TCA's Butler: Stop talking and line up to play

Trinity Christian Academy head football coach Blake Butler has plenty of opinions on the public-private school split issue the TSSAA is dealing with right now.

He doesn't necessarily agree with those he works with either, but the integrity of the game and competition seem to be at the heart of all his opinions.

"A lot of us – most of us – when we get into coaching, it's all about understanding there are life lessons that can be learned through playing football or sports in general," Butler said. "One of those lessons is that unfortunately life isn't always going to be fair.

"You find a way to overcome the obstacles and adversity and not be a slave to your circumstances. When you have these schools like Lewis County complaining saying this isn't fair and we need to be reclassified, I think that's doing a poor job of being a high school coach. I think that's the opposite of what we're trying to ultimately teach kids."

Butler said it comes down to sometimes things happen that keep you from winning a football game, and sometimes the other team is just better on that night.

"I think back to the playoff loss to Peabody last year and how I was just numb when the season was over that night," Butler said. "This started with people saying if things had been different they'd have a state championship.

"Well if things had been different for us, we might have a state championship. If things had been different for Adamsville they'd have multiple state championships. That's just high school football. Sometimes teams are better, and sometimes things happen during plays that make or break a game and determine who advances."

Things might also be different if TCA had been in Division II.

"If you go back and look at it, we were playing with teams on this end of the state who played for and won state championships – ECS, St. George's, whoever," Butler said. "Who's to say we wouldn't have done well in the playoffs, made it to Cookeville and won if we'd been there?

"Are we going to automatically say we're moving to Division II so we can compete for state championships? No because what does that tell our players? It tells them, 'Hey guys, we can't win state in this division, so we're going over here.' That's not something I want to do."

Butler said he'd personally have no problem if the TSSAA forced TCA into Division II.

"Tell us who to play, and we'll line up and play. Where we're put isn't something I'm very concerned about," he said.

Would Division I be better? Probably. He said traveling to Memphis every week or two probably isn't much different than traveling to Scotts Hill, Riverside, Adamsville or Middleton like they've done the past six years in district play. Trips to Gibson County, McKenzie, Halls and Adamsville are on the schedule now in football.

"The thing we'd probably suffer with economically would be gates," Butler said. "Would private schools in Memphis bring a crowd like Adamsville or Riverside? Probably not, but I'd like to think we'd still possibly play those schools in non-region games."

Opinions like Butler's are probably more prominent on both sides of the public-private issue than most perceive. It's just the vocal minority who go to the lengths of official TSSAA bylaw proposals we all hear from.

Butler said he thinks things would be simpler if everyone had the same motivation.

"If you want to have an enjoyable experience for the kids and use football to help them grow as young men, let them have some fun, learn life lessons and maybe have a shot at things like state championships and college scholarships, then that's what I think we all should be doing," Butler said. "Maybe we should put all the people who are just in it to win championships at any cost together and let them play for their own trophy, because the adults who are complaining with that in mind are the ones making all the noise. Everybody else — including the kids — just wants to play."

Brandon Shields is the high school sports columnist for The Jackson Sun. Contact him at 425-9751 or at bjshields@jacksonsun.com. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.