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What I said was that there are both good and bad things in the various parts of the USA. Take the good things and ignore the bad things. You need a refresher course in reading comprehension.

I seriously doubt that if there were an open division “ANY” public schools would be winning to play in that division and that includes Alcoa. It’s also not reasonable to force the really small private schools to participate in the open division against what are now the D2AAA schools. The major issue at this moment is the boarding schools being allowed to bring in kids from all over the world after they have competed in high school and those kids are eligible immediately without the families moving. If a family relocates that if perfectly fine but because the athlete is a boarding student they are immediately eligible is not right. These students should not be allowed to participate for one academic year.

You should have watched Mike Wright (Father Ryan) or his son-n-law Ingle Martin (MBA) play in high school. While they were not at tall at the BA kid they were probably stronger and faster.

Yes, that's what I have heard from someone in East Tennessee. Something has to be done about athletes transferring into a boarding school and becoming eligible immediately as this is getting ridiculous. I guess that Baylor is happy to just go out and buy enough talent to win a state championship. Do the boarding school teams not gain any satisfaction in developing their own talent? I ask the question; how many of the wrestlers in The Baylor Schools starting lineup competed for their middle school team?

Playing someone for 8 decades and to have them bail on you without prior notification is not illegal but it is certainly not ethical. Unfortunately, as an entrepreneur I now follow-up all of my business conversations and verbal agreements with an email outlining what was discussed and require that the other party acknowledge the email. If I were the athletic director at a high school, I feel confident that 90+% of the opposing school's athletic directors and coaches would hate me because I would tie their hands with legal documents to prevent them from basically just walking out on contracts. We are both in agreement that the buyout for not playing a non-region game should probably be 50K and maybe that fee doubles to 100K if the school fails to provide written notification that the game will not be played by April 1 of the calendar year that the game shall be played. All of this began to happen with the minor or Olympic sports where contracts were verbal and between the two coaches but have now worked their way into the major sports of football and basketball. Unfortunately, in today's society people have witnessed our civic leaders lie and get away with it and they now feel that it's ok for everyone to lie and mislead others.

This is an interesting topic that gets touched on every year but for whatever reason nothing is ever done to fix the problem. When schools sign contracts for football games why don't they put in a 20K or 25K buyout clause? As things stand it's only a nominal fee if a team does not honor the return trip of the contract. When teams fail to honor the signed contracts, it really puts the other teams is a scheduling bind.

Let's not discriminate against the Catholics as every religion and every person discriminates at some point and time. It's typically based on what benefits them the most.

I agree about not using just a few highlights to make a point. However, the difficult thing about D2AAA is that everyone is well coached (some more than others), all have good facilities, the academics are rigorous, the top echelon have a great deal of depth, but the main thing is that you don't have a bunch of cupcakes on the schedule and only one or two difficult games. A team must be prepared to play well every game, or they are capable of getting beat. It reminds me of the Cincinnati, OH Catholic League.

Look at what McCallie did to Oakland. D2AAA is a different animal and there is not a D1 team in Tennessee that would not struggle playing in that division. The league is so tough that even the teams that win a state championship need a break or two along the way.

After watching the highlights that scrimmage wasn’t even close!

As a whole Middle Tennessee is a much better area for high school football. Now if you want to exclude the private schools other areas of the state could make a legitimate argument. Unfortunately, due to the major population growth in Middle Tennessee over the past 40+ years and the academic decline in public education, private schools now dominate the athletic scene in Middle Tennessee.

I have watched this play out at several private schools and when the “LIFERS” begin to complain you have major problems within the athletic program. There is only one school that I am aware of that has not experienced issues between the full paying tuition students and the financial aid kids being brought in for athletic purposes. The reason that this school does not experience any issues is because the Board of Trust is made up of very powerful and super financially well to do members that not only want to win but expect to win in football. If this board experiences “ANY” push back from other board members, faculty members, headmaster or full tuition paying families they make it perfectly clear that there are absolutely zero fences keeping them at the school and if they are not 100% happy with the direction the school is going it would be best that they immediately withdraw from the school. This board of trust has absolutely zero tolerance for those that wish to differentiate between the full tuition paying families and those that are on financial aid.

