Newestguy

There may be some that enjoy the sport of wrestling as much as me, but I'd seriously doubt that anyone enjoys it more than me. Not quite sure what it is, but to be blunt, the atmosphere at the Cow Palace sucks. Maybe it's having separate Divisions. Maybe it's the inability to see from one side of the arena to the other. Maybe it's the way the arena is designed (it's designed to view animal shows). Maybe it's smaller crowds. It's probably a combination of all that, but whatever it is, there is no comparison to the atmosphere at the Cow Palace and any other State Tournament at an arena. I suppose it's better than nothing.

"As for attendance, the only way you fix that is to go to single all divisions tourney for the individuals. You do that then we could sell out Bridgestone. " Seeing as I currently have no kin folk in any TSSAA sports and I'm not currently coaching anywhere and truthfully don't have a vested interested in any current programs I haven't attended the State Tournament in a couple of years. However, if what I copy/pasted above would ever happen, I would never miss the event. I'm sure I'm in the minority but I'd pay $100 plus for an all tournament ticket.

There are goods and bads with everything in life goods 1) the venue is free 2) location is centralized 3) viewing is decent for spectators bads 1) it’s a national embarrassment 2) the kids wrestle on top of animal manure 3) there is dust and animal fecies in the air. It’s on the rails, on the seats, on the concession stands, on the water fountains, on the concrete and everywhere in the facility. Do you think the entire place is sanitized before the tournament? That would cost more than hosting it in Bridgestone Arena. 4) the attendance is embarrassing 5) There are no showers. There isn’t even a locker room for the kids to change. They have to change in the restrooms with the spectators. There are several health code violations going on here. In fact according to the TSSAA you can’t host a football playoff without shower facilities. How much more for a wrestling tournament?. How ironic that the main focus of the TSSAA preseason required coaches meetings is skin desease. I guess since it’s the end of the year it doesn’t matter. I’m shocked up to this point there haven’t been any lawsuits (just wait). 6) the athletes deserve a first class facility. They are wrestling in an agricultural center. It’s not an arena. It’s a barn for animal shows. It’s supposed to be the state tournament. The showcase. The ultimate event of a high school wrestlers career. Make no mistake. They are wrestling in a barn on top of animal fecies. You can deceive yourself all you want. It’s a National embarrassment.

Please forgive my ignorance Charger 64, but what is it about the split that made this possible?

Im glad you at least agree with me about the facility. I never said or implied that you lacked "wrestling experience" (Taketop). My first post was addressing the OP. There is apparently too many regions with too few AAA wrestlers. My point being there is no real fix as this is a direct result of the very bad (imo) decision to split the public school divisions. Tbis makes for a much less exciting tournament (magnified by the horrendous venue). If you (or anyone else) disagree with this, then you'd (or they) would probably change your (or their) mind if you (or they) had the opportunity to witness other state tournaments besides TN ps Good one about Goebbels

You sound like a legalist Taketop. Apparently you care more about semantics and splitting hairs instead of focusing on the issue. Much like the scribes and pharisees in Jesus' day. I agree it's been beat to death. And I agree (as previously stated) it doesn't seem that much can be done about it. I admit, I'm out of ideas as I tried to address this before and as it was happening. My post (as also stated earlier) was more of a rant and expressing frustration. Personally I could care less how many kids medal. What I do care about (although I've basically given up, as my interest is exponentially waning) is the lack of excitement that the Tennessee State Wrestling Tournament now brings. The TSSAA bureaucrats have managed to completely ruin a once pretty good event. If you've only been able to personally witness the TN State Tournament and haven't had the opportunity to watch one of the other 49 State Tournaments (I've personally seen 8 or 9), then that doesn't really qualify you to understand what I'm talking about. Instead of competing in a first class arena, they now wrestle in a cow barn on horse manure in an embarrassingly watered down field. I'm not taking anything away from the coaches (although I blame many of them for the current issues), or athletes, I simply speak the truth. Obviously you want to argue, but facts are facts.

Just about everyone that supported the D1/D2 split. Of course they hid behind "we need to split to grow the sport" instead of just speaking the truth - "we can't compete so we need to water things down". I'm very aware of why public and private split which had much more to do with football then it did from McCallie bringing in a couple poor kids from Murray County and the inner city. But of course there aren't any public schools that cheat. That only happens in the private school arena.

Yes, exactly the way it should be. Though I'd be a fan of awarding 5 team trophies. One for each Division that places the highest in the one team tournament.

Good post

Unless there's been a recent change Indiana is just one division. They also don't have a dual meet state championship

I agree with you. I know my comment isn't productive but it's just my opinion (and of course it's right). This is a perfect example of screwing something up that should've been left alone. Instead, a few people whined and cried and changes were made to appease the few. It's simply a reflection of our society. It's magnified within the bureaucracy of Public Education. One kid is confused so let them use any restroom they want. One kid can't keep up so slow everyone else down so no child is left behind. Don't get me wrong, the state tournament will always be exciting. It's wrestling and it's the best competition. Forgive my rant, but it's very frustrating to witness the state tournament implode compared to what it used to be. Especially when I saw this coming for 1000 miles away. forgive me for not having a solution other than "I told you so"

Whoever didn't see this coming when they divided the state into 3 different divisions is delusional. But remember "when you build it they will come. What we need to do is let everyone medal and that will make TN wrestling grow". rearranging regions doesn't solve the problem. The problem is they've tried to fix something that was never broken to begin with. Now it's broken.

"Allan Jones will play a huge role on who gets the job. " Maybe Soms was prophesying.

The important question no one seems to be asking is "who will be the next coach?"

Looks like SouCon has 3 AA's. One for Campbell. One for SIUE and one for Appy.

UTC finishes with -.5 points. Some kind of flagrant misconduct. At one point we were -2. Does anyone know our overall record at NCAA's over the last 7 years?

So, let's just say for the sake of argument. Heath got one extra takedown and won one extra match at the NCAA tournament his senior year and placed 8th. Would that make him an acceptable coach to you?

Was Jim Morgan an AA? Or how bout Ralph Manning?

Ummmno, this is just silly. To argue he won't produce AA's because he didn't AA himself is just stupid. There are plenty of coaches producing AA's that didn't AA. I could see a much better point if your arguing his coaching formula. Or his attention being on other things instead of 100% devotion to producing AA's. Or him focusing too much on character and not technique. But to saw he won't produce AA's because of his 25 year ago career fails.

" CHATTANOOGA WILL NEVER" The single greatest motivating statement ever. Especially for a wrestler.

Though he didn't All American, Heath was a very successful D1 Collegiate wrestler under Brands. I believe he is very high on the list of most wins at UTC. As far as Tennessee kids, I'm not sure who you expected to set the world on fire. The most accomplished TN kids over the last decade didn't attend UTC (Duncan, Watson, Croy, etc.) and also didn't set the world on fire.

Excuses?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4239778/Transgender-teenager-wins-wrestling-championship.html?ito=social-facebook

If the rules are the same as they used to be, the school he (or she) is attending must not have had a program for at least 3 years (that could be 5, I'd have to check for sure). If that's the case, then the student would be eligible to compete for another school (don't think it matters if it's public or private) provided both principles approve.