Xander Zone

Well, if your going to throw that out there then how about Benny Monroe? Cleveland was tied with the second longest winning streak in the nation. If your going to throw the "legends" in there then my vote goes to Coach Monroe....

RMC, Just finished faxing you the info. on the "Raider Rumble." Let me know if you received it or not. Thanks....

RMC We are still reserving spots for the "Raider Rumble" if you are interested? We would love to have Collins Hill come up...The Highschool team is coming up for the Cleveland Duals. This would be great for your middle school team to compete in as well. This year's dual meet tournament is going to be very tough. And if you are added, then it will make it that much tougher especially with the tradition that Collins Hill has...Just contact Jack Gallagher if you don't mind...

Mike, when are you going to get to Cleveland? Bryant and I were just talking about you the other day. Your dad is bringing the middle schooler's to our tournament. I hope everyting goes well for you buddy! And good luck today in football as well. Be "headhunting"....L8er!!!

What I don't agree with is the fact that people are lableing Cleveland as a bunch of 'thugs". And to state that maybe this will allow the coaches to get a better hand on their sports programs? How many instances have you ever heard of Cleveland being involved in? Not very many. So don't try to label this one incident as to Cleveland being "thugs". I disagree with the comment. Do you think Al Miller the head wrestling coach at Cleveland would put up with something like this? No, if one of his wrestlers doesn't exemplify good sportsmanship then he is in their face "chewing them out". We stand behind our coaches 100% and back them whenever we have an issue. But don't label the kids at Cleveland High School as a bunch of "thugs". Obviously, people are not happy with the penalty that was given to both Cleveland and Rhea Co. but the reason, as I stated earlier, that the penalty wasn't more severe was the fact that how both schools officials handled the situation. They handled it in a mature adult manner. There wasn't a bunch of finger pointing like in earlier cases before. Neither school's official got on the media and blamed the other. No, both schools are very upset that this has taken place. Alas, the coaches that were involved in this matter have also been disciplined as well. I agree with you CHSpanther, it seems as time goes on that more schools maybe willing to ensinuate a fight against Cleveland.

I'm already laughing at some of the predictions. D. Coleman-Cleveland will be at 112 this year. S. Cordell-Bradley will be at 119 this year. K. James-Soddy Dasiy will be at 125 this year. How can you put Grady from Bradley in the finals? I don't think that is going to happen. He is ineligible. He will be eligible after Christmas. I thin that is funny in itself...

How can you say that Quinn Gibson won't make it to the state finals? And who is this guy your even talking about? I've never heard of him. Maryville, you need to stick with the football and not mess with the wrestling. I'm sure that with the practice room that Bradley has this year they are going to be unstoppable. I can't believe that I'm actually helping their program out when I coach at the opposing school. But in all honesty, Bradley has some high-caliber practice partners in the room all the time. But who knows...But to say that he'll be in the finals is going to great lengths. I hope he does well and I hope he does make it to the finals. But in all reality I don't think that it is going to happen...

How can you say that $1,000.00 dollar fine isn't steep and your entire athletic program being put on probation isn't a slap on the wrist. That means if one thing happens then our entire athletic program is lost for a year....Even to the innocent programs. But to say that coaches knew something like this would happen that is totally outrageous. I guess they need to call Miss Cleo's psychic hotline on that one. The coaches knew nothing like that was going to happen. Can it happen? At any given moment things like that can happen. I am a coach at Cleveland and I take that as a "slap in the face" when you say that we knew that it was going to happen. We had no clue. Have the coaches been repimended for their violations on this issue? Yes, they have. The only reason why the more severe penalty didn't occur was the fact that both school officials and athletic directors met right after the incident. They met Friday night after the brawl. Watched the tape. They met Saturday morning watched the tape again with TSSAA officials. The principles spoke numerous times on Sunday and Monday via phone. So the reason that Cleveland and Rhea Co. were not hit with a more severe punishment was how they conducted themselves. I don't agree that all the sports at Cleveland and Rhea Co. should be put on probation. But that is the way it has to be. But like I said previously, the reason why the TSSAA is tightening it's "noose" on this behavior is the fact that an incident occurred at the State Wrestling tournament. A kid basically acted irrationally after losing a match and decided to shove his opponent as well as the official. He then proceeded to kick a chair and then kick a scoreboard into the stands. Now did the wrestling coach know that was going to happen? No, he didn't. You can never pre-judge somebody's emotions. It's just not possible. L8er!!!!

