JoshRussell48

What a great story that would be if both could make it to the State Tournament!!! Probably first time father and son make it to the State Tournament as Coaches. Coach Wright's son is a heck of a coach. Look at what he did at Pigeon Forge before going to Morristown East. Obviously Coaching is a major plus at all times. Morristown East goes from accomplishing all those things last year to possibly bounced out of 1st round with the same team coming back. Look at what a drop off Pigeon Forge has had since his departure. COACHING MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!

He got two transfers from from Sevier County who never played for Coach Wright. The Barber kid transfered to GP from Alabama due to the fact he got a young lady pregnant and #22 came from New York, read it in article in the mountainpress. They also lost two transfers who had come in at the beggining of the year. As far as the teaching license everyone thought it was Sevier County and Pigeon Forge who had called the state but rumor has it, it was someone in the district??? What is going on at GP is plain and simple new kid on the block and people tend not to like that. AE and Fulton are used to just beating up on people and its not the case with GP,Carter, and Union joining the party. Mr.McCroskey made a valid point in one of his threads due to their always getting press: How many High School coaches you know play semi pro ball and play in the Rocky Top League versus current UT players? Coach P is a very likable guy according to most in the community just different from the typical mountain folk up here Predictions for Region Tournament: Gp beats Alcoa Stone beats AE Fulton beats Loudon Carter beats CAK What do you guys think?

I agree with what your saying. 4th Place Team should be sent home. You can actually lose 3 games and still make it to the State Tournament. Only reason this happens is TSSAA wants more money. If these situations do occur and we really have no idea if it was done in this case it would be avoided. I believe is the point your trying to make

Sevier County Science Hill Daniel Boone DB

The Sevier County Smoky Bears would love a chance to play a Bearden or Central to get to the State Tournament. Will have to first get by Tennessee High. Anyone know anythign about them?

This situation is "dang if you do and dang if you don't" if you know what I mean. Bottom line the coach felt that this was needed for his team to understand a lesson. If it is one game or ten games that is up to the coach. A lesson is a lesson. Like some said on here only the coach and his team know their rules. You have a parent admitting the coach was right in what he did, enough said. Going back to teaching a lesson to a team, it never occurs when you want it to.Applaud the coach for taking action and not giving a dang like the team they played in the consolation game. Lastly is was pointed out that the coach was trying to avoid Fulton? So my understanding is he would want to lose on purpose and travel to Stone Memorial( because if you go with the thought of East TN Stone should have won because they dominated that District) who is ranked in the state instead of winning the 3rd place game and playing what should have been Alcoa a 500 ball club? Bottom line is he took a stand. How many coaches around our area just let things go just for the sake of winning games????

We are the Champions!!!!!!! Great job boys. Bring on Tennessee High.

Read the article in todays MountainPress. Explains everything in detail. The two players who played were not starters they were part of the Varsity Team. Good for the coach. Its quite embarassing that some adults here are not seeing the real picture Life Lessons over a game!!!! By the way how is a coach losing on purpose when the District Championships does not happen till after their game? GP plays Alcoa. Although I will be cheering for my Bears( District Champs) Saturday hope GP beats Alcoa.

tssaa is to blame. All they want is money!! In most states only district championship and runner-up advance. The system is flawed you can lose three times ant still make it to state. You can lose district semi-finals, 3rd and 4th place game and region championship and still go to state. It is what it is. Most coaches think about it but most won't do it. In this case it would be the best decision. Avoiding Morr West in semi-finals is the best thing to do. Not a lot of teams can beat them

Was dead on with the predictions. Should be a heck of a championship game. We will either play Tennessee High or Science Hill in the 1st round of Region. Keep it going Bears. Great article on one of our players. www.themountainpress.com

It is hard to handle success at the level you have experienced this year. Kids will be kids. You guys have a pretty good coach. He will get it turned around. Coach Wright at Sevierville dealt with the same thing. Great article in Moutainpress about one of our players and his turnaround at Sevier County. Good luck to GP in regions. Looks like its Alcoa or Stone Memorial on the road.

District 4AA Boys Stone Memorial Site: 1 Stone Memorial 2 Alcoa 3 Loudon 4 CAK 5 Scott County 6 Kingston Stone plays CAK vs Scott winner in Semi-Finals Alcoa plays Loudon vs Kingston winner in Semi-Finals District 3AA 1 Fulton 2 Gatlinburg Pittman 3 Carter 4 Austin East 5 Union 6 Gibbs 7 Pigeon Forge Gibbs beat Pigeon Forge plays Carter in quarterfinals winner plays GP in Semi-Finals Austin East vs Union winner plays Fulton

I meant Morristown West

We are glad to be out of this district. It is always scary at this time of the year. Here are my predictions: Bearden vs Maryville in Championship Faragut vs Catholic 3rd Place game Coaching becomes very important in this district to determine winner. I picked Bearden but that game with Faragut scares me if I was them.

One of the top seeds will lose!! It has been too close all year!!! I just hope its not our Bears vs county rival Seymour.. Cocke County has the easiest draw but you never know what Cocke County team will show up. Predictions: Cocke county vs Morristown East Sevier vs Mo West (Upset!!) Sevier vs Mo East in Finals... Bears WiN!! a little bias...hahahaa

AE vs Fulton Semis GPvs Gibbs Semis GP vs Fulton Championship Gibbs vs AE 3rd Place Game Fulton Championship Gibbs 3rd place This is as tough as a district to call. Gibbs vs Carter match-up is a scary one. Fulton is in Championship hands down. Looking at scores Carter struggled with GP and both Union vs GP games were close.. Should be interesting...

Sevier County Bears won a big home game on senior night versus a very talented GP team. We are clicking at the right time. I believe will be the #1 or #2 seed. Don't like the fact we don't get automatic byes like other districts. Can someone explain why?

Guys lets not get crazy!! We beat GP but they also beat us. The grass was green for them maybe two weeks ago just not as green this morning. In all of this a lot is being lost. Both schools have really good teams that hopefully will make it far. Our Bears played great last night on Senior night. Gym has never been that full! Estimated crowd of 2500-3000. As adults I feel we tend to forget they are just kids. Parents always want the best for the kids and if that means moving their kids, so be it. From what I hear Coach from GP is very highly regarded at the college level and is known in all the right circles. Can't blame a person for that. We all try to maximize our abilities and talents. Congrats again to our seniors on a great senior night and good luck to Pigeon Forge and GP in the district tournament

IMAC championship is going to come down to Morristown East vs our BEARS of Sevier County.. Coach Wright is the Coach of the Year in the District... Look out for Cocke County.. Should be a great tournament... GO BEARS!!!!!!!! Great football season so far lets keep it up with basketball

Its hard to beat Bearden.. Lenior City will have a chance if it stays away from Bearden in Region Playoffs.

Luvgolf20 or should I say Mr.Buckner??? Father of Chase Buckner who plays for Union County who also wears #20 and plays golf?? Anyways funny thing is that GP was traditionally a dang good basketball school. Donald Dodgen(he is now at Faragut) coached there and was very successful. Ken Wright had a great run for about 5 to 6 years where he went to several SUbstates and won several District Championships. And lets not forget GP played your Union County faithful last year in the District Championship and has made it to the region tournament the past two years. SO obviously GP is headed in the right direction. And as far as the transfers go kids transfer all the time! At AE,Fulton,Anderson County,Gibbs,Maryville,Catholic,Bearden, West, Central etc..... Where you guys messed up in was letting Brian Jessie go!!! You lost Tyler Smith to Anderson County and went from a sub-state team to an average ball club.