Knoxville Catholic requests move to Division II

Knoxville Catholic has gotten a lot of criticism for being a private school playing among public schools, but that might change.

Catholic has requested to move to Division II, and administrators will appear at Thursday's TSSAA Board of Control meeting to discuss the possibility.

"With most of the private schools moving into Division II, we realize we’re not wanted in Division I with the public schools," Principal Dickie Sompayrac said. "I just think we don’t desire to be in a division where we’re not wanted."

Catholic considered moving to Division II last year when the division was created, in order to be able to offer financial assistance to families of athletes as well as the rest of the student body as it currently does. It did not move to DII once it learned it would play in a division with only two opponents in a 100 mile range.

"We don't want to have to travel to Nashville on a Tuesday night for any sport," Sompayrac said. "If we play at 8 p.m. at Father Ryan, it's 9 p.m. our time, and by the time our kids get home, it's 1 a.m. on a school night."

He has since learned that Catholic could opt out of a region schedule, except in football, and play local teams in the regular season and then play the playoffs in their division. The Fighting Irish are willing to make the travel for the playoffs.

Catholic is leaving the timing of the potential move up to the TSSAA. The complicating factor there is football, which requires a region schedule in the regular season. Football is currently mid-cycle on two-year scheduling contracts. Catholic is locked into its opponents.

Sompayrac has reached out to most of the schools currently in Catholic's district and those that would be in their new district and said he received 100 percent support. The Division II-AAA teams were open to Catholic moving in mid-cycle even if they couldn't play a full region schedule (Catholic is already playing Baylor and Brentwood Academy).

The Fighting Irish made it to three state championships in the fall: football won the 5A BlueCross Bowl, volleyball made it to the AA final and boys cross country was second among large schools.

"What’s unique about this request is on the surface, it’s hard to imagine anyone being against it," Sompayrac said. "The DII schools are for it because they want to grow their number. The public schools don’t want us around in DI."