treetop

No SP should just let him move in with a grandmother that is not the legal guardian then he can play without sitting out any, even though he has a previous record in GA. Isn't that how you make it work?

I was referring to your advice comment about not waking a sleeping bear, but you are not as bright as you try to act. Usually when someone reaches 60 they gain some elements of sage wisdom, but yours will come someday I'm sure. By the way, the TSSAA has not been sleeping since our school opened the doors. Whether we win the appeal or not we have a football game with SC coming up and we will be ready to play. Go Eagles!

You should take your own advice.

Your comments are not correct on the process with Tim, but you may very well be the one who is pushing the propaganda with the TSSAA response. You are acting too much like Perry Mason to be a disinterested bystander.

What you laid out is exactly what happened at SM with this kid and they still get accused of recruiting by Barb...oh well

Recruiting line....come on now...this kid was not ever considered a star on anybody's radar until about 7 games into the year at SM. Even with that, his play was very limited. Prior to coming to SM his entire HS career consisted of two quarters of play for a winless LFO team. To say the TSSAA is generous is a joke. If my son wanted to attend Grenville next year and we contacted their coaches about what it would take to get enrolled next year, they would talk to him and it would not be illegal recruiting.

Win or lose the appeal, SM plays two more games this year and Senior night for the Eagles is tomorrow night. The kids have regrouped from the mess they faced last Friday pretty well and will be ready to go. I expect them to finish the year strong and play well. Go Eagles!

No one wants to address the timing of all of this. At a AD district meeting on 9/22 the SM AD could have been notified that day. When these so-called few AD’s from other schools brought this to the attention to Bernard Childress, the SM AD was never made aware any issues regarding the kid’s eligibility. If Tommy Lane from SC wanted to do the right thing, he could have notified the SM AD, coach or principal if they had concerns about the kid but they all waited. They did so to make sure SM could not remedy a situation before it was too late. Even with that, at the time this was discussed with Childress, SM had a 4-1 record. Why did they wait two whole weeks before the notified the school. The answer is obvious. The TSSAA has been looking at SM for two years from bitter folks saying we were recruiting kids and playing ineligible players, but they know that no rules were broken. It’s funny Childress can contact the school within a day to get the SM principal to respond to a 7 on 7 incident this summer, but it takes weeks to let the school know they are investigating this kid. With all that said, I have been on the mountain before the high school was ever built and have been a supporter of the football program from day one. I hold Coach Price and the SMMHS administration in highest regard. No one knows what he as done for these kids and community more than the folks directly involved with the school. He’s been coaching and teaching for 29 years and believe me, he does not make much money for what he has to endure. Some posters want to compare SM a rogue college football program and “win-at-all costs†but that is not the case. What would be his motive? It’s not money. He doesn’t make one nickel more for this job than any other coach at any other Hamilton schools. He does not get any additional compensation from a booster club or any additional money for maintaining all three footballs during the summer. I would guess over 95% of his family’s income is derived from teaching 7 periods at SMMHS. As a matter a fact, he and the other SM coaches work for free if SM makes the play-offs. To suggest that he and any other coach or administrator at SM would deliberate cheat is crazy. You could not pay me any amount money to put up with what he deals with being the SMHS football coach. He has always operated within the rules, and this incident was not an attempt to circumvent any rules. It was a misinterpretation of the transfer rule and it was not his interpretation. It was discussed at length with the principal and AD. It’s funny, if you don’t let kids come to SM on a hardship or NCLB you would be considered an exclusionist or racist. If kids to come up here and they play sports…you’re a cheater. I also know from the beginning, many folks outside the mountain and many folks on the mountain that kids attend or attended private schools have had nothing but negative things to say about the school and athletic programs. As for the penalties, if the school broke the rule knowingly or not, they should be punished. That is just the way it is. This is tough on the kids, coaches, parents and community. Adversity happens to everybody and you have to deal with it. The kids will deal with it and move on with their lives and do they best they can the last two games. It’s just sad how this all came down and the timing of the so-called investigation and penalties, This was purposely delayed until after the SM/ND game and all the adults who are suppose to be looking out for the kids…made sure that were SM could not make the play-offs. Such is life.

The boy that moved from ER played in 2010 and graduated last year. They lost once this year.

14-0

That boy moved to SM and lived on the mountain with his family and had nothing to do with academic probation. He played basketball at SM before he ever played football. No one questioned that. I guess that was because they did not win all of their games.