Between Brentwood Academy, Lipscomb, CPA, Ensworth, MBA and Oakland most every other team in Tennessee would struggle if they had to play the above-mentioned teams. There are some other really good teams, but the teams mentioned above are truly at the elite level.

If David Lipscomb High School falls off some compared to the teams coached by Trent Dilfer it will be due to the "LIFERS" complaining about "Lil Johnny" not getting to play due to the recruits being brought into the school.

Was the assistant coach the best choice or was it the easy hire?

Let me begin by saying kids are only in high school “ONE TIME” and I firmly believe that kids should participate in a sport every season. Not only do the kids make friends from other sports but they also get coached by someone different that could possibly have a completely different philosophy. By being a multiple sport athlete you really reduce the risk of overuse injuries. With all of this being said, for this to work at a high level the school must have a unified strength and conditioning program where the kids are on a very structured and regimented strength and conditioning program. One of the most successful athletic programs I have ever seen had a great football coach that required the following: all football players were required to play basketball or wrestle after football season. In the Spring those same players that did not play baseball or soccer were required to participate on the track & field team. That school won state championships in football, basketball, baseball and track & field along with multiple kids signing with a power 5 conference programs. The athletes lifted every day after school for one hour and then went on to the various sport practices.

So will a lot of teams, especially those not in the upper echelons of D2

I have several friends that believe if they are paying “FULL TUITION” their children should be given preferential treatment over those kids that are receiving financial aid. My response has alway been, even though I paid full tuition if a financial aid kid is better than my child they should play that position and my kid should be good enough to play another position. Is it fair to the “TEAM” not to play the best kids in the school at the positions that help the school win a state championship.

The truth hurts!

You are completely correct about Oakland being tough and Bradley Central pushing to get much better very quickly. However, if Oakland or Bradley were forced to play in D2AAA they would be good but by no means would they dominate. Those D2AAA teams are a completely different animal and there is a reason that some poll had them ranked in the Top 5 toughest leagues in the country.

When someone lives and works in a community they form relationships and will often times be told and hear things that they would not being several hours away.

The TSSAA could have satellite offices if they so desired. Most every business in the United States is allowing employees to work from home to some extent. Some people are working from home 100% of the time while others may be working 50% from home and 50% from the office. The TSSAA could sell off the TSSAA offices on Lebanon Road in Hermitage, lease or purchase a much smaller office and allow the employees to work from home in East Tennessee, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Jackson and Nashville. If done correctly this could be a win for both the TSSAA, their employees and the member schools.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what side of the transfer portal that you are on we now live in a mobile and microwave society and we will see even more transfers in the future. I will continue to say that if kids would focus as much on academics as they do athletics we would see many of the Tennessee kids playing in the Ivy League. Yes, it’s nice that some kids receive a scholarship offer from a power five school or even one of the directional state schools but it’s all about preparing one’s self for life after athletics. Would someone have a better job opportunity after playing at one of the Ivy League schools, Rhodes, Sewanee or one of the local state schools? Again, it’s not where one starts but where they finish.

99.9% of the time major colleges will not recruit someone if they don’t pass the look test. What someone does on the field is great but to play in a major college program the measurables (size & speed) must meet certain criteria. This is why I tell most of the high school kids to focus more on the academic side and then go play at Sewanee or Rhodes. If they are really smart maybe one of the Ivy League schools will recruit them. It’s all about how one finishes and not where someone starts. A great degree from an excellent academic institution should translate into a stable and well paying job.

With a new coaching staff and schemes I would guess that it takes David Lipscomb a few games for everything to begin clicking