Leaderboard

Could everyone please keep RW87 in your prayers? Her beloved son passed away unexpectedly the other day, and like any mother, she is grieving right now. Pray that God will grant her His mercy and grace, as well as strength and His peace, which passes all understanding. She needs all the prayers she can get right now. Thank you, and God bless.

I would have an issue of getting my starters for the season out of the line up to accommodate any last minute wrestlers to the team. That is a bigger question to me versus the "cheated" premise going on. I would like to see the loyalty to those wrestlers.

My suggestion would be..instead of throwing 3 referees together for a tourney, send a 3 man crew from each association. All associations call a little different depending on the areas they officiate. At least you have a chance to have the 3 best from that association. In games involving teams from their association, those crews wouldn't be allowed to call those games. I think the cohesive would be better, but still not perfect. Memphis/Jackson area refs are used to more aggressive & handsy types of basketball. Some associations from other areas that I've witnessed are a lot tighter on the calls. At the end of the day, all we want as fans is consistency and within the bounds of the rules. IMO

100% Correct 100% Incorrect It Doesn't matter if the girls won or lost their individual matches at all, or if the girls showed up to Cleveland on their own accord or not.... It is clear that they did not meet the requirements to be eligible to wrestle. Following precedents set by other sports playing ineligible players, the wins should be forfeited and Cleveland girls should be ineligible for post-season competition the next 1-3 seasons. That's always been the consequence for football teams playing ineligible players, why should wrestling be any different?

Cobb found another gear at the Murphy Center and I didn’t know that was possible. I’m happy to get a rematch for all the marbles.

The remaining teams should just boycott the TSSAA tournament and play it at a different location. I’m sick and tired of these cheaters( in every sport)

We have had 2 daughters play for BC and Coach Reuter. Gold Ball, State Champs ring and a wall full of individual awards for both. They had great teammates and got a great education at BC. We are thankful. But, If asked, our family would reflect most on the fact that last summer (7 years after she played for Coach), he and his family drove 3 hours each way to attend her wedding……! Nothing to do with basketball.. Coach Reuter stayed and was one of the last to leave the reception. He attended our girls College games and stays in contact with both of them to this day (2017 and 2019 grads). As for how he treats his players, I speak from experience, not from second hand speculation. Our family is eternally grateful that he coached them hard, pushed them to be the best, did not accept anything but their best effort everyday and gave them valuable training for life.

So it’s everyone’s fault except for Cleveland’s? I’ve heard Cleveland fans blame the TSSAA, the girl’s parents, haters, etc…I’ve also seen Cleveland’s fans say everyone else does it as well. Is any of this the coach’s fault? Seems like a lack of judgement to wrestle someone who showed up two days before the state duals.

Whether it be on this site or on social media, this entire state tournament when a team loses, it's fan base complain constantly or blame the refs....the games you won had the same officials/officiating, the team you played had the same refs (I would bet good money that not a single 1 of them have cared who won the game either). This is why a generation of sports kids are growing up and thinking they are better than what they are, are uncoachable, or can't take critiquing. It's always someone else's fault, the other team/person just can't be better (be at that game or just overall). Quit blame gaming, I know in a games span there are more mistakes and missed shots to more than cover human error of refs. Teach our kids better folks, stop playing the blame game when you don't get your desired outcome. Sometimes, your just not good enough.

tssaa should be ashamed of the officiating product they put on display at the state tournament. Both Boys and Girls tournaments have been horribly officiated. Its shameful. I'm not blaming the individual referees at all. The process and decision makers are at fault. Bottom line is there are people out there that have no business being out there.

Charter being revoked, half teachers not licensed and are not eligible, could go on and on. You would have to question everything from enrollment to curriculum as well. We know they would be 2A if they did exist next year (they wont) . This is outrageous stuff not normal BS. I could careless about those idiots but when it affects legit A programs like Sante Fe who may have had gold ball last year and much better chance this year if it wasnt for cheat prep, its sickening. 1 in a 40 year run negatively affected by cheat prep. Now thats the kids I care about.

