Black Athletes in the Spotlight: HBCU Sports & Local Highlights
- House Bill 4163 would abolish the South Carolina High School League, replacing it with a state-elected 11-member SCHSL board.
- The bill would bar current athletic directors, coaches and other school leaders from serving on the new SCHSL board.
- The league is governed by member schools, comprising about 220 high schools and 200 junior highs.
- Critics like Bluffton head coach Hayden Gregory oppose government control, urging governance by athletic professionals and citing Texas and Georgia.
- Commissioner Jerome Singleton defended the current membership structure before the House Education committee; debate is paused until 2026.
BLUFFTON, SC. (WSAV) — South Carolina legislators tabled a bill that would eliminate the South Carolina High School League.
House Bill 4163, introduced in March and tabled in May, would abolish the South Carolina High School League, which has been around since 1913.
The bill would dissolve the existing South Carolina High School League and replace it with the South Carolina High School Athletic Association (SCHSL), an 11-member board elected by the state government.
Current members of the SCHSL have spoken out against it.
“The government running the high school association to me is an awful idea,” said Bluffton Head Coach Hayden Gregory. “It should be athletic directors, coaches, people that actually know sports. Not people whose job it is to make laws.”
The South Carolina High School League is currently governed by its member schools, with 220 high schools and 200 junior highs making up the league.
“If we want South Carolina high school athletics to be at a good level then we should model ourselves after really good states,” said Gregory. “States like Texas and Georgia, their athletic association is separate from the government.”
If passed, the bill would also bar any current athletic director, coach and any other school leader from serving on the board.
Jerome Singleton, commissioner of the South Carolina Sigh School league, was called on in April by the South Carolina House Education and Public Works Committee to speak about the bill back in April.
“I believe in what the membership has in place,” said Singleton. “And I can speak to is what the membership has in place, so anytime I get an opportunity to promote what the membership has I like to take advantage of those kinds of things.”
Effort on the bill is paused for now and will resume in 2026.
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