airstrip1

TSSAA makes a half a million dollars a year and sits on $3MM cash, takes 50% of playoff gates and pays all its six executives 6 figures plus ($100,000) and can't even execute this. I guess its the schools fault for not telling them ahead of time this would mess up.

Is Cumberland County good at anything?

This ones easy...every executive officer's of which there are six total compensation for its fiscal 2013 year exceed six figures each and its executive director is in the $170,000 range. Last year the TSSAA made almost a half of a million dollars and currently sits on about $3 million is cash, despite crap like $40,000 to lobby the state legislator. And you thought you had to be a Doctor or Lawyer or something. Its a crying shame that most of the states athletic departments can't afford trainers etc and yet the very association charged with their oversight lives like kings....shame on them, the media, and us for letting it happen.

The biggest mistake some fans make is believing that just because their team is a winner that they are as well. Maryville is a great program, unfortunately that does not extend to some of its fan base and stuff like raising bars.

Heck...those are the best kind of predictions.

I believe that if season ended today Cleveland would win as their district record is 5-1 versus 4-1 for EH and Owls. But your scenarios for next week look right.

kinda dumb

This was just a good game by two very well coached teams....shame anyone had to loose. Great players, coaches, and fans...is there anyway better to spend a Friday night.

CC Girls Coach needs to go.

http://www.usnews.co...angerous-cities And too in crime...congratulations are in order for both.

The current rules just penalize the honest and I'm with you on the parking and concession fees...heck its as bad as going to the movies...but then again somebody has to pay for the $166,000 Executive Director.

I reckon so.

So one kid cold cocks a another kid to the hospital and gets nothing but another bounces a ball too hard and is suspended for two games. And the TSSAA feels no need to question judgment?

Idiot

Me too on the stock but no way could these guys past mustard on internal control stuff, with the first step in the lobotomy being the Control Board. I wonder if any of these guys have every taken up money for parking...I got a Franklin that says no.

I doubt much that the TSSAA has time for this nonsense seeing that briefs need to be filed to overturn chancellors rulings and such in order to "protect kids". I wonder where in their by laws does it say that violating the law is OK.

Well that is indeed too bad then....Best of Preps BS strikes again.

Bradley played them the last couple of years...MC I believe cancelled the series but I don't know why...it would help both teams.

I dont think a coach has the latitude to cancel a game once it has been scheduled...are you sure this has happened...the home site lists David Massingil as the head coach.

No, nor is there a way to report those circumstances where control was lost and players flagrantly injured. The Association has set up this arrangement (fragmented officials associations) despite its own bylaws to the contrary in order to limit its liability. And those that pay the most (athletes/children) are the least suspecting for they have assumed someone somewhere actually cares about their safety. Freeze Executive pay and you'd have an outcry...freeze comp for those that control the risk of sport...who really cares? And those us that know and do nothing are just as guilty.

No use complaining about officials. TSSAA (nor does anybody else) doesn't even evaluate because they will tell you that the Board of Control has not given the authority and could truly care less. Worse still is that official pay has been left flat (while pay and benefits to TSSAA Executive staff has skyrocketed) so the better ones have migrated to other levels making matters worse. And yes, player safety is affected also. Weird that our Association will spend millions of dollars on the legalities of recruiting issues, executive pay, or to keep its inner working from public view yet could care a less about the outcome of contest and worse yet, control over ever increasing risk to children of playing sport.

Yes this really isn't about replay specifically, its about making good officiating a priority and the dedication of resources thereto. The Association concedes that each year they loose their better officials because of money (officiating pay has been basically flat for four years) to other leagues or interests. Interesing though is that officer compensation at the Association went from $464,221 in 2009 to $577,321 in 2011 so I guess its more important (and judging from the $$$, it far more important) to take care of administration than it is for those officiation/controlling games, the ladder of whom judges and determines the outcome/safety of 99.99% of player, coach, and parent effort here. I wonder how the executives would feel if in a nanosecond thier year's considerable effort and passion where trashed by indifference and incompentency. Bottom line here is that this leadership team does what most leadership teams do absent restaint (values) and oversight (Board) and that is take care of themselves at the expense of everyone else.

