cbg

Most county & rual schools make money on football. Take a close look at inner city (metro nashville, memphis, chattanooga) school and they probably loose big time. When you only have 100 people at the game it's hard to not go in the hole.

Lipscomb has two good pitchers in Taylor Merry & Josh Holt. The problem is that while they are a good AA team they probably don't have the defense or offense (against good pitching) to play with CBHS. BGA will be much like ECS. They will have very good pitching and their fundamentals will be good. While they are not a real athletic team they will keep the game close and will win against most teams due to knowing how to play smart baseball. CBHS will have to beat BGA, they will not beat themselves.

QB B.J. Coleman (McCallie) Big strong pro style QB that will only get better with time. He may have a serious decision to make as he had over 30 scouts watch him pitch in a recent baseball game. WR Golden Tate (Pope John Paul II) Tate is probably the top prospect in Tennessee during the 2006 season

bump

The Riverdale zone is changing & they cannot get the special transfers in like the once could, a new school is being built in the Murfreesboro area that will cut into their zone & the mix of the student body is also changing.

Laz, Look at the schools that many of the private school kids attend. Often times they are the small (2500 students or less) liberal arts private schools that do not offer any athletic scholarships. Yes, the students go to those schools and participate in athletics but many of them are no more than walkons. They pay for their education with academic scholarships (based on GPA & SAT) , financial aid, pell grants, or their parents pay the tuition. The male athletes that attend the big D1 schools only receive a full athletic grant if they participate in football and basketball. The "olympic sports" only have a few scholarships available so they divide them so that several athletes receive a little money but few if any receive a full ride. To prove my point, go back 10 years and take a look at the top 15 football players, mens basketball players and womens basketball players in Tennessee and see if they attend a public or private school. I have not done this but it would be fun to see what the results were.

The numbers say that "Jack or Jill" from X private school signed to play X sport at XYZ school. What they don't tell you is that the athlete will receive an academic scholarship or financial aid to attend the school and plans to participate in athletics or that the student will be a walkon. Examine how many of those private school student/athletes attend small D2, D3 or NAIA schools with many of them not offering any athletic scholarship money. Yes, some attend the big D1 schools in the SEC, ACC, Big 12, etc... but most are attending schools that are very small and the athletics are no better than some of the best 5A high school teams that compete for a state championship.

Laz, You have understand what you are reading. Many of the private school student/athletes are not getting athletic money to attend college. They receive academic money or their parents pay for them to attend small schools so that they can receive their undergraduate education and participate in athletics. Take a look at which athletes receive money from the athletic department and most them attend public schools.

What does not playing the private school show anyone? Would it not be best for the public school to play the private schools a beat them? It's a proven fact that in football, mens basketball, and womens basketball the public schools have the best athletes based on the number of kids they have sign to play in college. So why and how do the private schools win. IMO, a team is only as good as their weakest link and the privates to a better job of getting their bottom 1/3 players to play at a level above what their athletic ability is. The bottom line is that the privates seem to use the old military theory of being a "TEAM" with everyone sticking together and all of the players & their parents buy into doing their job and being a roll player.

So what is the solution? The adminstration will make it work is not a solution and is simply passing the "Buck" and forcing someone else to handle the problem. While the teachers union would go crazy with the idea, I would be willing to put it in new teachers contracts that if they stop coaching they loose their teaching position. Schools only have X number of teaching positions and they need coaches, band leaders, debate instructors, etc... something has to be done to see that all teaching positions and after school activities have qualified people leading the students. While you may not want to hear it the day's of people simply teaching and going home are over. Teachers are going to be required in the future to be involved in after school functions.

Does BA have a band? I don't remember them having any type of band play at the football games but I could be wrong. I know for a fact that MBA does not have a marching band that plays during the football games.

You are correct in that it's still the same old thing in Waynesboro. Coach Crews had decided that he want's to spend more time with his church (which is great) but he is going to continue teaching which will be one less teaching position available for the football staff. Until they decide that they want to win and win in the correct manner they will never get over the hump. Small town schools cannot allow men to teach and not coach a sport because they don't have enough teaching positions available for the new coach to hire his own coaches and bring them on board. Crews is a great man and was a good class A coach but business is business and if they want to hire Rice or whomever they need the luxury of allowing the new hire the opportunity to bring a minium of 2 coaches with him.