Different culture includes four recent grads to military academies ( 1 West Point, 1 Navy, 2 Air Force) and one to the same school Leen attended. Service to country, honor and integrity are prerequisites for a nomination for any academy before athletic prowess even comes into play. I don’t think TN Congressmen are in the habit of nominating “ circus performers “ to military academies. May not be as different as people on the outside looking in think

That's my point...half the teachers there are not certified so you don't have to check their grades at all because they're not recognized by the Dept. of Education. No grades = no play. The rule stating that students must have a passing grade to be eligible is clearly violated because technically they have no grade at all. The "rule violation" has already been verified by Hamilton County BOE...all that's left for TSSAA to do is pass judgement before the tournament, rather than complicate the issue by letting them compete and then stripping the title (if they win) and awarding it to nobody. Trez vacated two titles in football, but neither Marion County nor Waverly in '16 and Trinity nor Marion in '15 can claim what rightfully belongs to one of them per season.

I am saying shooting 35% from the field and still in the game and you call a non existent foul on a D-1 commit the best player in the court yes it changed the game.

Fair statement...but it can also be true that some refs aren't good (and certainly shouldn't be reffing a state tournament)...Just saying both things can be true.

This class 1A tournament thread has turned into a Chatt Prep topic only. There’s actually a current thread just on Chatt Prep. Take y’all’s Prep comments there. Chatt Prep won the championship last year and they’re in the tournament again this year so that’s not gonna change. Someone just needs to beat them and be done with it!.. I’ve got Santa Fe with the first round upset!

Adding Maddie Gray a Miss Basketball Finalist to an already talented team a little to much for the rest of AA. They might have won it without her. York is not beating Westview. York has problems scoring themselves especially in a zone. GP and York are playing for the Silver Ball. Westview is a different animal.

Makes me sick thinking of all the teams whose season these kids ended. Completely ruined the state tournament last year and will likely ruin Santa Fe’s season AGAIN. Shoulda been shut down 2 years ago.

They could just do a video drawing with ping pong balls and no controversy. But the behind closed doors crap is what I don’t like. We are supposed to trust them…..yeah right.

Seeing as how we are in the Cleveland Section, it would certainly make things much more difficult. Im not a proponent of it, not because of being in the Cleveland Section, but because I don’t think it helps grow wrestling. I had a friend I was discussing this with and he had an interesting point; some schools can’t brag about state medalists or champions to help their programs grow, but they can about state qualifiers I’ll use Beech as an example because I’m an alum. When they were churning out medalists and champions with Roberts, I’m sure they’d have loved this idea, but right now, being able to send a wrestler to state might be the only thing they can hang their hat on, and having that one thing to puff your chest out about might generate enough interest from the students to get them to start coming back out. I think most of the good people on here are from schools/programs that are generally very much more successful than the average program, so it’s important to remember the other programs that are striving to do better but maybe just aren’t there yet. It’s my opinion that allowing 2 in a weight class from each school potentially kneecaps those programs in the long run. Food for thought - The National Collegiate Wrestling Association (college club teams) allows, or at least did allow it, I’m not sure if they still do - this in all of their Conference Championships. Actually clubs can enter up to 3 per weight but can only take the top 2 to the national tournament which is a bit silly. The thing is that a coach has to designate which of the wrestlers is the scorer. Is the hypothetical consensus to allow two scorers? Or just one?

The voucher is not about school choice. Not in rural West Tn. In my district we don’t have a single private school. In Huntingdon we have a senator and a state rep. In the district they represent some kids aren’t within a hour and a half from a private school. The overwhelming majority of people here did not want this bill to pass. They both went against the majority and instead kissed Bill Lees rings and lined their own pockets with campaign donor money. Follow the money. It’s not about the kids. It’s always about the money with these bums.

