URSUS

A very good player.

Cards win.

Three things. One, most of the people who wanted out of Metro schools are already gone. Obviously GCS has alot but to think that there is a large untapped resource of potential of new students coming from Metro is wrong. Two, Goodpastures location in Madison is farm from ideal. Communities change. Davidson Academy, DCA and Ezell are all in the same boat when it comes to enrollment. Three, Hendersonville, Beech, Station Camp, etc. are all good schools with solid programs. You are not going to get alot of kids from Sumner County. GCS already has a work study program in place. They have had one for some time.

TSSAA website says they are taking application through Jan. 31st.

When was Redbank's last playoff appearance?

I am told Ralph Potter is under enormous pressure at B.A. as they did not hire him to finish third or fourth. In fact, I heard last fall that he inquired about the Ooltewah job and would be interested if Bennie retired, which everybody knew was going to happen except Bennie's best friends, apparently. Also, Tim James worked for Principal Bean at East Ridge High and they are said to be best friends. Don't count that out as an option either. I think that Potter is a definite possibility. There is some discontent at BA.

Thanks for posting!

It would be interesting to compare both regular season and playoff schedules of WSHS and MHS to see if there was an obvious difference.

Significant pay increase? Better facilities?

Curious about the following: In college are all pitches called by the coaching staffs? Do most summer league coaches call the piches or let the catchers call the game? Why do the vast majority of HS basbeall coaches call the pitches but it seems much less likely in HS Softball?

Interesting list. Is this an "official" list? ( are all these men getting interviews? 1. I am not surprised by King at Dyer Co. There is are always coaches that are willing to leave a good program just for a chance to be the head coach. He is a possibility. 2. Baskin is a metro guy and a good coach. God knows that a person from Metro would be used to a dysfunctional school system and how to deal with it. 3. Same for Komisar. He is not getting the Hillsboro job (actually from what I hear he doesn't want it because of challenges that the administration of HHS pose). He would also be solid choice. 4. Do not know much about Schrenk but he is currently working in the 2nd most dysfunctional school system in the state and that explains his interest. He has done all he can considering what he has at CNW. 5. Rewis is the guy that really helped turn Fairview around. I think he would tell you going to Heritage was a mistake but he other than that he has been successful at turning programs around. 6. Phillips is a up and coming coach. Experience at Columbia before EHHS. He knows the school and kids and that is an advantage. 7. Harris has been at the MS for years and has had a lot of success there. I thought there was an issue with him not being certified (what is his job title at EHHS anyway?) but I have heard he is finally working towards a degree. If mommies and daddies get to make the choice it is probably him because they know him from MS (plus he was going to FHS and came back and I do not think he would do so if he did not think he was getting the job) I will be interested to see how the hiring process works and who gets chosen.

In order to interject some civility/common sense to the discussion I offer the following from ???Big Chief??? which was posted in the thread on whether or not HS softball should be moved to the fall: The TSSAA does not get any "gate money" from any regular season games. The schools keep all of it. Only post season tournaments give money to the TSSAA and they are never rained out completely. You have to finish them. Also, if it was not softball players missing out on senior activities, it would be volleyball players, or soccer players or track runners or tennis players or baseball players. Get the point? Everybody on here is talking about the TSSAA doing what is best, but they have to do what is best for EVERY athlete involved, not just softball. If you move softball to the fall then you have to move soccer to the spring. Only thing is , boys soccer is in the spring so you would have two different soccer teams trying to use the same soccer field. OK so move the boys soccer to the fall. Well then you get in the way of football. It is a circle that you cannot solve to please everyone. Guys, hate to bust the bubble for ya' , but that will never happen because football is the only real money-maker the TSSAA has. Why do you think a sport with 2/3 the number of teams participating had 8 divisions last year compared to 3 for basketball/baseball/softball? Anyone who says they will not move softball because of money is delusional. They have NEVER made any kind of money off of softball (or baseball/track/tennis/ soccer etc.) If it was only about money then the TSSAA would only sanction football and everything else would be outside of school. That is the truth. Every parent wants their kid's (or their own) passion to be at the top of the list, but there is no way to make it equitable for all sports. If you are that worried that your child will not be in the 1% that is a recipient of a partial softball scholarship, then by all means just play travel ball. However, I challenge you to add up all the money you spent on equipment, travel, lessons, fundraisers etc. over the 12 years leading up to that partial scholarship and compare it to the 1/3 off you will get on tuition. I bet you are still on the short end. Enjoy the opportunity to play the sport you love, but understand that with specificity comes a price. You will lose out on something else somewhere. The law of give and take is always present. Am I against travel ball? Absolutely not. My son is playing it now. However, I feel sorry for some parents who lose all perspective of real life

