Whispers Around the State: 11/11 Spoiler - Rome Is Still Burning

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Welcome back to Whispers Around the State. Let's just dive right in.

The PSR: Right Teams, Wrong Seeds, and a Spreadsheet Circus

The inaugural all-classifications postseason under the GHSA's PSR system is here. Did they get it right?

For the most part, yes (Kind of). I don't have a real problem with the 32 teams that made the field in each classification. Personally, I think too many teams make the playoffs anyway, but that's not exactly a winning argument, so instead we're left watching public executions in the first round every single year. The real issue isn't necessarily how many teams make the playoffs, or even one classification having to play on Saturday. It's the seeding.

Whether those 32 teams are actually ranked correctly from No. 1 through No. 32 is where this gets interesting. We've built a system where a mathematical formula can carry more weight than what actually happened on the field. At some point, beating the teams you're competing against has to matter, and winning a region championship ought to mean more than receiving a trophy, a congratulatory tweet, and a guaranteed top-16 seed. You should also be punished if you don't play a single team of the same classification in your non-region, but get to tout how "strong our region is" when every team in Region 1 7A would finish behind TCC and Lee in 6A. Don't believe me? Ask Moultrie.

Here's How I'd Fix It

I don't think the PSR needs to be scrapped, just rebalanced. In classifications with eight regions, here's my proposed fix:

• Seeds 1–8: The eight region champions. Win your region, lock up a top-eight seed.
• Seeds 9–16: The eight region runners-up.
• Seeds 17–32: Sixteen at-large spots, determined by the ranking formula.

Let the formula handle the rankings within those groups and determine the at-large field. This restores something I believe has gotten lost in the conversation: the value of head-to-head results and region championships.

Yes, some regions are stronger than others. That's always been true. But if we're going to make teams compete for region championships, why would we build a system that potentially devalues winning one?

And one blanket PSR calculation shouldn't apply to every classification. The competitive landscape in 6A isn't the same as Class A. The scheduling opportunities and competitive depth simply aren't comparable. What works for the larger schools isn't automatically appropriate for the smaller ones, and we should be willing to acknowledge that instead of pretending every classification operates under identical circumstances.

If the GHSA wants to demonstrate effective leadership, that means being willing to make changes when areas needing improvement become apparent. This shouldn't be a wait-and-see approach, because we already have a pretty good idea of what we'll be dealing with next year if nothing changes.

The Great GHSA Spreadsheet Reveal

If the rankings themselves weren't frustrating enough, the rollout somehow found a way to make matters worse. After an entire season of watching the PSR evolve, the grand unveiling of the playoff field came through a Zoom call featuring someone sharing a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Nothing says the future of high school athletics quite like watching somebody discover the screen-share feature in real time.

And the presentation wasn't even the worst part. Well, maybe. Multiple teams reportedly believed they'd qualified for the postseason, only to learn hours later that updated numbers had bumped them out of the field.

Imagine being that head coach. You've just told your team they've made the playoffs. You're lining up film exchanges, arranging travel, and preparing for another week of football. Then your phone rings: Actually, Coach, there's been a correction. You're out. Sucks to suck.

That's not a minor inconvenience. That's a legitimate failure of process. And this isn't solely on the GHSA.

The GHSA can't control every number submitted by a member school, but it absolutely can control the verification process before announcing a playoff field as final. Establish deadlines, verify scores, confirm the calculations, and give schools a legitimate opportunity to identify discrepancies before the bracket is released as gospel. And if schools repeatedly submit inaccurate information, there ought to be consequences that encourage them to take those responsibilities seriously. (We're happy to provide a list of potential punishments if necessary.)

We're not asking anyone to split the atom here. We're asking grown adults to enter football scores correctly. If that's too much to handle, perhaps a Game of Thrones-style walk of shame would help focus their attention.

Ultimately, the GHSA needs a process that doesn't turn a team's playoff berth into a three-hour celebration followed by an apology.

And while we're at it, can we please upgrade the presentation? We're determining the postseason bracket for the biggest sport in Georgia high school athletics. Surely we can do better than a spreadsheet on a Zoom call. Maybe whoever's been cranking out those AI graphics lately could take a detour and build an actual bracket presentation instead. Although, judging by some of those graphics, they might need the AI crash course first. There's a difference between using artificial intelligence and making sure everybody knows you used artificial intelligence.

The idea behind the PSR has merit, but the execution hasn't matched it. Accuracy, transparency, and accountability shouldn't be optional when you're determining who gets an opportunity to compete for a state championship and who's preparing to have the dreaded "We're going in a different direction" conversation come Monday.

Rome Is Burning.

After just one season, Head Coach Bill Stewart resigned Tuesday, sending the Wolves back into the coaching market.

The previous coaching transition was anything but a masterclass in professionalism. There's a right way to conduct a coaching search, manage a transition, and support the guy you've hired to lead your program. Then there's whatever Rome decided to do last time. Coach Stewart deserved considerably better than the treatment he received from day one, but the result was enough egg on the administration's face to feed the poor, and Stewart and his staff were the ones left cleaning up the mess.

But my biggest issue is this: Why hire a new head football coach if you're going to fight him every time he attempts to do something differently than the previous regime? If the expectation is that nothing changes, why bother hiring an established, successful coach when you could've hired a first-year guy who would've just been thankful for the opportunity and responded with, "Please, sir, may I have another?" You can't hand someone the keys to a program while simultaneously forbidding him from running it his way. That's not an opportunity. That's setting someone up to fail.

