jvaughan

7 minutes ago, option76 said:

Football should be the middle of the state as well. Travel is travel if it’s one game or 3.  

I guess I’m talking more for the fans of participating teams. Assuming hotel stays aren’t an option, with football being just that one game at “State” vs basketball being potentially three games at “State”, you have 1 round trip car ride on game day vs potentially 3 round trip car rides on game days, 2 of which are back to back days with semis and championship. That’s two different travels. Makes putting football in East or Middle more doable.
FWIW I think every TSSAA sports championship should be in Nashville or Murfreesboro. 

53 minutes ago, tennesseeannouncer said:

By this logic, the girls state soccer tournament shouldn’t be held in Chattanooga. Not only is it on the extreme edge of the state for everyone in the west, Baylor school is simply inadequate to host a state tournament. I’ve been there for years. It’s in a challenging location, parking is abysmal, and the facilities are not great. Heck, they ask assistant coaches to take the microphone to introduce starting lineups.

That’s why I used that logic. I’m in agreement that any state tournament shouldn’t be held anywhere but the middle of the state. Football state championship game works anywhere because you play one game.
As for the rest of the stuff that has nothing to do with location, I’ll just say T$$AA.

West Tennessee doesn’t have the place to host a basketball state tournament. UT Martin would be an ok place to host, not really better than MTSU but ok. But Martin doesn’t have to hotels/restaurants to have everyone there. 
Jackson has the hotels/restaurants but lacks an arena that would hold it. Oman needs to be demolished and Union is the next biggest thing and it’s too small. 
TSSAA would rather not have it than use Memphis. That and you are at the extreme edge of the state.

ParisRiverRat passed away a few years ago. Great dude. Don’t make them like him anymore. 

4 hours ago, IrishBBall said:

Both Christian Academy of Knoxville and Webb have different principals/ Head of School for middle school and high school but play eighth graders????

Yeah it is kind of disingenuous the way it looks. Best I can tell on those school’s websites is they are set up as K-12 with one “Head of school” and then principals for HS, MS, and ES levels. I don’t get into the private world much since the split happened so I’ll just leave my opinion at that.   

Page 15 of 2023-2024 TSSAA handbook Section 8 is the 8th grade participation rule. It reads that “an 8th grade student is eligible to participate for a member school if he/she is enrolled at the school.” Nothing to do with being in the same building or if buildings are connected by hallways or covered walkways or the like. There are junior high/middle schools that share buildings with their high schools but are not the same “school”.

Prime example is Summertown. They are 2 different schools now, separate principals. That is why they can’t do it anymore. Jay can tell me exactly how the buildings are set up as I’ve never been actually to their school other than the baseball field so best I can tell on map app there is something connecting the two main buildings. Might be a covered walkway or an actual inclosed hallway. But like I said that is irrelevant because at one time they only had one principal for all grades so that made them 1 school.
When I can sit down at a computer (because on my phone it’ll give me hand cramps) I’ll do the research and be more than glad to look at which public schools are able to take advantage of this and you can make your own judgement on how much it helps. IMO, it helps very few be competitive year in, year out. It helps a few in spurts be competitive. And it helps the overwhelming majority just be able to have a team. 
If your high school coach is doing it right he’s already involved anyways with the feeder programs so he’s working with those 8th graders he’s going to get as freshman. 

I think the reason the rule is there in the first place is not really understood. It’s there to help small high schools be able to field teams. There are high schools that some years need the 2-3 8th graders on their junior high teams to be able to practice. It’s there for 8th graders to be able to compete in sports that their junior high/middle school might not be able to offer because there are no schools at that level to compete against. It’s not meant as a recruiting tool or something that is getting kids more reps at a higher level. If it was such an advantage then why don’t those programs win more often?

7 hours ago, Indian said:

Voted down. But some in the same building get to continue. Buildings here are about 50 yards apart and it’s a no. 

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have to do with the buildings that the grades are in, the number of separate buildings that house the respective grades, or the distance of the buildings. But rather if it is considered the same school ie. K-12th, 6th-12th. For a long time my alma mater Greenfield was a K-12 school but the K-8th and 9th-12th were on different sides of the street. One principal covered all the grades. And we moved 8th graders up to play basketball and golf. 

1 hour ago, Bearettesalltheway said:

Not if all the offense does is pass the ball back and forth for 2-3 minutes at a time

If you let a team pass the ball back and forth for 2-3 minutes at a time you aren't playing defense

Initial cost isn't what I would worry about.  Like previously posted, TSSAA could help offset this by getting with a company to provide a "group rate". School systems will find a way to get it done with the upfront cost, if given enough time to work it in the budget.

The cost I worry about is the ongoing cost of running it. A lot of programs have to pay someone to entice them run the scoreboard and keep the book, so that's an added cost. Not every program is blessed with a plethora of people that volunteer for every game. I talked with an official this summer and he said that a lot of guys he officiates with say its just another thing they will have to keep up with during the game so they will want more money that what they are already getting. Now that officials get mileage for calling a game outside of their home county, some of ours are getting $1115-$120 a game. When you are a small program, cutting $500 worth of checks every night before the first fan walks in can be strenuous.

As far as having a qualified/knowledgeable person to run the clock in games, it's not as hard to keep it, or as easy to keep it as both sides of the argument make it out to be. My fear is that there will be enough issues that the TSSAA will eventually require a 4th official who just runs the shot clock. Then you're talking about even more $$. 

