COLUMN: Is Johnson's move to Alex City a sign of CBF's damage?
By TIM GAYLE
Is Kirk Johnson the first casualty of Competitive Balance Factor?
Opponents of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s controversial policy, which penalizes successful private school programs by elevating them in classification, may use Catholic football as their first exhibit in describing the effects of the policy on schools.
Johnson announced on Monday morning he was leaving Catholic to accept a similar position at Benjamin Russell High School, departing as the Knights’ winningest coach after just four years on the job.
It’s difficult to believe that Catholic, which has an enrollment of 225 students, can compete in Class 6A, which is where the football program will be elevated by Competitive Balance in 2026 if the defending 5A state champions win one playoff game in 2025. And any coach recognizes that fact when deciding whether it’s time to move on to a public school program that isn’t subject to Competitive Balance.
“It plays a role,” Johnson observed. “You know, at some point, it’s hard to be in a 6A, 7A world with 200 students. It doesn’t work that way. It played a role, knowing what was coming down the road.”
The AHSAA’s policy didn’t affect the 3A Knights in 2018 and 2019 because they failed to make it past the quarterfinals of the playoffs. In 2020 and 2021, a trip to the finals and the semifinals would have triggered a Competititve Balance move, but the school moved up to 4A based on enrollment to offset the automatic move. In 2022 and 2023, a trip to the semifinals and the finals triggered a Competitive Balance move to 5A and in 2026 the Knights will make another climb provided they reach the second round of the 2025 playoffs.
“The AHSAA has painted us into a corner with this Competitive Balance,” Catholic athletic director Daniel Veres said. “A 250-kid school can’t compete with a 1,200-kid school without letting anybody you want into the school. It’s a difficult decision. (Johnson) wants to win. It’s hard to see the end game. We’re staring down the barrel of going to 6A, how do we compete? There’s a lot of obstacles we have to overcome.”
Reading between the lines, there’s a conflict between school administrators that have certain admission standards and the need for a coach to waive the rules when it comes to athletes in order to compete at a higher level. But no matter what rules are overlooked or waived, there are still limitations to how effective a team can be when it’s elevated three or more classifications.
Bayside Academy and Montgomery Academy have discovered that in volleyball. Montgomery Academy is also learning that lesson in soccer and tennis. And the Knights will discover the unfairness of Competitive Balance Factor in football in 2026.
“We’re getting penalized for being good,” Veres said. “In sports, aren’t you supposed to be good?”
Veres said he is “proud to be a part of the AHSAA,” but recognizes there may be some changes ahead for both his program and the organization. And that’s something that his new football coach is going to have to deal with.
“I’m going to tell them that this is what’s coming down if this happens,” Veres said. “I’m not saying I’m the expert on Competitive Balance but I sure know what’s going on with it. So I’ll take care of that kind of stuff. There’s always obstacles and there’s always new challenges.
“This is not just about football, but I will tell you Competitive Balance makes it difficult -- 5A in this sport, 4A in this sport, 6A in this sport. It’s really difficult.”