Shavonda

I only deal with factual information. Fact: I am not a disgruntled parent. Fact: I do not coach in the district. Fact: A school in Chattanooga will not schedule Cookeville anymore because of an issue with him being misleading regarding team transportation that WAS brought up before the TSSAA 3 years ago. Fact: 2 college coaches in Tennessee told me directly that they could not get any feed back from Bray regarding 2 former players and they attempted many times. One of them was sitting in my living room discussing a player of mine for recruiting when this topic came up. Fact: when this mentioned coach approached one of the players, the player knew nothing of interest from the school. Fact: Roper, Ledbetter, Hill, Bates, Payne, Case, Henderson. All of these kids had serious interest from colleges. Some never received the information. All should have or should play college ball at some level and on a scholarship. Only Bates and Payne will do so. And in neither case will it be or was it because of any direct involvement from Bray. Richmond and Schrum both have outside shots at it at the right schools. In response to your comment about Cookeville having 7/10 type players, Fact: Only 5 teams in the entire state had two or more players on the same team ranked in the unapproved website top 100 last season. Cookeville was one. Fact: Cookeville has been one of the largest schools in the state for years and top 3 for the last several years. They have plenty of talent to choose from. Period. Fact: they play in a very weak district. Aside from White County and now Stone. They should win that district routinely. Fact: while they have had some success, they have underachieved. 2012-2013 2 losses to a bad Cumberland Co team, one of which was in the district tourney. 2013-2014 2 losses to a less talented Clarkrange team. Fact: Numerous high school coaches from Cookeville to Johnson City, had Cookeville as the team to beat coming into the 2014-2015 season. This is not up for your debate. This was actual facts. Not opinions. Fact: I do this for a living. I have been at the high school and college levels in this state. I am fairly certain that I am a little more aware of what is being said from a collegiate level regarding Cookeville and the state for that matter. If you want to discuss opinions and gossip, which you seem interested in doing, I could do that as well. Like how the Carver kid was set to transfer to Jackson County also. In fact, it was nearly a done deal and being directly blamed on Bray, or how a set of parents directly caught Bray in a lie regarding a college coaches evaluation of their kid. Fact: Bray is not a bad man. He is not evil. He is just a coach that has lost his way and maybe even his love of the game and teaching. That is all. 

Agree!!!! I don't think nobody could of said that better.

all I can do is laugh at this stuff

 

As for the original question... Yes, apparently both Shrum brothers have transferred back to UHS... although I can't see how they would be eligible, but I am not a tssaa rules expert. 

 

Phillips transferred to JCHS.  He will probably start for them, but in no game last year did I see him ready to start for Cookeville. JMO.  

 

Payne did transfer to goodpasture.  I believe he went to live with his dad.  

 

 

All this Cookeville should go to state all the time is just nonsense.  What UC man and alot of others forget, is that we have very similar talent to other teams in the UC.. but yes, we have more of it.  That still doesn't stand up to the likes of murfreesboros and sometimes the chattanoga teams who also have alot of students, and BETTER talent.  Its like this, we may have 5 guys who are 7/10.  but a boro or good chat team may have 4 guys at 8,9/10 and a couple more at 7/10, etc...    There have been 2 maybe 3 teams since the current coach Bray has been here that have even had a remote shot at state, and that would have had to have some good luck and great play.  

Payne did go to Good Pasture to live with his dad because of the things that Cookeville didn't do, and that was the my decision if Cookeville would of been doing what was needed then he would of still been there, but no I feel like they wanted him to fail and not move on to what he likes best play college basketball. Its may take him a little more time than needed but by any means he will make that happen.

