SCACA Adapting to Changes in High School Athletics
Executive Director of the SCACA, Scott Earley spends much of his time traversing the state to listen to concerns from coaches.
By David Shelton
Senior Writer
Anderson – Whether it be transfer rules, NIL, or region realignments, the high school athletics landscape is in a state of constant change these days.
One of the primary responsibilities of the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association is to help the Palmetto state’s coaches to navigate the changes.
As he enters his third year as the Executive Director of the SCACA, Scott Earley spends much of his time traversing the state to listen to concerns from coaches. He also visits other states to get ideas and gain knowledge as it pertains to working with various groups.
Earley has plenty of knowledge and experience with the ins and outs of the coaches association. He became actively involved with former director Keith Richardson in 2000 and has been a major force in making the Touchstone Energy North-South all-star football game and major event every December.
“I learned from the best.” Earley says. “I became more and more involved in the mission of the coaches association. Then, since January (2023), I have been working with coach (Shell) Dula. It has been a smooth transition period. I have a much greater appreciation for the job.”
One thing Earley has noticed is that this state’s coaching association is as productive and hands on as any state in the country. He knows the importance of a strong coaches association.
“This business is not what it used to be. It’s a scary time in many ways,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of issues to deal with.
“Our coaches, and our kids, need an advocate. They need representation and the association has taken on that role and run with it. This organization is growing every year. We have set records for coaches registration this year. It’s an exciting time. There’s a lot going on in the world of athletics and that makes the coaches association even more important.”
Earley reports that the association has grown to a record 7.442 registered coaches. Revenue intake also is on the rise, which will allow the association to expand its scholarship program for children of coaches.
“That is very important and we want to see that continue to grow,” Earley said. “We were able to award 129 kids of coaches with some scholarship money in the last year. Let’s keep growing that number each year.”
A major concern of high school coaches is the increasing number of athletes that are transferring to other schools, both in-state and out-of-state schools.
“Coaches now have to recruit their own players to stay,” Earley said. “There is an increasing number of our athletes leaving the state for the sports academies. For some, it works out ok, but we need to convince our kids they can get the same coaching and competition right here.”
Much like the changes that the SCHSL is working through, there also are changes for the SCACA on the horizon. The biggest change will be the future scheduling of the annual coaches clinic.
For years the clinic has run Sunday through Wednesday in late July. Starting next year, the event will run Friday-Sunday. The following week will be a “dead week” for high schools, allowing coaches to spend time with family before the fall sports season begins.
The changes will affect the number of individual sport clinic speakers but Earley feels the new format can work.
“We will still have speakers but the setting will be more of general assembly format,” he said. “We may have, for instance, Dawn Staley speaking but to the entire group of coaches from all sports. There will be meetings of individual sports but not as many.
“We’ve have input that maybe the clinic has become stale so we want to look at things that may energize the coaches and the clinic. Sometimes change is needed.”
The clinic will remain in Greenville for the next two years before moving to Charleston in 2028 and 2029. Greenville, Columbia and Charleston will bid for the event after that.
Here is the upcoming schedule.
2026 – Greenville, July 24-26
2027 – Greenville, July 23-25
2028 – Charleston, July 24-26
2029 – Charleston, July 21-23
2030 – TBA, July 20-22