Recently the Times did a piece (below) that questioned the economics of basketball’s Hall of Fame games. In summary, funds generated from these games estimated at $200,000 originally to $115,000 last year and were dictated to be used to build a Hall of Champions building. Later however it was decided that a building was in fact not needed and that the funds would be used for a traveling exhibit and then to a permanent one which is now inside the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in the Bridgstone Arena. (I wonder if the same program that decides the football playoffs decides where this money goes?) When pressed on the expenses of all this the TSSAA just mentioned “numerous†which I don’t recall being a part of the real rational numbers set but then again higher math always gave me problems. “Numerous†appears to be $35,168, $35,006, and $35,202 in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The TSSAA further states that it “really lucked out by interest from the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame to host our exhibit." However, the entire Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, that doesn’t even mention the TSSAA exhibit on its website, generated a paltry $4,257 and $4,757 in museum ticket sales (I guess royalties are out of the question) in 2010 and 2011, respectively and leaving one to wonder who really got lucky here. (I wonder if Willy Wonka would consider putting museum tickets inside his chocolate bars). So to recap and in the spirit of being fair by using the most conservative numbers, our schools, coaches and athletes generate in the Hall of Fame games around $115,000 of which $35,000 goes to an exhibit that is a part of a larger Hall of Fame that seems to really struggle. Multiply all this by the number of years (10) this has all been going on ($115,000 - $35,000 = $80,000 x 10 = $800,000 or “numerous†++ for those with the newest version of newspeak) and we should indeed have a building…or two. This coupled with an Association that makes a half a million dollars or so a year and sitting on in excess of $2 million….feels just a little weird. In the words of that great American “Fletcher†in the Outlaw Josey Wales… “Senator, don’t wizz down my back and tell me it’s rainingâ€. The bottom of the Hall of Fame Game financial reports sent to the TSSAA by the host schools reads, “I (AD or Game Administrator) certify that the above (financial) information is correctâ€. This rep and warranty is entirely normal and appropriate for when it comes to scarce money, folks need to be accountable. And that means everyone. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/nov/13/hall-of-fame-games-count-big-for-tssaa/

Perhaps so but: 2011 2010 Profit $548,059 $876,308 Control Board Fees $ 54,643 $ 46,807 Ex. Comp. $653,744 $ 463,221 (add one ex) should we say feels a little weird when almost everybody else is experiencing the Great Resession and almost every athletic (public anyway) program in the state strugging financially. Like any "governing" body, priority and mission seem to get fuzzed sometimes with 2+2 often equally 5..of course only for those making the rules....don't believe me...just ask Congress.

By now most people know of the error in scheduling that affected Cleveland/South Sullivan and related opening up of the 5 versus 6 football classification wound among others. I count at least five open East Tennessee editorials blaming the TSSAA staff and Board of Control members for everything from Elvis’s death to Peyton Manning’s Heisman loss. But after all the good things that the Association does, how could an honest mistake in the scheduling (that is more like solving a Rubik’s cube) of one game generate such venom? Further, the right remedy was in fact to replace the one team with the other. No, the frustration of all this runs much deeper and one affected players hit one of the issues on the head when he said, “it would be nice if they (TSSAA) would come and talk to usâ€. Meaning: “ it would be nice if those that had mistaken actually cared.†Go find the press release. No sorry, no apologies, no regrets, and no we’ll work diligently to prevent this from happening again. The Association did its best Alexander Haig and Walter Cronkite: “I’m in charge here†and “and that’s the way it wasâ€. Imagine instead that on Sunday after the foul up, a TSSAA member drives over to visit SSouth’s AD Richardson and asks for an audience on Monday with the administration, coaches, and players. If as he is driving over he thinks the drive is too long, he goes back and reworks the bracket. If not, he better appreciates what is being asked of SSouth, its players and fans. Surely, if he can ask me and some 300+ players and fans to drive to Graceland to play a first round game, he can do the same. During the Monday meeting he outlines what went wrong and what the TSSAA has done to prevent the likelihood of all this happening again. He acknowledges the impact that this error is going to have on the team, families, travel plans, budgets and openly apologies and accepts full responsibility for all this mess. You know, kinda like coaches or players have to do all the time and like someone that really cares might do. He’ll answer questions and may even talk to a reporter or two. Imagine that editorial. Then, he goes three hours south to Cleveland. Same drill. He talks to the AD, coaches and players and again apologies for the mess up and the reopening of an old wound this might have caused. He’ll thank them for their understanding and lastly wishes the seniors well and the others the best for next season. And both SSouth and Cleveland will accept the apology for as anybody knows, people accept mistakes based on how those mistakes are handled. And a funny thing will happen on the drive back to Nashville, he’ll pause to reflect that on this day, he perhaps did his most meaningful and best work in some time. But to get to that point, the Association has to understand that its most important constituents are ADs, coaches, players, parents and fans and not its Control Board and the Board needs to support that concept. Don’t think fans are important? Just check out Neyland Stadium at noon this Saturday. Not parents...who do you think provides and supports your players…and on and on. Imagine what Apple would look like today if Steve Jobs cared only about what his Board thought…..getting the picture here. The reason that this scheduling error has created such fervor is because some people already view (rightly or wrongly) this Association and/or its Control Board as a detached, uncaring, and unsympathetic governing body that cares only about itself and this event gives reason to express this pent up frustration. Otherwise, the negativity just doesn’t fit the crime here. But from increased ticket prices, 50% of playoff gates, a financial condition that would be the envy of any AD, a seemingly indifferent posture towards the outcome of games and the related pressure on players and coaches, its harsh and unyielding methods in priorities it deems important and this most recent unwillingness to accept responsibility for its own errors, this Association just seems to have an emotional blind spot towards its most important constituents and ultimately it just feels very arrogant. The Cleveland/SSouth mistake is understandable and the correction reasonable. The real issue causing this venom is far deeper and will be much harder to correct than just fixing a computer program.