How are we really on page 17 of a guy who literally spends his time in investing in our youth. Did he recruit? Maybe. Maybe not. Did he make Smith County better?. Maybe. Maybe not. Recruiting has happened for years across this state. This wouldn’t be the first time. And most people sit on this board and talk about how great those coaches are. I can tell you that Matt invest in kids not just for the court but for the future. Will I defend him. Yes. But to sit here and bash a guy who wants what’s best for the children around him. Y’all are crazy.

Doesn’t matter. If ineligible athletes competed for a team.. that team should lose their title and face fines up to disqualification for the next season.

If you people want to talk about my son, without having any valid information, I would invite you to talk to me, his mother so that I can enlighten you. I can meet any of you wherever you would like to meet in town. I will make myself available at a time that works for you. Thank you, Helen Walker (not afraid to use my real name)

They need to go back to when everyone was together (no public and private divisions) and you had a district tournament (must place in the top 4) a region tournament (must place in the top 4) and then you had a 2 day state tournament with a 16 man bracket. What would really work best is to have 16 districts across the state and the top 4 placers in the district tournament go to one of four regional tournament across the state where wrestlers must place in the top 8 to advance to the state tournament. The state tournament could then be a legitimate 3 day tournament with a 32 man bracket. Get the state tournament out of the cow palace and move it to UTC. Do the finals on a raised stage under the spot light at 7pm. The place would be sold out and you would have an electric atmosphere!

I would be surprised if the legislature does not move forward with HB25. This change by the TSSAA requires that the school administrator from the student's current school (the school the student is leaving) attest that the transfer is "not for athletic reasons." How many school administrators are going to agree to this? Point is, this is not really a one-time transfer rule--it is an attempt to split the baby.

I have a step daughter that plays for the Rush program and never one time has any coach ever approached us about transferring. I’ll tell you what happens in a lot of cases. The parents start hanging out with each other. The kids start hanging out with each other and they end up wanting to play together in school ball. You’re in a gymnasium every weekend and these kids are developing friendships with one another. The parents are developing friendships. I mean we went on a cruise with a bunch parents and kids from Rush that we never would’ve met otherwise. We all became friends and We did that over this past Christmas holiday. Went for 7 days to the Caribbean. (I highly recommend it fyi) So that’s where all the transferring comes from more so than not. And I’m telling you these kids talk about playing together in high school. So unless you’re involved in an AAU program, you really don’t understand the dynamics of the whole situation. I thought I would just break it down from somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about who lives this every weekend for those of you that don’t.

It's called coaches with no class about them, only a ego rush. Most cases like this I've seen karma take care of the situation with a upset somewhere down the road. Some coaches thinks it's cool and takes advantage of a situation to just see how bad they can beat a team. Let's go karma, time to bite a couple of teams in the butt.

Allow me to begin by saying that the TSSAA is a complete joke! With that being said, I will say that they have two (2) major issues that must be addressed. Those individuals that are full time employees of the TSSAA are nothing more than educators/government employees that have absolutely zero business experience and are being ask to operate/manage a multi million dollar business with absolutely no experience. Quite frankly they would be fortunate if they could turn a profit at the local church bake sale. Honestly, they should have never been put into the positions that they currently occupy and should be terminated immediately. The second major issue is with the Board of Control which makes most of the real decisions. The individuals that serve on this board are nothing more than gang leaders that are protecting their local communities/turf and have in no way ever shown that to want to do what’s right for high school athletics in The State of Tennessee. Now that I have told you that the TSSAA doesn’t have a clue as to what they were doing, I must say that it appears as if they didn’t do anything extraordinary but merely enforced a rule that was already on the books. Yes, Cleveland can file a law suit against the TSSAA but who is going to pay for these legal proceedings? You must remember that Cleveland High School is a government entity and the TSSAA is a government agency. Would it be that two government departments would be suing each other at the tax payers expense? That would be the same type of foolish behavior that has been going on the Washington DC for the past forty years that is finally being exposed to the general public. The sad thing is that it appears as if the majority of people are perfectly happy with the chaos that surrounds the TSSAA.

