This is an opinion piece.

I try not to dive too much into politics in covering the high school sports scene in Alabama.

There is really no reason for me to step into an area that I don’t know that well. We have great reporters at AL.com who handle the local, statewide and national government scene.

I would much rather stick to what I know best. And, other than 80s music and hair bands, that is high school sports. Sometimes I wonder why some politicians don’t follow the same philosophy when it comes to high school sports.

Sen. Chris Elliot (R-Josephine) has filed seven bills that seem to be targeted at undermining the Alabama High School Athletic Association, the state’s governing body for high school athletics. There are public hearings on four of the bills Wednesday at noon in the Senate Education Policy Committee. The bills could be voted on after the hearings but won’t necessarily be.

Elliott was outspoken when the Spanish Fort boys and girls soccer teams missed the 2022 playoffs due to an eligibility issue and again when the Saraland football team was under investigation for an eligibility question last fall. Several of the proposed bills seek to restrict the Association’s ability govern the eligibility of its student-athletes and coaches in certain situations.

That may sound good on the surface. It’s not.

Here is what I have seen in more than 30 years of covering high school sports and the AHSAA. The member schools make the rules. They vote on the rules. If a change needs to be made, there is a process in place to change the rules. This very thing happened in the Maori Davenport/Charles Henderson situation and again in the Oakwood Academy basketball case.

Is it immediate? No, it does take time. But too often of late the AHSAA has taken criticism it frankly doesn’t deserve. I’ve not always agreed with every ruling, but the AHSAA staff doesn’t make the rules.

It didn’t when Dan Washburn was the executive director.

It didn’t under Steve Savarese.

It doesn’t now under Alvin Briggs’ leadership.

The AHSAA and primarily its 15-member Central Board of Control only serves to enforce the rules already in place, and that is a tough job. Pretty much every controversial decision over the years centered around someone needing to make an immediate exception to a rule already in place. Had the Board voted to make any of the exceptions, what might be next? Every rule could then be open to an exception, right?

This is not Star Wars and the AHSAA is not the Evil Empire that a lot of people want to make it out to be. The Association wasn’t formed by the state department of education or the legislature and it doesn’t take public funds.

I have a lot of respect for Sen. Elliott and all of our elected leaders and the job they have to do. I also have a lot of respect for Alvin Briggs, Kim Vickers, the rest of the AHSAA and the Central Board and the job they are asked to do. I think both can be true. But I think trying to legislate how the AHSAA operates and rules is going down the wrong road.

A well-respected high school football coach in Alabama called me Monday and said he let the elected officials in his area know that voting for these bills would be a no confidence vote for the actual schools in the AHSAA that make those very rules.

I would have to agree.

No system is perfect. Everything can be improved. But the AHSAA is in the business of keeping students eligible not making them ineligible. No one takes pleasure in that. If something needs to be changed, let’s go through the process in place to change or adjust it and let it be voted on by member schools not by folks in downtown Montgomery.

If these bills are ultimately passed, it could lead to changing the AHSAA forever.

What happens then? Who would make rulings on eligibility? Politicians? No one?

Briggs could not comment when reached Tuesday, but the now retired Savarese could.

And did.

“There is no perfect system, but a system governed by its membership is a true democracy,” he said. “The Alabama High School Athletic Association has stood the test of time. When bylaws, policies, events need to be changed in accordance with the Central Board of Control and the legislative body, those things will occur. I would caution everyone to slow down and take a look at the unintended consequences of the actions before they get to a place of no return.

“The great part of this situation is that everybody cares. They care about the well being of the student-athletes. We all do. If we sit down with an open mind and a willingness to listen, we can constitute change. Government has its place and, thankfully, that is why we are the best country in the world. But so too do state high school athletic associations have their place, and I’m very proud to say that the AHSAA under the leadership of Alvin Briggs is one of the premier state associations in the country.”

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.