57 minutes ago, basketballguru4222 said:

Its a shame that media outlets and certain sports editors have such influence with the TSSAA and can voice any displeasure they have with negative thoughts about the issue and they seem to be the only voice of reason.  Having a shot clock in basketball is no different than using play clocks in football.  Such a step back for the game and kids.

 

 A basketball shot clock is very different than a football play clock. A play clock in football is 100% necessary because the game clock runs but the ball isn't live so the team on defense can not do anything to force the team on offense to snap the ball. Totally the opposite of basketball where the game clocks runs and the ball is live so the team on defense can force action out of the offense.

17 minutes ago, WhereYouAt said:

I thought Huntigdon's coach was someone different. That name doesn't sound familiar

 

I believe he was Huntingdon’s middle school coach. 

58 minutes ago, District12AA said:

Memphis with 3 districts in AA.

I know someone in West TN throwing a hissy fit this morning. Good job by TSSAA getting it right.

I haven’t been around as long as most, but I’m never surprised by the TSSAA 

Here you go folks. Not sure how I feel about it but.... it’s something.
 

https://portal.tssaa.org/common/classification/?schoolYear=2021

New numbers for Lawrence County schools turned. 
LCHS at 1,022 Loretto at 435 and Summertown at 423.
 

4 hours ago, NWhoopaholic said:

As I plugged in the new enrollments there are some interesting changes in two years. Differences in the three Lawrence County schools have already been addressed and according to JVaughn this was a numbers mistake from the system office that will be fixed.

There are several other schools with large drops. Some were caused by opening of new schools. Others are curious. Here in West Tennessee, I notice Riverside and Camden both down 88 students, while Haywood dropped by 189. Not sure what would explain these large swings. Apparently Liberty’s decrease went to Northside/South Side. Someone elsewhere might have insight to decreases from schools like Red Boiling Springs, Whites Creek, Grundy Co., Union Co., Station Camp, Chattanooga Central, & Ooltewah

What may be most amazing to me is the apparent influx of students into Memphis City schools. Used to shifting enrollments there but not these type changes. The following schools showed significant increases from two years ago.

BT Washington 205-345
Soulsville Charter 256-356
Westwood 269-373
Oakhaven 315-398
KIPP Memphis 402-485
Freedom Prep 310-508
Crosstown 369-535
East 345-544
Mem. Business 402-563
Trezevant 387-563
Power Center 421-651
Douglass 500-666
Hamilton 362-704
Raleigh-Egypt 515-716
Melrose 523-791
Overton 1060-1329
Kingsbury 1180-1334
Codova 1933-2252

Don’t think anyone has intentionally skewed the numbers but believe TSSAA may still have some work to do before they can take next step toward classification.

I believe the drop for Riverside’s is simply because the last time numbers were turned in they had two classes back to back that were among the largest in the schools history, both of which are graduated now and class sizes are back to what they usually run. 
And I agree that the TSSAA has some work to do before they can put things together. Hopefully they can look at increase/decrease and make sure it all checks out. 

I believe it was an honest mistake on the districts part. 

From what I understand, Lawrence County schools turned in the wrong number. They did the 20 day average attendance, not 20 day average enrollment. Big difference there. Got to remember that it’s the school district, not the individual school that turns the number in for public schools. 
I also understand that it is being corrected in the next few days. 

I believe there was a misunderstanding and it’ll be corrected.

16 minutes ago, Richmond30 said:

How in the world did Loretto lose 178 kids in 2 years?

2018 enrollment: 531

2020 enrollment: 353

Must be a school district thing because it’s not just them. Compare Summertown’s and Lawrence County High’s. 

51 minutes ago, TryNotToSuck said:

It's okay, you can chill just a little bit with the two words that were in all caps. It's okay if Kevin hired one of his buddies! But how many times did Greenfield make it to Murfreesboro before Chloe and Tess? And if so, what year(s) was that in? I'm not saying that Willie isn't a "good or great coach" but I am saying that he had the luxury of having arguably the best "duo" in state history when it comes to Mrs. Basketball finalist/awards, P/A/R numbers, and wins. He didn't have to actually "coach" on occasional nights when Chloe and Tess played. It's not a knock on Willie, and I didn't mean to cause any harm to him specifically. But his stock is at an all-time high, no one can't deny that. If Greenfield host a sub-state game in March of 2021, then he is a great coach, there's no doubt. Unfortunately, I won't get to experience that. It's okay to disagree.

Willie has coached 5 total tournament teams. 2004 as the boys coach while also coaching the girls in his first year as a head coach, 2006, 2018, 2019, and 2020 with the girls. 
While yes he had the luxury, he won before he had those two girls. Before he got the job in 2004, Greenfield girls were average at best for a long time. Along with Coach Tori Liggett who was the junior high coach for a a number of years, they made Greenfield girls basketball relevant.

7 hours ago, TryNotToSuck said:

Might get a lot of heat for saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway. But it's sad to basically come out and say that Chloe and Tess got him that job.

Maybe I’m not reading it clear but let me be sure before I comment further. You, yourself, think that Chloe and Tess make him appear to be a better coach than he actually is?

For those that care, here’s the new shirt. Enjoy. 

3 hours ago, westtn12 said:

Selling them for $20 

Yes I believe that is still up on the Greenfield Booster Club Facebook page but that version is not going to be printed according to someone who I spoke with who is in the know.