My favorite Cleveland wrestling story is Cleveland is better than everyone because they work harder than everyone else and they still would have been just as great without Alan Jones pouring money into the program. They were winning state championships way before Alan, right? LOL! Claiming Cody Chittum to be their own is also a good one. Shane Turner never had anything to do with Cody’s development. Cody has only been successful because he wrestled a little for Cleveland who works harder than everyone. #MadeInCleveland

The girls team had their state dual championship stripped.

TSSAA basketball officiating is way behind and is the definition of awful as a whole. No way you can disagree to that. I agree the refs have no care in who wins or loses. However, the lack of understanding the game of basketball is evident on a nightly bases. Refs are still using the bird dog signals in 2025 you wont see that no where else but TN. Looking the part ( having crisp mechanics) on your calls goes a long way. The state has no real trainings for officials and are throwing new officials to the wolves which is not fair to them or the schools playing that night. Your best crews should be calling 3-4a games majority of the time but especially on the big rivalry games. The state has lost some of their best refs to neighboring states some of which who call college games because of the buddy system.. meaning they send the puppets to the big tournament games over a highly qualified ref just because they use actual mechanics that look the part or etc.. which the associations view as a felony offense I've seen officials in South Central and Middle Tennessee worry more about a coach being in the box and not having his toe over the line or more concerned about the assistant coach standing up or players up celebrating after a teammate makes a basket. I've seen a delay of game called on a team for players dapping each other up after a free throw! Refs cant be emotional either.. For the coaches its their lively hood, if they lose or don't meet the standard they get fired.. you get done as an official after the game/season you still have your 9-5 to go to. TSSAA needs to invest in training these people with classroom sessions, on the court training ( todays time not the 70s). Schools should start sending in videos to the state of the egregious calls until they get tired of seeing them. Each participating school in the associations should be allowed to scratch an official from calling their games ( Only Home Games)

Well one is the one that just won mvp of the 2A tournament…. 🤣

I would assume your opinion hasn't changed, but in all fairness...WV just held three very good opponents to less than 40 points (30, 38, and 39) in each game in the State Championship tournament. Next year, WV will have a drop off because they're losing several valuable players and the majority of the offense (points). We will see who steps up and it will be a tall task to get back up there, but this is probably the best or one of the best defensive teams WV has ever had on the court. For THIS season, they've done a good job of holding great opponents well below their season averages along the way. Next year will be a rebuild year for WV, but this group of Seniors have done something very special by winning 3 out of the last 4 Championships. It could just be that maybe this group was special...and WV just has a solid program and an expectation. In about 2 weeks, they'll be preparing with next year's group and it'll be interesting to see who steps up. Next year, I'm calling it early...... Gibson County will be the favorite in the District & Region, and WV will be the one "trying" to take them down or upset them along the way.

Officiating was awful this week. The foul on Beaty was terrible. Officials don't cost teams games, but bad calls, missed calls, or no calls can change the momentum and dynamic of a game. York may very well lose the game, but disqualifying their best player on what was a no call play hurts any chance York had of winning. Also, the technical foul call on White Co's coach. Game Changer!

There were 10s-100s of calls that went Beaty’s way for the first two games of the tournament. She pushes off every offensive possession. She was protected and everyone knows it. The championship crew didn’t protect her the same way and it made a difference in the game. Westview deserved the gold ball. No excuses.

Even legendary coach Johnny Morgan talked about how bad the officiating was when he announced his retirement this week. He said we don't even need a state tournament if the officials are going to be this bad. I get it Coach Morgan. I totally get it.

Who in their right mind would want to enter the gladiator ring every night in a high school gymnasium and get battered with obscenities from fans and whiney coaches. It's out of control.

You are right. The previous Cleveland coach would never sell his soul to win and has zero regrets.