I was made aware of this discussion this morning and felt the need to chime in on the subject. There are a lot of claims being made on both sides of this argument so I felt the need to weigh in from a coaching standpoint. Yes I am a basketball coach in Tennessee. It may be very un PC of me to do this but occasionally I get disgruntled at people who "know the real story". Cookeville High School is widely considered one of the most chronic underachieving teams throughout the state of Tennessee. When one of the "big boys" in the state want a win they know they can get, they schedule Cookeville. This is commonly accepted among coaches in the state. They know the team is likely to have several really good players on the team but that they will always find a way to lose the game, be it through coaching the majority of the time. Coach Bray will routinely "give up" if his teams fall behind and coaches know this. However, Cookeville does typically win 20 + games a year. AS THEY SHOULD! They also have approximately 15 automatic wins on the schedule every season. They perform well in the regular season and are guaranteed to fold in the post season. Two season ago, Cookeville had what was considered one of the best starting 5 units throughout the state of Tennessee. The Payne kid was their 5th starter for Christ sake! That team lost to Cumberland County twice that year! I remember speaking to a coach from the Chattanooga area and him saying " if I had 4 of those players, we could make a run at state"! I speak for a few college level coaches when I say that Coach Bray did nothing to assist a single player of his to get to the next level. The fact that the Roper and Ledbetter kids are not playing college basketball somewhere is an absolute and direct knock on him as a coach. I spoke with a college coach from the east Tennessee area and he told me he made several attempts to reach out regarding the Roper kid and never got a single response from the coach. There were 2 coaches from colleges in Kentucky that told me they inquired about Ledbetter only to be told not to waste their time because he did not want to play. If this was the case, it should have been left up to him and his family to pass that along instead of Coach Bray stopping the process in its tracks. Maybe 3 or 4 seasons ago, a team from the southeast part of the state simply refused to schedule his teams again when  it was found out that he directly lied about transportation issues regarding getting his players to a game. I could say these things about a lot of coaches in the state. A lot of them are in the business for the wrong reasons. I am not saying Coach is a bad man but he routinely under performs, his players typically never go on to play at the next level, and where there is smoke, there will be fire. That many kids do not leave a program in one summer without cause. And there is very much some truth to the rumor surrounding the assistant that departed. While I cannot speak directly about a unwritten promise in place for him to take over or anything of that nature, I can speak with a great deal of certainty that there was something to that. Under Brays tenure there have been numerous players that should have moved on to college basketball. Roper, Ledbetter, Henderson (at some level), Hill should have received a scholarship instead of being a walk-on. The kid last year, Mason, was not his. He transferred in and the family was on top of things enough to make that happen. The Case kid from a couple years ago had some interest from a few schools but received no feedback from the coach when inquiries were made. I have heard some nightmare details about the Payne kid that left regarding coaching and lack of assistance. I can not for the life of me make sense of how you stand back and let Schrum brothers (that are solid and major contributors) just walk. Then you lose a back-up PG in Phillips, that should be garnering much more playing time, to a border county rival! Payne is a possible Division 1 player at the right school, matter of fact, I think he has division 1 offers. The younger Schrum brother is a naia player at the right school. It is just not a good situation. Then an assistant leaves. Look, that assistant will be the bigger man and handle it in a PC manner, but do not be blind to the mass of personnel they lost. That does not happen by accident or coincidence. It will be an intriguing season in Cookeville. I expect White County to RUN away with the district!  Stone will be down considerably, Cookeville will be a shell of what could have been, and no other team in the district is worth mention. With Yoder, Simmons, and Payne gone, no one in that district will be able to contain Henderson. He will have a massive season. Sparkman was spot on regarding undefeated freshmen champs. This years team should have been one that made pushes and noise. Not now. Coach Bray will continue to misuse his players. He has a small pocket of talent left but it will likely be be wasted.

I really do appreciate this post cause I have said all those things about Bray the whole time. I just didn't understand why no offers was given to Roper and the other considering how well of ball players they where. I will also add that yes John Payne has had offers and I feel like if I would of kept him in Cookeville he would of never been aware of those, but me and his dad has also put in work ourselves to put his name out there. John did all the work on the court. I really feel like he didn't have the support that he should of had from teammates or the head coach. If it wasn't for us as in me his mother and his dad and the other family support he would have no self esteem they tear you down to nothing, and make you believe your nothing. Bray never pushed them to the next level. I feel as a mother that he always wanted them to remain the same and never move on. The other player leave cause of other sports and they make them feel important and never put them down. They are a team and you could never feel like a team playing basketball cause its like they are all divided. Where John is now they have welcomed him and is preparing him to go on to the next level with basketball and education and as a mother I feel the decisions I have made for him was the best, so again I would like to thank you for your comment.  

hey Cookeville fans or alum why are all the Cookeville players jumping ship? what is going on over there? heard that payne transferred to goodpasture and shrum went to baxter.

There must be a lot going on over there. I'm not really sure what happened to all the other boys but John Payne is my son, and I took him out because one they didn't even have him on the right track to attend a four year college, and for two I feel like they didn't appreciate him as a player. The coaching well i'm sure you know about that. Coach Herd he was great but nothing was played right or handled in the right way and never will as long as Bray is there as coach. I'm sure that is why everybody else as well. I have heard them all complain about the coaching. My son started today as a senior at Good Pasture and for once i'm feeling good about the decision I have made to get him far away from Cookeville as possible. I do want to say good luck to Jadon he will raise to the occasion he is the star of the team.