Carlton Flatt announces retirement

[Batts]

Hey Batts..........why are you calling me a "bitter man"? haha I'm not bitter at all, just saying that for the majority of his championships it was a unlevel playing field.

Well, I guess it is possible that you are not a bitter man. You could be just impersonating a bitter man. With all that jealous drivel, you are doing a great job.

[wingman10]

Tom Moore is doing fine.

[big red big blue]

mcNineMVP--that is pretty well said. I think, mostly, that Coach Flatt is a winner. Guys who win a lot generally have strong A-type personalities and tend to "hurt people's feelings" along the way. Just part of the territory. Look at Bill Parcells, Bill Belicheck, Steve Spurrier, etc. I think that's where a lot of the controversy comes from.

 

The only real beef I have with Flatt is that he didn't move BA up to AAA in the mid 80s. By then, it was clear that they were far outperforming their numerical peers and needed to seek greater competition. They weren't breaking the rules but they were taking full advantage of what you could do within the rules as a private school. I don't think BA ever--literally--lost a regular season region/district game until d2 in 1997. That is a sure sign that a move up was long overdue. AAA was a totally different beast back then and I don't think BA would have dominated as they did in AA. By the time he moved up to the highest class available--5A--in 1995, it was too late. 5A was (and still is, as you alude to) a totally watered down product compared to the old 3A.

 

All that said, the guy CREATED a program from the ground up and made it a winner. And he never compromised the school's ideals to do so. I remember very well in the 80s a couple of stud athletes who were basically good kids that were kicked out of school for violating their conduct code. They didn't really do anything drastic, but rules were rules and they were gone. No doubt those kids would have helped win champaionships, but they chose to stick to their beliefs.

[uncfan13]

Carlton Flatt is the ultimate conundrum when it comes to high school football in the state of Tennessee. I've met the man several times through the years and he was always above board and cordial to me, and for that I am appreciative. He was/is an outstanding football coach and molder of young men, and he will be sorely missed. I wish he, and his family the best in their future. I have known Jeff Brothers since I was 8 years old and their search should start and stop there. He's a true Brentwood Academy guy and he's still young and would be there a long time. Brian Rector would be a great candidate, but he's doing such great things over on Wilson Pike that it would be a shame for him to leave for that job for the reasons that I will bring up in a moment.

 

However, I have to admit that a lot of what BA accomplished in the late 1980's, into the mid-1990's is a bit tarnished in my eyes. Its not all their fault, because similar things happened at Riverdale (talking about a pot calling the kettle black Rankin) and Hoover, AL, but there was certainly some "player steering" going on from at least one junior pro football system in Southern Davidson County into the Brentwood Academy pipeline that I am directly aware of. I mean, it was blatant!! There were holdbacks of kids when they got enrolled there for "maturing" and other issues. As I have always said, it isn't just coincidence that the Antioch's, Hillsboro's, and Brentwood High's started having a lot of success as soon as the BA-TSSAA suit hit around 1997. BHS didn't ever win more than 5 games in a season between 1985-1997, as far as I know. With that said, I hate this stinking watered down split, and I wish somebody smart at the TSSAA (insert joke here______) would reunite the divisions under 4 classes (we might be big enough for 5 classes now, but it was a reach when they did this 10 years ago) with a 1.5 multiplier, but watch these privates like a hawk on the financial aid side.

 

Now, I admit that I am a proponent of public schools, so I am a bit biased, but the BA's of the world did a lot of damage to public schools in general, and public school sports in particular. I'm jealous of the days when our father's played high school ball at Central, Cameron, Cumberland, Antioch, Overton, Hillsboro, Madison, DuPont, Pearl, East, Litton, Hermitage, and the list goes on with the guys they went to church with and lived down the street from. These public schools used to be woven into a fabric of the community and were something that all people, rich or poor, black or white, could unite and support on Friday's in the fall. White flight (kids read up on that for social understanding) and the establishment of these "Christian educational systems" in the 1970's have absolutely killed the public educational system in this country. I can't blame the parents for wanting their kids to have a better learning environment, but maybe this vigor should have been utilized to better the public school systems that these same parents were products of.

 

I don't mean to get too political about it, but I hope you all understand where I'm coming from. I have no qualms with Carlton Flatt, the man, and I wish him the best in whatever he decides to do. He has worked his butt off to be a success and the mission was accomplished!!!! My concerns are more with the system as a whole, than it is with Coach Flatt. Coach Flatt just used the system to his advantage, and there is ultimately nothing wrong with that. Good Luck Coach!!!

 

You got waayy political and just plain wrong when you attributed the sorry state of public education to white flight and "Christian educational systems". Those are the results of the education establishment (NEA), Federal government and ACLU screwing up public education. The breakdown of the nuclear family contributed mightly. An ancillary effect is that the only schools that can effectively discipline children (or that's what all my public school teacher friends tell me) are private and as we all know one of the most important attributes that successful teams have in common is desciplined athletes.

