What about this plan? Does this address everyone's concerns?

[davidlimbaugh]

This fall will be my 20th of being involved with Riverdale athletics.  I have seen a lot of things  over the past two decades and made some great friends and had some experiences....

 

What about a plan to address everyone's concerns/issues for all sports?

 

There are currently 385 schools in Tennessee that are TSSAA members.

 

Why not divide these into 6 divisions based on enrollment, public or private?

 

64 teams in the first five division, 1A is 321 to 351

 

64 teams means 8 districts of 8 teams each.  That means 7 district games and 3 others.  The top 4 of each district makes the post-season in football.  Non-District games have no bearing on the post-season.

 

But what about the public-private dispute? 

 

Here is my idea for what it is worth.If you are a school where students are not specifically zoned to your school with no exceptions, you must move up 2 classes.  If you are a 1A private school you must play at least the 3A level. You can move up more if you wish but not down. If you are a public school but allow students outside your specific zone through tuition, program or local school board's enrollment policies then you must also move up at least 2 classes.  This would include magnet schools that do not have a zone at all. 

 

For every school that moves up a zone the lowest school enrollment-wise in that class is moved down a class. 

 

Does this address the public-private issues?  The rural schools vs small private schools debate? Difference between enrollments of teams in same classes?

Edited June 15, 2014 by davidlimbaugh

[cbg]

That looks like a great plan. The only problem that I have is that 6 divisions may be 1 or even 2 to many but there is no perfect plan.

 

I don't see the large public schools allowing Baylor, McCallie, Ensworth,...back into division 1. In fact I look for all private schools to be placed in D2 where at that time they will form their own private school athletic association.

[davidlimbaugh]

cbq what if TSSAA made a bylaw that if a student transfers to a non-zoning school they must sit out two years. Leave a zoned middle school after your 8th grade for a private school you can not play varsity until your junior season.

[cbg]

cbq what if TSSAA made a bylaw that if a student transfers to a non-zoning school they must sit out two years. Leave a zoned middle school after your 8th grade for a private school you can not play varsity until your junior season.

David...I feel that the TSSAA has too many rules as it is and it's to the point that few people know all of the rules. We all know that at times less is better. What is your opinion about the following plan that I floated several years ago:

Class A: No private schools, magnet schools or open zoned schools. For the most part this division would be for the small rule public schools.

Class AA: No financial aid giving private schools or private schools that offer work study

Class AAA & Class AAAA would be for all financial aid giving schools and the larger public schools.

 

Football, basketball, baseball & softball will all play using 4 classifications. Dual match wrestling, bowling, soccer & volleyball will be divided into large and small school for classification purposes. Track & Field, golf, wrestling, cross country...and all other individual sports shall have one state champion.

 

Transfer Rule: IMO, the TSSAA rules are antiquated and should have changed 25+ years ago. In the 1960's when the TSSAA established the rules most all kids lived with both parents. Today kids live with mom for a while then move to live with a grandparent and often end up moving back to their mothers home. Why not just give all kids one (1) free transfer after they start high school? That cuts down on the administrative work for the TSSAA and as we all know athletics are often the only thing that keep some kids in school and out of jail. After the one free transfer kids would have to sit out one year if they transfer schools without a legitimate change of address.

 

Public vs Private: The public schools are the ones that forced the private schools into D2. Everyone wants to say that D1 or D2 is the best but do people really feel that D1 would have forced the financial aid giving schools into D2 if they were better on a regular basis. The reason that D2 was formed is because Gary Rankin and Riverdale lost the state football championship to Carlton Flatt and Brentwood Academy. As a former public school athlete I have a difficult time with the message being sent that private school athletes are better than public school athletes.

[Indian]

Look at Ensworth with 400 students, do they just generate athletes by luck?

[cbg]

Look at Ensworth with 400 students, do they just generate athletes by luck?

Ensworth is very good in football and basketball but they place a great deal of emphasis on those two sports. However, they are not a well rounded athletic program as I cannot recall Ensworth winning state championships in any other team sports. The baseball & wrestling teams at Ensworth are very modest teams. To me the sign of a great athletic program is one that is strong in all sports. The last several years The Baylor School seems to have a strong athletic program. Edited June 17, 2014 by cbg

[ecu]

Divide the privates and publics. Let the privates decide how they want to divide themselves up. All privates do not have the same purpose. Make the publics divide into 4 classes with Magnet schools playing at the highest level. No plan is perfect but anything is better than what is in place now.