Then there's the shadow of the former head coach and his apparent continued influence despite being "retired." What are the chances we get a media release from Rome announcing the former head coach as the "interim" while they conduct another search? Would that simply be an exercise in hubris, or do you genuinely anticipate needing 90 days to hire another head football coach? That's speculation, not an announced decision, but given how the previous transition unfolded, it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

Rome has another opportunity to get this right. My hope is that somebody involved takes a hard look at how the previous process unfolded and recognizes what it did to Stewart and his staff. Because if the same people approach this search with the same mindset and the same methods, why should anyone expect a different result?

P.S. Don't reach out to Coach Felton until AFTER his season concludes. That's the respectful thing to do.

Northview: Somebody Needs a Reality Check

Northview is officially back on the Coaching Carousel following Head Coach Mario Drayton's departure. Anybody curious about my thoughts on that particular job can spend a few minutes scrolling through the Fired Coaches timeline. I've been pretty clear, aside from one clinically unhappy parent who apparently believes every coach should be shipped to Guantanamo Bay because every coach he's ever encountered supposedly lied to his son. Sure. But let me remind this particular parent that we didn't pick the person you decided to reproduce with. The reality is that your kid can work harder than anybody in the entire world, but if he's still 5'10", 165 pounds, with fat ankles and bad hand-eye coordination, he probably isn't playing on Sundays. Gasp. Grow up, Peter Pan.

There's a considerable gap between what certain people believe Northview should be capable of accomplishing in football and what the program's actual circumstances support. Great academics, excellent facilities, and a desirable community don't automatically mean you're positioned to compete for a state championship. Those things aren't interchangeable, and when expectations aren't grounded in reality, the guy wearing the headset on Friday nights is usually the one who takes the blame.

There are also questions surrounding administrative support and whether individuals with ties to the previous coaching staff are genuinely willing to allow somebody else to run the program. If that's what's happening inside the building, it's a problem. You can't expect a coach to build his own program while constantly measuring him against somebody else's version of what that program ought to look like. And sometimes the people convinced they could do the job better need to be reminded that having previously held the position doesn't automatically mean they understand every challenge facing the guy currently occupying it.

Northview may eventually find the right coach, but there might need to be a few ego checks first, followed by an even larger reality check about what the program's ceiling actually looks like. A new head coach can change a culture, but he can't magically change every circumstance surrounding a school.

The Coaching Carousel: Open Jobs, Developing Searches, and a Few Whispers

We have moved from Black-Monday to an entire week at this rate.

Apalachee: Applications Closed

The application window for Apalachee's head football coaching position closed Wednesday. If you're one of the candidates fortunate enough to land an interview, I have one question I'd strongly encourage you to ask: "If a parent comes to you claiming they heard, second- or third-hand, that I said something, are you going to bother asking me or anybody who was actually present what happened? Or are we just going to take the parent's word for it?"

Seckinger: An Early Favorite Emerging?

Seckinger has reportedly identified a handful of candidates to replace Tony Lotti, and there may already be an early favorite. One name worth monitoring is a current head football coach working just outside Atlanta's perimeter.

Hebron: Divine Intervention?

Bill Stewart heading back to Gwinnett? I mean, after what he's endured over the last nine months, it's enough to drive anybody into the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Eastside: Don't Be Surprised if They Stay In-House

Coach Jay Cawthon has announced his retirement at Eastside. This should be a relatively straightforward transition, especially with a former head football coach already on staff.

Metter: It's Still About the Jimmys and Joes

Metter is officially open following Coach Lee Shaw's retirement, and this one serves as another reminder that high school football is still about the Jimmys and Joes, not just the X's and O's. Coach Shaw didn't suddenly forget how to coach football. Sometimes the circumstances surrounding a program change considerably more than the ability of the man leading it.

Pope and Osborne: Proceed With Realistic Expectations

Pope and Osborne have both joined the list of open head football coaching positions in Cobb County, and neither strikes me as a particularly easy assignment. That doesn't mean there aren't opportunities to build something worthwhile at either school, but prospective candidates need a realistic understanding of what they're inheriting: the available talent pool, administrative support, resources, and perhaps most importantly, the actual expectations.

Eagle's Landing: Another Opening

Eagle's Landing has also joined the list of schools searching for a head football coach. We don't have enough information about that particular situation to offer much additional insight at this point, but it's another name on a list that's only going to grow.

Whispers: Northeast Georgia Is About to Get Interesting

A few things we're hearing around the state. Multiple situations in Northeast Georgia could produce additional head football coaching openings before the end of the week. We're monitoring those developments and will report them once the appropriate confirmations have taken place.

Then there's a particularly interesting situation involving a program that reached the state semifinals last season. We're hearing that the head football coach intends to step down and may have already communicated that decision to school leadership. We won't identify the school or coach until he's had the opportunity to inform his players. There's a time and place for breaking news, and players deserve to hear something like that directly from their coach rather than discovering it while scrolling through social media.

Beyond those immediate situations, there's also chatter about potential changes at several other programs once their seasons conclude. Some schools will move quickly, while others may wait until after Christmas before making their decisions. Either way, the Coaching Carousel is nowhere close to reaching full speed.

The Fired Coaches Bracket Challenge:

The 2026 Fired Coaches Bracket Challenge is officially open. Fill out your playoff brackets, make your predictions, and compete for cash prizes and Fired Coaches gear. Want to fill out just your favorite classification? Go for it. But if you want to be eligible for the cash prize, you'll need to complete all eight brackets.

Picks lock Friday, November 13, at 7 p.m. ET.

Enter here: https://brackets.firedcoaches.org/

We'll continue monitoring the openings, following the whispers, and reporting confirmed developments as they happen. Good luck to everybody preparing for the playoffs, and to the coaches whose seasons are already finished, you might want to keep your phones charged.

Relax, it's satire. Mostly.

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