At smaller schools I am sure that is a potential problem. In terms of school related activities I think there are potentially more conflicts with softball being in the fall than in in the spring. In the fall you would compete with soccer, volleyball, cross country and to some extent band. And don't be surprised if there are not a few basketball coaches that would be less than thrilled at the prospect of not having some of there players for conditioning and the 1st practices/games. In the spring softball is competing with track. Although in 5 years I think lacrosse will become a tssaa sanctioned sport as opposed to a club sport and could be added to the spring school sports conflict list. To be honest I don't suppose there is a time now that any sport can operate without conflict. Consider fall ball softball, fall league lacrosse, fall marching band, spring AAU basketball, spring club volleyball, summer league softball, summer basketball practices and camps, etc. I can see advantages to both spring softball and fall softball but I think the decision has some pretty far reaching effects on a lot of programs and people. And once again this is only my opinion.

stlbrd, You seem very smart (a mr.noitall kind of smart). I bet you and a lot of others realize that the "in the spring group" and the "in the fall group" both might have motives that have little to do with the what is best for the game as a whole. But I certainly could be wrong.

Certainly there are Hs where there might only be 5 girls that really want to be there but I think there are HS where everyone of the girls is super committed. I have seen both types of programs. I guess I am still up in the air on whether moving the sport to the fall is best for the "sport" or best for certain players. I also wonder about motives of "keep it in the spring" camp as well. It seems to me there is still an underlying sense that HS has become useless to some people and that summer league ball is where players should be focusing all there efforts. I wonder if this is also best for the game of softball. But I might be bringing up some things that no one else sees as issues. I wish I could say that I am 100% sure of the answer but I honestly do not know.

Alabama does allow 18 contest and 7 tournaments. Ga. places pretty strict limits on the number of games you can play.

280% growth in the last decade. Realistically the popularity of girls lacrosse could force softball to become a 2nd tier sport if softball does not keep pace. Perhaps a move to the fall would help counter act the growing trend of girls choosing lacrosse. Again just an opinion.

I find a few things interesting about the subject. 1. Ga. has both softball and volleyball in the fall. 2. Baseball is still a spring sport in Ga. 3. Lacrosse and girls track seem to be the 2 big spring sports for Ga. I heard on a sports program recently where lacrosse is the fastest growing girls sports these days (outpacing softball growth 2 to 1). Is that the reason why Ga. I do not know if that is true or not but could that be a deciding factor. If I remember correctly that program said both baseball and softball participation were on the decline. Just curious.

Ga. has decided that high school softball is irrelevant. They know that many people would not mind if HS did not even have softball. I am not saying that is right but it sure seems that way. Best of luck to HHS on getting some games in on Sun. I know it is disappointing.

Who won it?

Looks like a great tournament!

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CoachT that is a great question. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" /> I am really looking forward to hearing some peoples opinions.

Why would players be willing to pass up opportunities to be seen in fall exposure tournaments to play HS softball? Especially if the goal is to play at the next level. I would think that a lot of summer ball coaches who really specialize in helping softball players earn scholarships would stress the importance of the top notch softball players needing to play in those tournaments. Realistically what is the motivation for the softball elite to play HS ball either in the fall or the spring? I am interested in hearing some peoples opinions on the subject.

All this is very interesting. Help me understand a couple of things. First, would moving HS softball to fall allow for more dates for girls to be evaluated? I agree the weather would be nicer but I still think some smaller schools that have coaches that work with multiple sports might be looking at issues. I do not know how popular moving volleyball to the spring would be. I think the Club Volleyball people might have an issue (but I really do not know enough about cub volleyball to know). I am just trying to wrap my head around the idea. Second, wouldn't most of us agree that except for football (due to cost and liability) high school athletics are becoming increasingly less important. Basketball recruiting is done through AAU primarily, volleyball recruiting goes through club volley ball (I think) soccer plays year round and most coaches go to see summer tournaments, softball recruiting is really dominated by summer leagues (the tournaments that some of you spoke about earlier), and baseball (not quite to the extent of softball) is still recruited more heavily in the summer than during the actual HS season. Finally by moving HS ball to the fall think about how much more practice summer ball could get going into the summer. Summer coaches would no longer be put behind the 8 ball trying to get ready for qualifier while waiting for players to finish their HS season. Wouldn't this make summer teams from TN more competitive in the summer.