People need to realize that there is no true anonymity on a social network site and when slanderous statements are made, that person can be made liable. In response to the poster, there have not been any NCLB kids who have played football at SM and then went back to the home school. As a matter of fact, I am not sure there has been any of these students that have even played that are in this category, but if they did and they are the MVP of the team, it’s their legal right to do so. It’s interesting that two TSSAA official show up unannounced at SM school after the 7th game of the year questioning a kid’s eligibility that they approved three weeks prior to the season. I am sure they are doing their due diligence based on some disgruntled SM opponent. With that said, there was nothing that was provided to the TSSAA that was not 100% accurate and true in his application for eligibility. The child had a bonifide change of address and had met the TSSAA required academic standards to be eligible to participate. The child in question was also granted a hardship by the Hamilton County schools to attend SM based on some very specific circumstances involving the child. Like many other kids within the county who have received these types of hardships over the years…once the eligibility is approved it is no longer questioned. If Signal Mountain is penalized by the TSSAA based on the Hamilton Counties hardship approval, that’s a whole can of worms that will involve many schools and various athletic programs across the entire county. If the county’s administration grants a kid a hardship to attend another school within the county based on very specific circumstances, that child should be able to participate in that schools programs. To not allow a child to do so would be discriminatory. Treating this child different and accusing some wrongdoing on the part of the school and football without merit is dead wrong.

The key word was potential D1 recruits and I agree. SR RB Tim McClendon 6 ft 2 inch 235 pounds (first full year to play HS football, but has huge upside) JR. College may be first stop SR WR Jon Patton 6 ft 3 inch 200 pounds (being recruited by several DI&DIAA schools) SR RB/LB Zack Bowman 5 ft 10 in 215 pounds (being recruited by several DIAA schools) SR WR Will Queen 6ft 1 inch 175 pounds (being recruited by several DIAA schools) Underclassman that have DI potential today: JR QB Reese Phillips 6ft 2 inch 215 pounds (Being recruited by several DI schools) FR TE Harrison Moon 6ft 3 inches 225 pounds and growing (Will be a big-time DI recruit, could be 6ft 6 inches and 280 pounds by SR year) Realistically, two of the seniors will sign in February to go somewhere, but all 4 seniors are potential DI or DIAA players...no doubt

This game will be a good challenge for both teams in getting ready for the play-offs. Coach Davis has done a great job at Polk and he's a good man. Polk is on a 4 game win streak and had two weeks to get ready for the Eagles. Signal will work hard this week and be ready to play come Friday. I know the boys are looking forward to the road trip and playing a great environment. It should be a fun night!

SP has a great group of kids and a great coaching staff. Beating a SP team is a big accomplishment for the kids on the mountain. SP's tradition is second to none in TN. Keep your boys heads up and get well to finish the year strong. SP's schedule is as brutal as any team in the state in 1a or 2a. After Whitwell, they have some really tough games. I expect they will win, but they have to be ready to play! Good luck from the Mountain!

I will say that the SM football team works really hard and they rarely get the credit on CoachT for what the team and the coaches have accomplished the last few years. There are always folks saying; it’s because they recruit, play in the wrong class, play an easy schedule, etc. Very few Signal haters want to admit that these SM kids have worked really hard and made themselves better athletes and grown up with a new program. Most of the SM starters have been coached up since 9th grade. I have to say that four of the senior offensive lineman have been playing along side each other since 9th grade and no one outside of Signal Mountain program would have ever thought any of these guys would start on a 2A state championship team, much less 4A ball. These kids believed in hard work and they get it done every week, most of the time giving up 40 to 50 pounds per man. Their OL is a huge part of the SM success and that group has tremendous pride. Three of starting backs and two receivers are three year starters and been playing together since youth ball. None of the private schools thought any of these guys they could play for them when they were in ninth grade. Now Patton and Queen may be two of the best receivers in Chattanooga. Any of their starting backs would be the featured back on most teams in town. None of them, including transfer McClendon have more than 12 carries a game ever. Reese Phillips the QB is a three-year starter and only a JR, yet this is first year to play at QB. He worked and waited his turn. Again, these kids made themselves into good football players with the help of good coaching and leveraging their talents. This is really a true team effort. With all that said, I will say the SM fans have enjoyed some success and some of the fans are overzealous like any school, but it’s the players and coaches who have put in the time and practice to get this team to where they are today and for that, they should be proud.

After this week both teams will know a lot more about themselves. BC is the back-to-back district champs. I know the boys on the mountain are excited to play a very good BC team. They will be ready to go come Friday night.

