New AHSAA Classifications Send Bayside, UMS-Wright and McGill-Toolen Into Tougher Competition

The Alabama High School Athletic Association has released its latest round of classifications and competitive balance adjustments, and several private schools across Baldwin and Mobile counties are bracing for tougher competition over the next two years.

Every two years, the AHSAA sorts its member schools into classifications based on average daily enrollment figures collected over the first 20 school days after Labor Day. Since 2017, the association’s Central Board of Control has layered a “competitive balance rule” on top of that enrollment-based system, a mechanism designed to push successful private schools into higher classifications when their teams consistently outperform public school competition. Private schools already carry a longstanding enrollment “multiplier,” in place since 1999, that counts each student 1.35 times when calculating classification numbers – an adjustment meant to account for advantages some private and parochial schools hold in recruiting, staffing and facilities.

No local program will feel the new alignment more than Bayside Academy. The Daphne school, which last season tied the national record with its 18th consecutive state volleyball championship, will compete in Class 5A under the new classification even though its actual enrollment would place it in Class 2A.

“Yes, we are 5A,” Bayside head coach Ann Schilling said of the reclassification, adding that she had expected the jump after the Admirals piled up state volleyball trophies across Classes 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A in recent years.

“We may as well embrace it,” said Schilling, who was inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and was named the National Federation of State High School Associations’ national volleyball Coach of the Year for the 2009-2010 season. “We should be fine. It will be more difficult, but we do play a very stout schedule and should be prepared.”

The competitive balance rule has not gone unchallenged. St. Paul’s Episcopal School filed a federal civil lawsuit against the AHSAA in 2018 seeking to block the rule, arguing that pushing its athletes into competition against larger schools created a safety risk. The Saints ultimately dropped that lawsuit.

Under the current formula, private schools earn points toward reclassification based on their postseason results over the prior two years. In single-gender sports such as football, volleyball, golf, baseball, softball and wrestling, a program is bumped up a class if it earns more than four points – half a point for reaching the round of 16, a full point for a quarterfinal appearance, two points for the semifinals and four points for a championship game appearance. Programs that score between one and four points stay put, while those scoring less than one point drop a classification. Co-ed sports such as basketball, soccer, swimming, tennis, cross country, indoor and outdoor track and bowling combine boys’ and girls’ point totals; more than seven points triggers a move up, two to seven points holds a program steady, and anything under two points sends a program down a class.

The new football alignment for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years places the state’s 32 largest high schools in Class 7A, with the remaining six classifications split evenly among 59 football-playing schools apiece. The Central Board has also finalized cross country and swimming alignments, though winter sports classifications will not be announced until after the conclusion of the basketball postseason, with spring sports alignments to follow once those playoffs wrap up.

On the football side, three private school programs that met the competitive balance threshold will move up a class heading into the new cycle: Mobile Christian and UMS-Wright locally, along with Mars Hill Bible. St. Paul’s, meanwhile, is among two schools sliding back down a class after failing to meet the threshold required to remain in its higher classification, joined by Madison Academy.

Volleyball saw even more movement. Of eight programs bumped up a class during the previous cycle, Bayside Academy, Providence Christian and St. James earned enough points to move up yet again, while St. Luke’s Episcopal, Madison Academy and St. Paul’s will hold steady in their current classifications. Decatur Heritage and John Carroll Catholic did not meet the threshold and will drop back down. Faith Academy in Mobile, along with Athens Bible, Westminster-Oak Mountain and Montgomery Academy, are moving up for the first time under the competitive balance rule. McGill-Toolen presents an unusual case: the Mobile school is dropping from Class 7A to 6A based on enrollment alone, but its volleyball program will remain in 7A because of points earned under the competitive balance system. Full enrollment and classification data for football, volleyball, cross country and swimming is available through the AHSAA’s website.

The reclassification announcement arrived alongside recognition for two figures well known in local high school athletics. UMS-Wright’s Terry Curtis has been named a National Football Coach of the Year, one of 23 coaches nationwide honored by the National Federation of State High School Associations across various sports. Curtis has amassed a 317-85 career coaching record over 31 years, including stops at Shaw and Murphy high schools before spending the last 21 seasons leading the Bulldogs. His UMS-Wright teams have claimed eight state titles, among them the program’s last three Class 4A championships.

“This is quite an honor,” Curtis said in a news release announcing the award. “I knew I wanted to be a coach when I was in the eighth grade. I am truly humbled, and am reminded of so many others who have been responsible for our success. I share this recognition with our outstanding assistant coaches, with an administration that has always been so supportive and with players who are committed to playing for a school and a team that they believe in.” Curtis, who entered the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 2004, becomes the fourth Alabama coach to receive the national football honor. Schilling of Bayside previously received the sport-specific national volleyball honor for the 2009-2010 season.

The volleyball community is also mourning the loss of Becky Dickinson, the first volleyball coach inducted into the AHSAA Sports Hall of Fame, who died recently at age 83. Dickinson coached at McGill-Toolen from 1970 to 1998, building the program known as the “Dirty Dozen” into a powerhouse that won 1,273 matches and 14 state titles. She also guided McGill-Toolen to three girls’ basketball championships and three boys’ tennis titles during her tenure, was honored by the AHSAA in 1991 and was inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Her coaching tree runs deep through the region’s current high school ranks, including Schilling at Bayside Academy, Gretchen Boykin at Spanish Fort and Monique Adams at Daphne.

About the Organizations Involved

The classifications and region alignments announced by the AHSAA govern region schedules and playoff qualification for the full two-year cycle. The National Federation of State High School Associations, which named Curtis a national coach of the year, is the Indianapolis-based national organization of the state associations that govern high school sports and activities, including the AHSAA.

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