[USA1]

mcNineMVP--that is pretty well said. I think, mostly, that Coach Flatt is a winner. Guys who win a lot generally have strong A-type personalities and tend to "hurt people's feelings" along the way. Just part of the territory. Look at Bill Parcells, Bill Belicheck, Steve Spurrier, etc. I think that's where a lot of the controversy comes from.

 

The only real beef I have with Flatt is that he didn't move BA up to AAA in the mid 80s. By then, it was clear that they were far outperforming their numerical peers and needed to seek greater competition. They weren't breaking the rules but they were taking full advantage of what you could do within the rules as a private school. I don't think BA ever--literally--lost a regular season region/district game until d2 in 1997. That is a sure sign that a move up was long overdue. AAA was a totally different beast back then and I don't think BA would have dominated as they did in AA. By the time he moved up to the highest class available--5A--in 1995, it was too late. 5A was (and still is, as you alude to) a totally watered down product compared to the old 3A.

 

All that said, the guy CREATED a program from the ground up and made it a winner. And he never compromised the school's ideals to do so. I remember very well in the 80s a couple of stud athletes who were basically good kids that were kicked out of school for violating their conduct code. They didn't really do anything drastic, but rules were rules and they were gone. No doubt those kids would have helped win champaionships, but they chose to stick to their beliefs.

In the early 80's anyway, I recall the problem being that BA was a single A size school. You could only voluntarily move up one above your size. After that, you had to be voted into a district. The district with Gallatin and Mt Juliet was the only district to award (1) vote to BA. It was Mt Juliet, who was coached by Coach Flatt's cousin that usually voted "yes". One vote was not enough, of course. He relentlessly attempted to schedule games with AAA schools, but was rarily successful. The great Maplewood series was one of the exceptions. Most of the AAA coaches used to say "...everything to lose and nothing to gain".

[Sweep Left]

Well, I guess it is possible that you are not a bitter man. You could be just impersonating a bitter man. With all that jealous drivel, you are doing a great job.

 

 

okay........some see a brash person as being confident, others see them as cocky. You see me as being jealous of Flatt, I see me as being critical of his techniques.

Good luck to the new BA coach........don't get too settled in. We know what happened to the last one! haha

[mtnrasslin]

With the ringers on his team he could afford to be nice.......think of all of the years when his team from all over beat some little county team or a city school with legitimate athletes from their school with his band of recruits. His beligerence toward the TSSAA will cost all the schools for years as they repay all of his legal fees. His success from recruiting has split our schools into divisions that will never be united again. I'm sorry to disagree 2P, but I will not miss him.

Are you sure it was not beligerence by the TSSAA that created the problem?

[curiousdave]

okay........some see a brash person as being confident, others see them as cocky. You see me as being jealous of Flatt, I see me as being critical of his techniques.

Good luck to the new BA coach........don't get too settled in. We know what happened to the last one! haha

he's not coming back again

he came back after the lawsuit and to get the wins record

now that he has the most wins

he's through

[Kevin38]

A significant part of the student body is not from the Brentwood community . . . it's a private school and has to draw students from a much larger geographic area to survive. There is a surprizingly large contingent of students who come from Murfreesboro each day (none of which are "superstars" to my knowledge . . .).

 

Certainly BA has gotten a lot of great athletes -- if you had a promising player/student, wouldn't you consider sending them to a school where you knew they would be coached well, where there would be stability and where they would most likely get a chance to play for a championship? I would agree that Coach Flatt did a great job with what he had -- that's what great coaches do. My issue is with those on this board who think that the only reason he did well is because he somehow illegally recruited star athletes to the school. I would also contend that Coach Flatt was pretty quick to play up in classifications once there was a mismatch of talent . . .

 

When you consider the enrollment at BA compared to the # of great football players over years that play there you cant deny that recruiting was taking place. Now technicoloy they were not breaking the rules however, public schools were not able to do this b/c they were not a private school. So, you ask diff people to come to your school as a private school b/c that is how you make money and continue the existence of the school. That is very understandable, when all of the kids you ask to come to the school or atleast a high % of them are very large or are very good athletes in football or whatever sport that is recruiting and it does give that school an advantage over public schools. I am not trying to disscredit Coach Flatt or even say that he wouldnt be a great coach at a public school with whatever hand he was delt on a yearly basis. I am just saying that we dont now and never will know.

[utfootball08]

Look at his individual seasons in The Tennesseean. The third season (second of varsity) they went 1-10. They really went 9-2, but had to forfeit 8 of the games because of an ineligible player. Not saying that it has anything to do with recruiting because a similar thing happened to CPA a few years back...but its kinda interesting.

[mikey65]

Are you sure it was not beligerence by the TSSAA that created the problem?

Exactly.

[Batts]

okay........some see a brash person as being confident, others see them as cocky. You see me as being jealous of Flatt, I see me as being critical of his techniques.

Good luck to the new BA coach........don't get too settled in. We know what happened to the last one! haha

You assume way too much. I did not say you were jealous of Coach Flatt. I said that you spewed venom and jealous drivel, which is routine from someone who had their butt chapped a few times at his hands. Ringing any bells????