TFCA All-State Teams

[bulluckfan]

All-State Teams are to a certain extent popularity contests. Having said that, IMO, in Tennessee the TSWA selections seem to be a more accurate reflection of the high potential, impact, and significant contributor players. The coaches team is not optimal; however, that is not because of the coaches, more so the process. Too rushed, narrow, and without a validation process. TSWA, while not optimal either does seem to be generated with input from college coaches, and their perception of those players that will go on to the next level.

ruse?

 

thank you! this man is a genius! this is what ive said the whole time. thank you tswa!

[LSMFT]

5QB, 4RB, 6OL, 5WR, 4ATH, 2K and ONLY 1 TE. If I were a TE in 4A I would be upset off at not being selected. An athlete must be a QB that they did not want to put at QB since they already had 5. 27 All-State players on offense. Only 19 selected on defense only 1 coach worthy of being COY, yep those sportwriters sure know what they are doing.

bull!@#$fan, You need to tell the college all-american selection how to do there selections also! I looked on the TFCA website before the state championship games and they gave the coaches 2-3 weeks to get there nominations in. Look how many coaches sent nothing. Then you want coaches to mail in their votes when they dont even nominate. Now maybe if you gave them until the super bowl to make there selection they MIGHT stand a chance.

E.O.S.

[rebelswebsite]

As someone who has served on the Mr. Football/Mr.-Miss Basketball committees and several of the all-state committees in a variety of sports, let me see if I can help temper the conversation a bit.

 

The TSWA selects a very dilligent list of athletes in ALL football classes. Each member of the committee gathers nominees WITH STATS from each his/her area. In many cases, the nominees are discussed via email/phone or in person before the all-state meeting. Usually a dozen sports writers are at the meeting and it is usally a good mix of people from all three grand divisions. Kingsport, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Clarksville, South-Central Tennessee, Memphis, Jackson and rural West Tennessee is often well represented and all nominations are scrutinized carefully. I can recall when we knew of an athlete who wasn't on the list and the sports writer wasn't at the meeting, we called him at 1 a.m. to get the info just to make sure we had the best all-state team we could. Every nominee is considered and gets fair assessment. And it's done for all five public classes and each private class. The TSWA prides itself on its all-state teams. There are placements for each position on the field in addition to some auxilary spots, often known as "athlete." It really is done quite well and the state should be proud that it has good people on the committees (people like Mo Patton, Steve Hargis, Chuck Morris, Mike Hutchens and others) who feel it important enough to make every meeting, whether they have a team in the state finals or not.

 

As for Mr. Football, coaches and media nominate via fax/email/regular mail. Those nominations are tabulated and presented to a committee of sports writers. Those writers also keep track of players in their area and ask for help from other media in their region. The sports writers come from every grand division and from each splintered area from each grand division (like Tri-Cities, Knox area, Chattanooga area, Nashville, Murfreesboro, Gallatin, rural West Tennessee, Jackson, Memphis). It is a top-notch committee. There is discussion for athletes in each class, then the members vote for first, second and third place. First place gets three points and so on. The one with the highest votes is Mr. Football (or whatever sport). But before the person is awarded, the TSSAA makes a call to each school, often referred to as the "Hooligan Call," to see if the kid is worthy or a hooligan. If the kid gets the thumbs up from his school principal/director, he is awarded. There was an instance where a kid, who was voted Mr. Football and signed with a major D-1 school, didn't pass muster, so the award was rescinded. The TSSAA had to go back to find a high-balloted nominee for the third slot, who wouldn't have gotten the runner-up award in the first place. So there are backstops. Each grand division is well balanced to avoid an imbalance of the award distribution. Yes, each year, there is controversy, but the Mr. Football awards are done as well as the TSWA all-state ballots...and many of the same committee members are on both.

 

As for TFCA and AP, I don't know how they compile their lists, so I can't speak cogently about that. But TSWA does offer all-state lists for each class and every opportunity is afforded those to get their submissions in, even if it means a phone call at 0-dark-30 two minutes before the vote. One last thing, often those meetings take several hours and every committee member gets a say. It really is done quite well. I hope this clears up the process and the listing by TSWA and Mr. Football.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, et. al. to all.

[Warlock]

I DON'T SEE HOW JONATHAN YEARY ( JEFFERSON COUNTY) COULD BE LEFT OFF, HE WAS ONLY THE REGION 1-5A

 

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR !!!!!

[ricky_bobby]

well if each coach can nominate two, then why doesnt that coach nominate two, some only nominated one, and at my school last year there were 3 all state players so how does that work

[Mr. Mustang]

I guess I've written a novel on my "opinions" on the TFCA all state teams for more than one year. (PLEASE read my concerns on the 1A-2A-3A thread). In 2AA ball there are 58 schools and on this all state team there are only 8 schools represented on a 14 man squad. I've looked at this every which way and I just don't understand it. Three schools have two players each.

 

Huntingdon had a good back in Matt Weathers, but all state? Just because a coach has two votes maybe he doesn't think anyone on his team is deserving of such a high honor. If a coach from Red Boiling Springs nominates 2 players and only 6 coaches show up for the voting then his two players make the team. To be all state you have to be good not just the best player on your team. All state players are the ones that fans talk about after witnessing him play. All state players are the best. Not the player your coach nominates from a list of 58 schools.

 

My main gripe with this team is there are certain schools that make up the team every year. The coaches shouldn't be allowed to nominate players from their team. This would help validate the team. Is it true you have to be present to cast your vote? If it is, that explains a bunch.

[LSMFT]

I think the prudent thing to do is to call some of the coaches that are members of the TFCA and find out how they select there All-State team.

[ImaSavage]

Ya know what I think ??? I think that you guys should be happy about the Kids that DID make it... Congrats to those kids.... You guys make it seem like this list of young guys isn't good enough... THERE IS A WHOLE HECK OF A LOT OF PLAYERS IN THE STATE some are going to be left off.

[bounder]

Some coaches aren't members of the TFCA (like Oak Ridges) and some just don't submit anyone.... why I don't know maybe they are too lazy or too busy or maybe they just don't care. If one of your star players didn't make it why not go ask your coach if he submitted anyones name? Bet you learn something about your coach!

[LSMFT]

Great post.