This week should be a good match-up for both teams. Tyner has a great coach and good athletes. Signal has an advantage by having a game under their belt. Phillips should have all of his receivers on the field this week. It will be the first time since the SD scrimmage last spring he’s had all of his weapons. That will make a big difference in what they do offensively. SM fumbled the ball 5 times against East Hamilton and lost 2. The other three killed drives and 3 were QB exchanges. They offense will be better this week if they don’t stop themselves. By the way, hats off to Cleveland’s defense. They played really well yesterday. Alcoa had 21 points yesterday with 2 first downs in the first half. They scored on a double pass on their first play from scrimmage, a long punt return and their other TD was set up by a long run on third down. They did not quit and it would have been easy to fold.

They just need to get ready for East Hamilton this week and it will be a battle on the mountain. The kids know they must be ready to play every week. With that said,they can compete with teams in D-II on any given night, but winning the state at that level would not be likely. The same goes 6-A or 5-A. If they win the state in 4-A it would a monumental accomplishment. People forget, it had been over 10 years since the last Hamilton County school won the state at any level before Signal did last year. It should be a fun year to watch some football. They are several good teams and coaches that could make any week very interesting. Good luck to all teams as they get ready for battle in the coming weeks.

The waterboy is a rogue poster probably from another school trying to get a rise against the eagles. No true Eagle fan would be dumb enough to run their mouth off the way he does. I guarantee he never has played for the eagles or will he. His own teammates would have put an end to his smack talking 2 mouths ago. So take anything he says as propaganda and immaturity. SM did win the state last year in division they were put to play by the TSSAA by going 14-0. This year they would be one of the smallest schools in 3A with slightly over 600 in the high-school, so playing 4-A will be a challenge. They do have a good team, but football is a game of match-ups and week to week preparation makes a big difference in success. I know Signal Mt started preparing for EH last week and spent zero time preparing for BC. I would say the same thing for Bradley against Signal. I am sure they have been focusing on Polk and stopping the trap. It was good to see some talent on both sides of the ball last night, but I expected both offenses to do well since neither team spent time preparing for the other. EH is well coached and will be a solid test for SM. SM will not take EH lightly and expect a 4 quarter battle. The same will be for Tyner, Bledsoe, Blackmon and the rest of the schedule. It’s week to week.

I would agree that there are 4 or 5 folks that can be obnoxious with their support of Signal Mt. football, but to categorize and entire community of being obnoxious is ridiculous. Every team out there has their share has over zealous posters and fans at every level. It’s dangerous to categories any community based on a few comments. Most parents/fans are just happy they have been successful and hope their kids graduate and go on to being valuable contributors to society. Win or lose games, what the kids do after high school is what really matters.

I went to their 4-way scrimmage last night at Cookeville and Signal Mountain looked pretty good. There were not any incidents or even any warnings from officials about aggressive play. As far as minorities’ participation on Signal’s varsity, which they played around 25 total players on the varsity, they only had three minority kids. This has been the same participation level since they played JV ball three years ago. Over 90% of their top 25 kids have been there since day one back to elementary school. Last night, they had two minority kids start on offense and those same two kids started on defense. Only one kid that started was not playing there last year. As far as transfers, this is probably a lower percentage than any team around town. They also played 6 running backs and not one had more than 7-carries. I will say they did look better than last year, but their schedule will be much tougher. They could win all their games or they could lose as many as 4. I am sure they will not take anyone lightly. Coach Price will have then ready to play.

It's hard to have a community school like South Pitt when you have been denied a school for 40 years. We have one now...so maybe that will change. We have lost our mountain kids for generations to Red Bank, Baylor, McCallie and Notre Dame and now that we get a school the only reason we are good now is because those kids are staying here. Is that what you are saying? I know of at least 5 boys on Baylor's team that live up here and several others that attend McCallie and CCS. I wish we would keep all the boys up here, but some will leave and that is what their families see as the best thing for their kids. There are far more kids that have left than have come, but I see no problem with families wanting to live and send their kids to SMMHS. Why is that a problem for anyone. That is why our school is growing. I guess your saying you do not want anyone to move to South Pitt especially if their kid plays football. Your are only welcome to your community if your daddy, brother, cousin or uncle played here. If you didn't know this...any kid can move into to your South Pitt zone and play without sitting out. South Pitt has a former head coach that has won a state title on staff that is one of the best coaches in the state. He also has a kid that transferred in to play for SP which is fine and not a problem. As for deep pockets, I can guarantee you that SP has more money and spends more money on football than Signal. It want even be close. We don't even have a football booster club, a field house, permanent restrooms or concessions. I have a lot of respect for your coaches and your community, but the mountain folk will defend ours. In a year if we are close to 4A enrollment and we stayed in 3A playoff division we would be hearing the same crap from people like you. I take that back...I should say if we are winning we would hear that.