2priceless

Here's the thing, we DID play them. We played Rankin's other version of them every yr in a game that counted district-wise and then again in the playoffs. It was called Riverdale. No tuition required but "free rent" given in the football dorms down the street for those who qualified talent wise. He brought in kids and their families from South Carolina, Alabama, and surrounding counties; and as Gwave1 stated above got the parents juicy jobs at Nissan in Smyrna. He even had a player playing for him whose dad was the live in janitor at Blackman High School. So his son lived inside Blackman high in an apartment while wearing Riverdale football clothes using Blackman water to wash his vehicle while gazing at the BHS football players doing their running. Then he drove off to practice at Riverdale. Did I mention that Blackman was in our district too? Rankin had quite the lil production going for many many yrs. Til the heat got turned up on him and he left to go to a school where he considered it a challenge. That was Alcoa. Real challenge, right? Guess it is much easier now for him with the plant there and the tuition to make it "legal"....we know how Rankin does things and Alcoa should be in the privates.

BOOOMM...EXPOSED qb7. My friend's son lived in Knoxville, paid tuition, started 4 yrs and played college ball. He was not in that lil circle of 3 miles either.

Could you post Randall Cobb's address for me?

Don't you think we have to keep our kids grades up too along with our test scores? At one time Oakland had over 67% free lunch kids and got on target. No other Rutherford County school was halfway close to that number. I believe the school 3 miles down called siegel had 13%. Now you tell me that wasn't some shiftiness in the zones. But we overcame it all and still won the state. So forgive me if I don't feel sorry for you and your lil tuition priveleged ATHLETES! Do you really think all of those kids got the support they needed at home to help them study? If you can afford to pay 2 grand in tuition and then pay to provide transportation to said school, you can pay for a DANG tutor to help your kid. Those paying the decreased amount of 500, can really rack up an expensive tutor. Rank Dog knew what he was doing didn't he?? He is a slippery one.

Not holding my breath. Some folk are good at calling the kettle black. I continue my stance on this. Open enrollment teams belong in the private classification.

Thank you , sir for posting that to prove my case. I just put in a call to my buddy who still resides in Knoxville, and whose son played athletics at Alcoa but has graduated. He assured me that he was required to pay a $500.00 tuition to be out of zone all 4 years that his son played at Alcoa. So he paid 2 grand total. Now while I apologize if Maryville's tuition is higher than $500.00, I was CORRECT about Alcoa's amount. Now seeing the difference, Maryville folk can figure out how Alcoa has been competitive with them for the last yrs since the rank Dog came on board. AND I stand my ground thinking any school where a tuition can be paid to play athletics there should be moved to the private sector. BAMMMMM

You probably do have some juicy stuff about Oakland High. It is overrun these days with ex Riverdale coaches. I hear stuff that makes me cringe too. I do not hate Maryville. However, I am not fond of Alcoa and most folk know why. I think Quarles is an excellent coach that has assembled a quality staff and program. No hate whatsoever. If my son was living in that area, I would probably pay for him to play there. I do think if you can pay to go there and play athletics whether it is $500.00 or 2 grand, you should be in the private sector. Any open enrollment program has an unfair advantage over the others . You are still paying to play. I would feel the exact same way were this Oakland doing it. Sorry if that ruffles some feathers. Now maybe Alcoa makes you pay the $500.00 and their boosters foot the rest?

The athlete from MTCS lived two doors down from me. It was a fact. The father had some severe health issues and the boy was going to have to withdraw and attend public school. He was very valuable to the athletic program at MTCS and the work/study was set up for him then to keep him there. As for Maryville/ Alcoa reamrk made, I was told this directly from an Alcoa parent. That was how they would be able to live in Knoxville and attend Alcoa. So why would he lie? Maybe it is only for Alcoa then?

I echo what was said above. I think the privates should compete with each other and any open enrollment school should be classified with the privates as well. Alcoa and Maryville can have a kid pay $500.00 and live out of zone to play there. That is unfair. Let them play the Ensworths, MBA's, and BA's in my opinion. This work study is nothing but recruiting. I can tell you how it worked at MTCS. You let kids weedeat and get a nice little lump of cash. Then they pay it on the tuition. No paper trail whatsoever. I know at least one athlete that did this and paid very little tuition out of pocket. Now that is a shady way of giving a scholarship and we all know the other privates in the public classification do that all the time. Get them all out. Also I would like to see Rutherord County split up some. It gets old putting each other out early in the playoffs.

If the kicker's mom is an OHS alum, then why would they pick Seegull?

Busted. Go play Ensworth.

I do think the district will be as competitive as ever. I expect OHS to be at the top of everyone's list as I am seeing lots of potential . Every game is important and cannot be considered a W til the horn sounds.

Nice, but there probably isn't a school on here that hasn't done comparable things that you mentioned above. Oakland football players built an entire house for Habitat for Humanity one summer in between 2 a day's. When Marty Euverard was the head coach at OHS, that was a staple for the program to give back constantly to the community. So don't think your school is in the minority in the good deeds category. Teaching them to cheat, as in recruiting, sort of nullifies all of the above that you mentioned though doesn't it?

So enlighten me for what you do for the community besides lure athletes away from their zoned schools? I talk to plenty of folk from round your area and none of them have respect for FCS at all. So what do you do?