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It sounds like the coach failed to play “LIL JOHNNY” and someone with a little authority wanted a change. This is one of the major issues with regards to small town politics.

Since when has the TSSAA ever been proactive? The TSSAA is the most politically charged and inept organization in the State of Tennessee.

Another 285/lb guy that is rarely mentioned is former Brentwood Academy, University of Tennessee and NFL player Bubba Miller. He was a true gentle giant that could go when he needed to win.

You sure don’t mind playing MBA every season and picking up a check

If kids are not healthy at the beginning of preseason practice I would never count on those kids being back at full strength during the season. You may get them back on a limited basis but being able to play a full game is a completely different animal.

Why would Oakland not be a full strength when they have not even begun preseason camp

Any chance that this game would be moved off the Lipscomb campus which has very limited seating and parking to Vanderbilt which can accommodate more fans? I know that when Byrnes was nationally ranked and came to Nashville to play MBA the game was played at Vanderbilt.

You are absolutely correct! The insurance in Summertown was not the State of Tennessee insurance that is used in the majority of school systems in Tennessee.

Coaching middle school athletics takes a special person with a lot of patience. Having done this for a number of years I will say that I truly believe in the following: 1. No more than 8 games per season and no less than 6 games per season. 2. Run the exact offense and defense as the high school program and use the same terminology. The end goal is to win a state championship in high school, not working to become the middle school national champion. 3. Focus on fundamentals and not winning games. If the kids have great fundamentals going into high school, it makes things much easier for the high school coach to implement schemes. 4. Maybe the most important thing is to teach the kids & parents that hard work pays off and the parents have absolutely zero say as to how the program is run.

It’s also interesting timing that the newly hired football coach at Knoxville Catholic has resigned before starting the job and Bishop Richard Stika has also resigned. Until a new bishop is named Knoxville Catholic can basically do as they wish!

The problem with Metro Nashville Public Schools is that they continue to want to compare themselves against only the other MNPS. They do this in both athletics and academics and when the overall system is on the bottom you are building false hope. MNPS must strive to be better than the schools in the surrounding counties and stop trying to live in a bubble. The only two MNPS football teams that are willing to take a loss by playing a difficult schedule are Pearl Cohn and East.

It’s my understanding that the student athletes must live with a family member or legal guardian. Are you saying that parents are signing over their legal parenting rights to a stranger?

Baylor vs McCallie and MBA vs Brentwood Academy are big games and MBA vs Ensworth was a really big rivalry when Ricky Bowers was coaching football. Decades ago Father Ryan and MBA was a huge rivalry that would draw 10K fans but the Irish have been so bad for so long they are no longer a rivalry for anyone.

Very few football coaches know anything about wrestling and the majority of high school football players are not tough enough to wrestle for a competitive program. You have to really love being physical if you want to wrestle and be successful.

Let's understand that it's not just the host schools that could possibly poach kids! Every team at those camps along with teams that are not at the camps are capable of poaching/stealing kids. With the inept TSSAA and the idiots on the Board of Control high school athletics in Tennessee has major problems. With the laws regarding NIL money being what they are today combined with the TSSAA rule that allows boarding schools to bring in kids that have already established an athletic record at a previous school and those kids are immediately eligible creates a major problem. The TSSAA D2 schools along with the D1 schools voted unanimously to require all kids that have an established athletic record and are transferring to a boarding school to be required to sit out one year. The Board of Control which is primarily public school's administrators voted the proposal down. Unfortunately, the TSSAA and Board of Control is out of touch with reality and the only way to fix the organization is to blow it up and start again from the beginning.

It should be encouraged for all kids to participate in two or three sports. The problem is that the football coaches don’t want to share the athletes and the parents buy into the BS that the kid is going to get a scholarship. While people may have hated the man, Carlton Flatt (Brentwood Academy) was the best at making his football players multi sport athletes. They played football and then if they were not on the basketball team they lifted weights and then went into the wrestling room for practice. In the Spring if they were not playing soccer or baseball they lifted weights and then went to track & field practice.

Let me start by saying that I personally disagree with the dead period and feel that it punishes the programs that wish to outwork their competition. With that being said the "DEAD PERIOD" is here to stay in Tennessee. However, if we must have it why not take the first two (2) weeks of June off or the last two weeks before beginning Fall training camp? As it stands the teams work hard and in the middle of the offseason, they are forced to take a two-week break. My preference would be to take the last two weeks before preseason practice begins.

Public: Oakland, Maryville & Alcoa Private: Brentwood Academy, Lipscomb, Christ Presbyterian Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, The Baylor School & The McCallie School The boarding schools are definitely beginning to separate themselves from everyone else and if the trend continues the domination will get completely out of hand. It will be very interesting to see how the NIL money affects the landscape over the next five years.

Pearl Cohn is the GOAT when it comes to public schools in Tennessee scheduling tough teams.

Don't get too excited about a USA Wrestling Junior Duals match. Tennessee is much better than they were ten or fifteen years ago, but we still have a long way to go to be able to compete with New Jersey if both states put their very best kids against each other in a head-to-head competition.

Allow me to add to my previous comments about having a minimum budget of $50K to become a Top 50 program. If the school has the influence within the community to get the club coach a job in the school system it allows for the dollars to be stretched. If the head club coach is a teacher at an elementary school where they get off work at 3pm everyday and have both weekends, holidays and summer off it really helps. The starting salaries for teachers in most areas is around 45K plus you have medical, dental, vision and retirement. With this the club only needs to pay a coaching stipend and not the entire salary for the club coach. It also affords the club coach to make substantially more money by doing camps and private lessons. In many instances the club coach would have the opportunity to double their salary (tax free because we know that most do not pay income tax on side gigs) which in the end has them doing very well.

Why not teach someone to be a good QB and develop the receiving corps.

There is a lot of difference between having a few good individuals and having a great (Top 50) team. Unless you reside in one of the top 5 wrestling states a team must become road warriors if they want to crack the Top 50 on a consistent basis. IMO, money helps with travel, technique instruction, college kids that train with the high school kids and coaching. The annual budget for a Top 50 program would be a minimum of $50K and that would include the youth program and high school team. It's not free to run a successful wrestling program but kids only get better when they train and compete against the very best kids. A majority of the teams in the Top 50 that are not in one of the top 5 wrestling states have a "SUGAR DADDY" that fund 80% of the program. Money will not purchase kids that have a big heart that want to outwork the competition and get better.

The regular season schedule opponents for Pearl Cohn will not include any team close to the ability of MBA or CPA. Pearl Cohn is very smart for playing tough out of region teams to get ready for the playoffs.

What Tony DeAngelo and Zeke Moisey are doing at Lakeway Christian is remarkable and that’s not even talking about the kids in their club program. These guys are special and do a great job.