wrestlingcoach125

That is right. I knew it was around that time. That were some great ones!

I think these look really good. I think Isabell could slow the match down and lose by a minor decision. Campbell was a hard nose wrestler, but with his shoulders could have given him problems with Isabell. I think that Jadoobirsingh from Cleveland could be included, but it really hard to do this with only winning 1 state title. He had huge and hands and was able to control a lot of people. Overall I agree with almost all of them (not the winners, but by the margin).

I have found 2 for the future. All of these comments started with small schools traveling more distances for regions and someone commenting that big school should not have to travel as far. I am open and try to share my thoughts when appropriate. You are right life is not fair. Especially when a lot of my kids see this daily. I just wanted people to know some of the challenges people do not always see and need to know struggles go through when there is not any money in a program and without many students who can not pay dues or buy what they need to wrestle. They are getting better, but it is a struggle at times. Hopefully this gives hope to coaches that are struggling as well.

We really do appreciate it. I have enjoyed working with you all for advise and inclusion of camps and helping our first year wrestlers to get better. We just got a club (middle school) going this year and it seems to be going great. Thanks for all you guys do.

Again, no out. WE CREATED A CLUB THAT THEY COULD GO TO. We made a solution to the problem. I am glad that your kids can go and your wife helps out. I am not on here putting my personal life out there to defend why all the clubs are too far of a drive for parents to take their kids (most do not have cars) or putting students in my car. I am happy that this is a sacrifice you are willing to take. I am taking mine as well, but that is okay. I saw kids love a sport they have never been apart of.

You are right they are excuses, hence why we are starting a club they can go to. I love kids, but not at the sake of not being a father to my own or a husband at home. At some point to when we are talking about the split being participation trophies, then kids and parents have to take responsibility (what we should be teaching in our room anyway). The other part is being good men and that priorities should be ranked. Spending 5-6 months with my kids are great, but these clubs are run by someone other than the head coach most of the time. Not having a paid assistant causes havoc trying to run a high school team, middle school or club team, while doing a full time job. We are teaching kids that other people are more important which is true, but this is why coaches leave or their family leaves. This is my two cents and take it or leave it, but I am setting an example for my students on how to take responsibility and be a good man.

I do not mind those sports because that is how they get out to play, but again it is culture you have set and it takes time when you are in low-income schools. That is my point. Not that one division is better than the other, but the resources you have and location are big parts. Again, I came from a big school and coached at schools with 400 kids, 900 kids, and 2000+. There are big differences and what can be done.

Those are 3 teams. Those teams have great coaches and a well run farm system. Bartlett is getting there as well. Bolton had a kid place (freestyle). Those places are 25-30 minute drives to practice when kids parents work. Again, there are great club teams and these schools are succeeding, but in the middle of Memphis, what is there? You are creating culture, but it does not happen overnight when sports like football and basketball are played daily.

Outside of I-240, yes there are plenty of clubs. Most of these kids though do not have the resources to drive to these places. We are starting a club, but it takes resources to get a mat, shoes, headgear for kids who do not have the money. When we do not have money in our own high school program it makes it very difficult to start one. I understand the not excuse, but teaching and coaching 5-6 months on a low stipend to then turn around and run a club is time consuming and exhausting when you have a family as well. We do not have plenty of former wrestlers in the area that can coach a club team and run it well. Again, Memphis is just now really growing to its potential as you saw this year.

I am the fan of the one division, but it is not in the world we live in today. We either embrace that we are able to compete and have teams (unlike Mississippi) or we quit coaching and showing support of wrestling. If I have a kid win state, the conversation will not be you are one of three state champions. It still means something and we have to accept the changes. Again, I am from the two division pull through. It was harder to place in those years, but the top 6 did not place. If we want to get anywhere it is seed the top 16 in a 32 man bracket instead of drawing. We see a lot of "finals" in the quarters and semis. My last comment about the split is this, separation at state is okay if we agree to schedule matches with small schools in duals or compete in tournaments. This is how we get the whole state better. We also need to add middle school wrestling. For my school, Memphis does not have middle school wrestling or people to run middle school teams. No matter the division it makes it hard to get multiple state qualifiers and multiple state placers when guys do not have experience.

Yes, this past year Mitchell High School and BTW co-oped and Memphis Central added teams this year. One big school and one small school.

We know how to add, but where are you getting the numbers? TSSAA website only shows after the split.

Ummmno, take my last sentence and say it is wrong, yet you do not add anything to it. Did you read the post? I have done both. If you have not worked in a small school without resources and space to practice then why are you disagreeing?

I was not a big fan of the split as I wrestled in the public and private split. Small school makes less sense since there is less money there. I went to a school of 2,000+ and now teach at a school of 400. The budget is way different in both schools and so are the resources. A chance of getting a metal is a mute point when you have half of the kids to choose from and half of the kids in a practice room. Best of the best duals will show that the state champions in small school are just as good. My freshman year if we did the split, 4 of the medalist would have been from small school. I also beat a couple of state medalist in private school and I only placed once. It is giving schools with less a chance to grow a program. Since we added the small school division, there has been more schools that added. Public schools will not add programs if the interest is down which occurs when losing happens all the time. My next point is this, why would big schools complain when they travel to go to tournaments. I do not travel anywhere to go to regionals. Is that fair? I do not know, but it is what I have to do. Just like when the TSSAA thought of the split to help grow the sport, it added more schools. Does it water down state? Sure, but Best of the Best will take care of that. The split in duals happened way before the split in individual state. Trust me, placing state in small school is not easy.

In small school, we had to drive 3.5 hours to go to regional tournament. All but four teams are in Nashville. Most years if a Memphis team (small school) wants attempt to qualify for state we have to drive 2 hours to qualify for region duals, then 3 to go to state duals, then the next weekend (most years) drive back to Nashville, then if we have any qualify go back to Franklin. Do we have funding for all these trips? Most of the time we do not, but we pick and choose and some years if we are good we drive down and take a chance.