KidGloves

Go figure.

I keep seeing a story about AJ being denied acceptance into UNC, but it’s the Internet and less than half of what you read is true. Anyone heard anything from A reliable outlet?

Man. I see coaches go to the table questioning rules all the time and not getting warned once. I can think of one in particular. He might as well go to the post office and put in a change of address and forward all mail to the table. Not my lane to say anything, but it’s very annoying.

I got you https://www.themat.com/news/2025/may/01/nfhs-rule-changes-key-change-in-high-school-wrestling-rules-focuses-on-reducing-injury-risk-with-revision-to-leg-block-cut-back

Lord Jesus…preach.

Anyone see anything earth shattering on this? you can do duals from smallest to biggest and now kids can wear leg sleeves with a pad. that was about it wasn’t it?

Great idea. I believe the timing would be everything though. Might I play Devil’s Advocate here though? We know a great many of the guys that win/place at state are generally cutting to get to their weight. Would they be willing to do so again for an unsanctioned/unofficial tournament right after state? Moreover, would they be willing to do so if they know there’s a solid chance that they might lose, which would delegitimize their TSSAA title for a match that comes with little to no benefit? I think the risk vs reward situation AND ego would be a pretty big hurdle to overcome as well. Ideally, great idea @soms and @ImYourHuckleberry but im a pessimist, so intend to find the negatives.

Of allllll the things I’ve said on here, THATS the one that makes me selfish? Wow. Look dude, in theory you probably aren’t wrong. It’s just that in practicality youre as wrong as can be and the football part proves my point exactly. The best athletes in the school aren’t coming unless there’s something to compete for. Period. Those guys have been told how special they are through their entire lives by youth football coaches, middle school coaches, high school coaches, and the vast majority have never even SEEN a wrestling mat, but by your logic, some linebacker at Smalltown High is sitting around thinking “Well, I wasn’t going to wrestle because there’s too many state champions, BUT if youre telling me I have to go beat Casen Roark, Jaxon Lane, Chase Walker, Mason Jakob, or one of the Cordero brothers, Coach, then I am IN!” Moreover, if we as a community continue to attach ourselves to the “if football coaches make wrestling mandatory in the offseason” then we might as well fold up tent and go on home. You expect THOSE dudes to jump on board because of the competition from having only one champion?? They have 16 billion football divisions. More than chinamen walking the planet, but THAT is going to do what every HS wrestling coach worth his own mettle has been trying to do forever? It sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous. And if not caring about all the other sports makes me selfish, I’ll gladly wear that label. Gladly. Now, I’ve said my peace. You’ve said yours. It appears as neither of our stances are open to debate. Let’s just move on, shall we?

Welcome back, Coach.

Im Happy to answer. First, I’m not the least bit concerned with other sports. I’m concerned about the one I know and love. Theres not one ounce of me that cares, even the slightest, about what they do in golf, track, or any of the other individual sports. WE have to make sure THEY are doing right by OUR sport. Now then, a minority of people love the idea of going back to the true state championship? Why? And if you’re good with that, maybe we should go back to carry-format for consolations, eh? Most of the states that do a single state champion do so out of necessity of population. Only California, New Jersey, and Indiana are true wrestling states that could have multiple divisions but don’t. Here’s the list of states with only one state champion that I could find; California, New Jersey, Indiana, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Vermont Aside from California, Jersey, and Indiana, point out which states would need multiple divisions. So we are really only talking about three states who consistently rank much higher than we do as a state. Here’s why one state champion would hurt wrestling in Tennessee - We. Are. Not. Those. States. I know, I know. Everyone here wants us to be. I remember the Cow Palace debate ad nauseam - “Iowa doesn’t have their state state championship in a cow palace, neither should we”. The answer is the same here. We aren’t those guys. Weve gotten much better. No one can say otherwise, but simply put, we NEED as many young men and women as possible to have exposure to and participate in the sport if we are to continue to grow and if you’re telling me that having Sam Everett School of Innovation in the same division as Baylor wouldn’t hurt participation in that sport, you’re wrong. Moreover, if you think it has anything to do with lil Johnny or lil Kelly not having the talent or haven’t worked enough, then you're as small minded as you sound and I pray that’s not the case. It’s opportunity. It’s big picture. Get your eyes off the trees and look at the forrest. Small schools don’t have the talent pool to draw from that the larger schools have. That’s a fact. They also generally don’t have the exposure to the sport as the larger school, which means it’s harder to get kids out to participate. Period. So if having multiple divisions allows smaller schools the ability to hang something in their gym about having a state qualifier, medalist, or champion inspires another kid or two to come out and give it a try, then explain to me what the harm is. I’ll wait. You want to be in a position to one day be like California, Jersey, or Indiana, then we have to have the multiple divisions now to keep growing at the clip we’ve grown as a state. The more kids that wrestle, the better off we are. If that A kid that squeaks out a medal once or twice flips that into a college experience on any level, then returns home and gives back, Thats growing. That’s good for the sport. That same kid in a division with the wreckers from the top tier A, AA, and D2 schools wouldn’t have that opportunity Save your “participation trophy” comments. That’s not what’s at play here People aren’t dumb. While there are ABSOLUTELY single A kids that can compete with and have tremendous success in the AA level, I’d wager most understand the difference. Just the same as AA with D2, lather, rinse, repeat.

One champion isnt the answer. It’s archaic. That hurts the sport so much more than it could possibly help it. Period. There’s no answer imaginable that could convince me otherwise, although I do enjoy a nice laugh, so post your rationale. And it’s probably a really good reason why an organization like the TSSAA should exist because not all of our ideas are good ones. The state has no business trying to run HS sports. Been to the DMV lately? Have you seen how well they do ANYTHING? Someone posted above that TSSAA were nothing more than Gang leaders protecting their turf, well, what do you think politicians are? Heck. Even if they appointed someone to do it, it wouldn’t be any better because whoever they put there still has to answer to the politicians. I absolutely believe the TSSAA needs more accountability. Look at the situation that happened in Cleveland. There are still several issues that a lot of folks would like answers for, INCLUDING folks from Cleveland. I imagine that stretches across all sports as well. Theyre not perfect. Far from it. Very far from it. But can you imagine the chaos of politicians making decisions based off of polls that effect their next election cycle?

Interested in seeing the responses for this one; With NHSCAs a few weeks ago and Adidas Nationals this weekend, I see a lot of social media posts about wrestlers being National Champions. What tournament(s) would you consider the champion to be a true National Champion? Super32? NHSCAs? Fargo? Tulsa? Any others?

Ah. I just pulled it from the TSSAA bulletin board. It might not have been updated.

Sycamore HS, Hixon HS, and Green Hill HS are all looking to fill HC jobs. Boyd Buchanan, Sevier Co, and Stone Memorial are looking to fill Assistant coach positions. I wonder what happened at Green Hill. I can’t imagine a coach voluntarily leaving when there’s a potential multi time state champion there.

Fair enough. I think this is evident when they needlessly shrunk the state duals field.