I don’t think you understand the matter of the fact is that if you don’t have credits each semester you are ineligible to play any TSSAA sport regardless of administration errors

There is a strong push by the alumni and wrestling donors for the new coach to be a former Baylor wrestler. While we have seen the program elevated to new heights under Rex Kendle there is a desire to see Baylor return to the days of wrestling a more localized schedule with a more local roster to rejuvenate interest from the greater majority of our fan base. I would love to see us start wrestling local teams like Bradley, Soddy, and yes, Cleveland. I believe our next coach will be one of the gentlemen below. If the Leen plan fails, I am told a long shot name not on the list will be contacted. He’s a current head coach of a major college program but seems unlikely to materialize but it’s a call the administration will make nonetheless. 1. Jordan Leen (Brown)—obvious first choice. Money will not be an issue, but I know he has worked hard to rise through the coaching ranks at the college level. I think it will be a hard sell to get him to coach high school but a 6 figure contract to coach your alma mater should surely be enticing. 2. Houston Clements (Signal Mountain)—very popular with the Baylor brass and alumni from his time at Baylor. It sounds like he’ll be offered the position if Jordan turns it down. The real question is, would Jojo come with him? 3. Zach Watson (not coaching)—another Baylor boy and one of the best to ever come through Tennessee. The lack of coaching experience might raise some questions, but this would be a David Taylor type hire. Also extremely popular with the decision makers. If Leen says no, my gut tells me it will be Clements or Watson. Wildcard: Wesley Idlette (Dobyns Bennett)—he is another Baylor guy that wrestled under Coach Morgan. He’s done an incredible job at Dobyns Bennett and would do well at Baylor and will be considered but I am not hearing his name as much as the previous three mentioned. A fellow donor has told me Jordan is determined to continue building Brown and eventually lead a big time college program. I hope he is wrong, but I would still be excited to see Clements, Watson, or Idlette if we miss on Leen.

I will be shocked if it gets out of hand. I think y’all are underestimating York. Of course I may need to eat a lot of crow also. I’m not saying York will win but I think it is closer than the experts think.

You all sure have alot of time on your hands to be spending it on here bashing women and kids, worried about who is moving where, and Cleveland in general. If you all would each put that amount of effort into your local wrestling programs, both high school and FEEDERS, then maybe there would be more competition throughout the state of Tennessee. Make Tennessee wrestling BETTER rather than hating on things while you sit back and do minimal or nothing. A bunch of grown men running their fingers and mouths.

I watched York play yesterday and they would have to play A LOT better to beat Coffee County.

What more proof is needed that they are a sham school and should not be allowed to take a state championship away from legitimate rule abiding public schools? They should not be allowed to play

I would second this. Not a fan of either team, but I watched it. Did a particular ref seem to have it out for the White County coach? Maybe. Was the tech an awful call? Absolutely and the ref never did talk with the coach (for the entire game is my understanding) which seems childish by the ref to not want to explain or try to have a good working relationship with a coach in a state tournament game. Was the tech at a crucial moment in the game? Yes. Now all that being said did White County have numerous chances to tie or take the lead after this? Yes! Did they have numerous chances inside throughout the second half? Yes! But they didn't convert. At the end of the day the awful call did impact the game, but White County had numerous chances to still win this game. Way too many missed chances. It felt like a game where if they played 10 times they would each win 5 times probably. Just so happened that today Dyersburg won. Also, to be clear, I had picked White County to win this game and the tournament. Now after seeing the rest of the games I kind of wonder if that was essentially the state championship game.

Tennessee own Bishop Sycamore

I am afraid that the transfer horse is out of the barn and running through the fields, much like the NIL money for college athletes. Personally I have little to zero confidence in the TSSAA getting control of what’s happening or even being concerned with what’s happening.

Im unsure of who is recruiting who in Smith Co but you guys can’t be oblivious to the fact of this isn’t the only school recruiting kids! You don’t have to look too far down the road to figure that out.

Hunter Mason has also been doing great in college, 13-5 freshman season for Virginia tech is pretty darn good.