It's much too early to start this type of post!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It would be interesting to know if the members of the Supreme Court attended private,prep,catholic schools, public, etc... or if they sent their own children to private schools.

IMO, Rankin may want to get into a 2A program for several reasons. 1. Riverdale is not able to get all of the players from Rutherford County like they used to. The school board is not allowing the number of special transfers like the did in the past. 2. If BA wins the latest legal battle with the TSSAA everyone may be put back together and Rankin does not want to play in the same division as the D2 schools. Good luck to both Riverdale and Alcoa.

Stan, You are a smart man that has been around long enough to know that sending a letter to students that had already signed a contract was not wrong and the courts stated that it was not wrong. Don't blame Brentwood Academy for taking this case to the Supereme Court, if the TSSAA didn't want to play the game they had every opportunity to bail out before the legal expenses got so high. Being a tax payer of the State of Tennessee we should all be most upset with the TSSAA Board of Control and how they are spending OUR MONEY. Yes, it is the tax payers of Tennessee who will have to pay for this crap. They are spending my money and I have no control over the situation. Maybe we should all demand that Ronnie Carter and the Board of Control sign a personl note that they will be responsible for the legal expenses if the TSSAA does not win this NEW legal battle.

It looks fine with the exception of football. I wish they would not practice until the 1st Monday in August and not play any regular season games until the Friday before Labor Day. Other states do this and it works fine and IMO July 15 is much too early for Football practice. Give the kids the whole month of July to participate in baseball, track, etc...

When you have Crieve Hall & Music City as your youth feeder programs you should be strong!!!!!!!!

Is it true that Tom Brands is going to be the Iowa head coach and Gable is going to be the 3rd assistant?

You are correct!!!!! This could be a bottomless money pit for the TSSAA to continue on with the legal case. If I were the TSSAA I would probably try to cut my losses and get out without anymore debt. What a crazy world we live in today.

If BA wins the case the TSSAA will try to get out of paying all of the legal fees for BA. BA will then probably back off on some of the legal fees for changes being made by the TSSAA and it's member schools. I have no inside information, this is just an educated guess on my part.

coacht, While we are all guessing as to what will happen, I would like your educated opinion as to what direction you feel this whole situation will take.

They should have insurance but my educated guess is that the insurance has a cap on it and the member institutions would be responsible for the balance. This legal bill will not be small (IMO probably over 1 million) and the insurance policy will not cover everything. They could also have a clause in the policy where if the TSSAA did something wrong the insurance company will not pay the claim. The insurance company will search for every loophole possible so they don't have to pay this large claim. Let's remember that the insurance company has a staff of attorneys to fight this and we know the TSSAA is probably short on funds. Would they like or could they afford another 5 or 10 year legal battle?

Ladies and Gentlemen, It matters very little what we feel. The only person that matters now is Brentwood Academy and what they want to do and how far they want to go to collect their legal fees. Folks this battle is over and done with and Brentwood Academy is going to call the shots. I don't like it at all but we had all better get ready for big changes. The only good thing that will come out of this is that the student/athletes in Tennessee will be able to honestly be refered to as a STATE CHAMPION in the individual sports.

Work ethic!!!!!! Most very good high school players have the ability to play at the D1 level but very few have the maturity. Can the player wait his turn (until they are a junior) to get playing time. Will the player make the necessary grades. They must stay away from the injuries. Will "little miss wonderful" want to get married? Does the player want to get out of bed at 5:30am & be in the weightroom from 6:00am-7:00am. Breakfast is from 7:15-7:45 and you go to class from 8:00am-2:00pm. Practice starts @ 3:00pm and goes until 5:30pm. It's get a shower and dinner from 6:00pm-7:00pm with the mandatory study period from 7:30pm-9:30pm. That leaves very little free time for the player to become a normal student and most kids don't or will not devote that much time to baseball. It's a "JOB" in college at the higher levels and most players and parents do not understand this on the front end. If the school gives you money they expect a return on their investment.