A $1,000.00 dollar fine is pretty steep. Also, the year's probation is not a weak slap on the wrist. That means if any other fights break out an athletic event then that school will lose its whole sports program for a year. That in itself is steep as well. So that means us coaches at Cleveland have to be on our best behavior for what happened during the football season. I for one don't think that this is fair at all. The entire athletic has been put on probation. So one slip up by another sport and its bye-bye for a year....To me personally I feel that this is not right at all. Football should be the one's on probation but TSSAA doesn't see it that way. See this all boils down to the incident that occurred last year at the State Wrestling tournament.

Coach Emily is a great asset to the team. He is a tremendous coach. He will adjust to the highschool level. He will have a young an inexperienced team this year. So he will definitely be taking his "lumps" this year. But remember as well he does have collegiate wrestling experience so that is definitely a plus.

As far as past teams making a strong run this year...Brentwood doens't have the strength this year to really do anything. Joe Blair has a really young squad. But if these guys stick together then in the future, Brentwood will definitely make a run. Overton is steadily improving every year. East Ridge will definitely be in the top ten at the end. They have some holes to fill but they still have talent coming back. Red Bank will be down this year. But with the new coach Kevin Emily there, they will be improving every year. Good Luck to everyone this year....

Danny Coleman is just a junior...But yes, he will still be tough to beat.

Let's not forget Josh Cooper of Bradley and Mike Hampton of Cleveland. Hampton wrestled heavyweight last year for Cleveland. Cooper is a good one as well. So these two look good at being up there in the mix as well.

Cookville is probably one of the most improved teams in the state. They will probably finish runner-up in the region this year to Bradley. They have always got some talent. And the coaches there are great. They don't even get paid to coach which is also a bonus...They need some kind of supplement for their hard work that they do there...

The coach from Rhea Co. that is suspended for a year was an assistant coach. He was just a volunteer coach. As far as everything else happening, Coach Collier has been given advice into filing charges against the Rhea Co. coach. The video clearly shows that Coach Collier was trying to hold the Cleveland players back and that no one on the Rhea Co. football staff was trying to hold back any of their players. The only person that even tried to hold any of the Rhea Co. players back was a baseball coach running from the stands. The tape that the TSSAA viewed is from the Rhea Co. side. And it clearly shows all of this. I'm sure that if the assistant ever wants to get back into coaching he'll have to go under a pretty stiff interview. The tape showed that Brandon Brown wasn't even involved...So I don't know on that suspension?

The incident with the Cleveland assistant as well as the Rhea Cty. coaches is that coach Collier has a young son who is a ball boy for the team. I believe his son is in the 2nd grade. As soon as the first scuffle broke out, it happened right next to Collier's son. A helmet was thrown in the general direction of the young boy. As a parent, Collier went to get his son. And in the process shoved a Rhea Cty. player. I'm sure that it was unintentional but he did shove a player. I probably would have done the same thing in that kind of situation to protect my child from being injured. This is when Fitzgerald punched Collier. I just hate it that this has happened...

I didn't get a chance to go to the game. But from what I have heard is that both of these schools are to blame. But to think that nothing should be done is straight up wrong. As a wrestling coach/official there are going to be some harsh penalties that are going to stem from this incident. Ronnie Carter told everyone that he is tired of incidents occuring from the state of Tennessee. Bottom line is this guys. Since what happened at the State Wrestling tournament last year: Mr. Carter is going to lay the law down. What has happened last night is pure CLASSLESS by both schools. There could be some lawsuits that could come from this. With the Cleveland player that was hurt and from the Rhea Cty. player that was injured as well. I know for certain that the Cleveland coach that was struck by the Rhea Cty. coach is going to press charges against him. Also, several players from the Cleveland team will be suspended for the playoff games and could possibly not be able to play for the rest of the year. The TSSAA as well as Ronnie Carter was notified as soon as the incident occurred. I wouldn't be surprised to see Mr. Carter making his way to the Chattanooga area this week.