GHSA executive director Gary Phillips discusses basketball issues

Just about 100 yards away from where the GHSA's held its annual spring executive committee meeting Monday was the court where the baskets were a foot off for the state championship games.

Those expecting some level of fireworks about the goals, the location and the tournament when the GHSA's voting body convened will have to wait, since the topic didn't come up until early in the fourth quarter of Monday's meeting.

That's when executive director Gary Phillips apologized to the committee of nearly five dozen, who came from Folkston in one corner of the state to Tunnel Hill in the other.

"We apologize to you for what happened," said Phillips, who revisited the situation, including the reaction. "We made some statements about that that the media took and turned around a little bit in our own defense."

He said the GHSA is looking at options, won't talk publicly about those options until further notice, looked at what happened and started working on avoid any type of repeat.

"We regret what happened," he told the group. "But we're gonna go forward, and we're gonna do everything we can to absolutely be sure that never happens again."

About three general minutes and a vote to return the quarterfinal round of the tournament back to the home of the higher seed was the extent of basketball discussed. The addition of a seventh class was a big reason for returning to the old format, although holding this year's quarterfinal and semifinal rounds at neutral college sites was considered a success.

Adding a class makes finding facilities -- which would be a difficult task every year regardless -- tougher, as well as adding to a variety of administrative duties. Phillips said nailing down college facilities for one day instead of three would be much easier. As for the championships at the Macon Coliseum, Phillips had no update.

"We're really really interested in seeing what happens," he said after the meeting, noting that the Macon Centreplex, encompassing the Coliseum, Centreplex and City Auditorium, will be under new management at some point. "We're extremely interested in that.

"But we're gonna continue to do our homework as we go along. We really don't have a timetable."

The semifinals will remain on college campuses. As for the finals, Phillips expects a decision in the summer.

"If we're in the middle of July, and we don't know what we're going to do, I think we'll have a real problem," he said. "That's why I think we'll know by then."

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 6:42 PM with the headline "GHSA executive director Gary Phillips discusses basketball issues ."