations among our AD colleagues across the state. What issues do you foresee are before this reclassification committee?

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Really the the main issue this year, and once again, this kind of goes back to us not wanting to re to change reclass the model every every single year, but to modify what the system we currently have. And I the the big topic this year is the is the playing field between private schools and public schools outside of single A. It's those those nine schools we had this year from double A to 5A. And uh, you know, we it was pretty the the public schools and those classifications were pretty vocal, um, just out of the concern that they're they felt that their student athletes just don't have an opportunity to advance deep into the state playoffs and to, you know, ultimately win a state championship.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Kurt, you mentioned that next meeting scheduled in October, and you said, you know, that idea of getting a working model uh that everybody could vote on. So is there the projected agenda or maybe certain goals to be accomplished during that next meeting specifically? When you look at that timeline, as you mentioned earlier, and you you mentioned the the issue with the private schools. Uh, is there anything else uh that you see being part of that process before it gets turned over to the full committee?

SPEAKER_03 6:06

You know, as of right now, I I think that today, uh I think Thursday, and we back up to Thursday, I think that's when the notice went out from the state office on social media that we were having a meeting today. And so I think that today's meeting will get people talking. And if they have other ideas that that are better than the plan that I presented, or maybe uh the the plan that Coach Hardy at GAC did a wonderful job, did a lot of hard work with that plan to try to keep the private schools involved with the public schools, you know, maybe there's some ways to tweak both of our plans and come up, find some, you know, some common ground. Um, so other than that, you know, I really don't I don't know if we will meet again. But if but if there's a need to meet, we're going to.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Gotcha. Kurt, thanks for the time, especially after a very long day. We appreciate the work that you and the other Reclass members are doing. And as we begin this process, uh, our hope is to use this podcast as a conduit to share the updates with our Georgia friends who listen in. So thanks again for taking the time today.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Absolutely. If I could just end it with, you know, we've got 19 people on the Reclass Committee this year, and and there's some new new members to it. But, you know, they're they're gonna go through, we're gonna do a lot of communicating and and uh, you know, it's not easy work. Sometimes it's not fun, but it's necessary work. And uh, you know, at the end of the day, we're here to make sure that we're doing the best for the student athletes in the state of Georgia. And is that always gonna make everyone happy? No, it's not. But uh, you know, there's 19 people in there, and then there's a there's a large executive committee that'll ultimately approve a plan, whatever that is. And they're just a lot of hard workers. And and if people feel uh strongly either way, I would reach out to those to those committee members, and you can find all of that information at uh GHSA.net. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Yeah, good. Thank you, Kirk.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Absolutely. Thank you guys. You guys are doing an awesome job.