The Official TSSAA Apology

[Bulldog Fan #2]

I know it has been a long day for those who had to wait for the confusion to be fixed. Below is the release from the TSSAA concerning the issues.

 

 

 

TSSAA would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused due to mistakes made in some of the quadrants initially released in our football brackets. This has been a very frustrating process. One mistake made is one too many.

 

Our staff spent a minimum of three years studying this plan and felt comfortable going into the selection night that proper preparations had been made. After many hours working on and releasing brackets we felt comfortable were correct, we found several changes that had to be made in order to get each bracket set right.

 

Please know that our staff was determined to get every bracket correct even if it took a week to complete. The errors made are totally unacceptable. As Executive Director, I take full responsibility for them. We apologize to our school administrators, coaches, fans, student-athletes, and the wonderful staff at 104.5 THE ZONE for releasing brackets that contained errors.

 

We are not willing to blame those errors on a new system which definitely has some flaws that must be worked out. The system did not fail- we did. We constantly tell our schools to "Just Do Whats Right". As Director, I felt the right thing to do was the pull the brackets, make the correct changes, apologize to each of you, accept the well-deserved criticism, and move forward for the betterment of our student-athletes. This can also be used as a teachable moment for them.

 

Adults make mistakes because we are all human. Stand up and accept responsibility when it happens. On behalf of our staff, I accept that responsibility. We assure you that we will ask the TSSAA Board of Control to re-visit this playoff format at their November Board meeting.

[harley04]

and they still have teams that played week 9 and week 10 for conference championship playing each other again 2nd round

[Indian]

We assure you that we will ask the TSSAA Board of Control to re-visit this playoff format at their November Board meeting.

 

Go to four classes, use same format as before. That should keep the travel in region play relatively low and allow standard 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 playoff matchups in the first round. The only problems, some old district rivalries that have been brought back might be dissolved again, and you'd still have the problems in some situations of uneven number of teams in regions such as 4 or 5 in some, 8 or 9 in others. Look into it for other sports as well to keep the rivalries the same throughout.

[Old Warhorse]

Not a good day for the TSSAA and its management staff. The crediablity was not that great to begin with, now this fiasco. Some of the blame for the lack of performance of the TSSAA is on the school administrators who lack the any forsight in the management of a total state athletic program. We get from the TSSAA only what is tolerated by the members of the Board of Control.

[veerman8133]

I'd love to tell them what they can do with their apology. They had coaches driving 2-3 hrs in some cases swapping films only to say...oops my bad...we messed up. This is not the ncaa. This is high school football. This is about kids...not bucks. Oh wait...it is about bucks...cuz they are the T$$AA. You got "seedings", and i use that term loosely, that are totally screwed up. 1-9 teams seeded above #8? you have got to be kidding me. There are not enough teams in the state of Tennessee to have 6 classes. But, one more state championship game equals more $$$ for those suits in nashvegas. It's total crap and i don't care to say it. I'm usually pretty calm on this site but I can't hold back on this. I'm just a fan...but i can't even imagine how the players and coaches of these teams have felt today. The teams that got jilted and the coaches that spent gas money and their time today because they thought they were playing one team and then...oops...we screwed up so here's who you're playing. It's total crap. And i'm sure im not the only one that feels this way. These guys should've had a clue before last night. In the old system, at least you had a clue who you probably going to get and if you were in. This is not the ncaa tourney. These are not college kids and college coaches. I'm sure a few teams in the state played their last game last night and didn't even know it. And that is a shame. SHAME ON YOU T$$AA. You've let politics and money corrupt something that is truly pure...high school football. I hope you guys sleep well tonight.

[Fiftyishfootballmom]

Yes, this was a mess and it caused alot of confusion and inconvenience for alot of people. We all need to remember that our kids and coaches make mistakes week-to-week, zebras make their share a well. In all honesty, this apology was well written, honest and straightforward which is all you can expect when somebody makes a mistake of this magnitude.

 

Being human, we ALL MAKE MISTAKES. Accept the apology as it was intended and go forward. Good luck to teams in the playoffs

 

If you are one of those people who never makes a mistake, I apologise for all of us humans who make them. Now, lets go play some football and let the kids enjoy the end of this season.

[clintabbott]

It takes a better man to admit he made a mistake, than to try pass the buck.

[Fiftyishfootballmom]

You are right clintabbott and the apology was tendered with honesty. We might be the only two people in the state right now with positive comments about the TSSAA. We represent our school well (with class and sportsmanship), don't you think?

[tornadogold]

The TSSAA has humbled themselves by apologizing. It is what it is. No amount of griping and whining is going to change anything this year.

Let's move on!

[CADDYBRIE]

Yes, this was a mess and it caused alot of confusion and inconvenience for alot of people. We all need to remember that our kids and coaches make mistakes week-to-week, zebras make their share a well. In all honesty, this apology was well written, honest and straightforward which is all you can expect when somebody makes a mistake of this magnitude.

 

Being human, we ALL MAKE MISTAKES. Accept the apology as it was intended and go forward. Good luck to teams in the playoffs

 

If you are one of those people who never makes a mistake, I apologise for all of us humans who make them. Now, lets go play some football and let the kids enjoy the end of this season.

Very well said. I totally agree, time to move on.

[playtowin]

They said they have been working on this format for 3yrs. It sure didn't show Saturday morning. They made way too many mistakes. They didn't do there home work on teams outside of the middle TN. area. How can TEAM A beat TEAM B and TEAM C beat TEAM A.

 

Then they seeded them in there quad like this.

 

TEAM B------3 SEED record (8-2) very weak dist.

TEAM C------4 SEED record (7-3) very hard dist.

TEAM A------7 SEED record (6-4) same dist. as TEAM C and your reward is too

travel 2 hours. Then play the

number 1 team.

 

as you can see this is just one mistake of many. They (TSSAA) been working on this format longer then a day. Your apology needs to go to the kids who have worked alot harder on the field and in the classroom then you (tssaa) did. This format is something that takes alot of time to get it right. DO YOUR HOME WORK and stop taking the easy way out. ( just seed them by record, because I need to get home)..........TAKE THE TIME TO DO IT RIGHT OR STAY HOME. Maybe we need to seed you guys (tssaa) on your performance. Looking at the TSSAA record this year (0-10) SORRY guys you did not make the playoff. I'll stand up and say I'm sorry. I'll be the bigger man and say sorry, you (tssaa) have no idea how much work outside of the Nashville area there is. STOP TAKING THE EASY ROAD. I will not accept your apology, too many mistakes. Do things 1st class and build it to last.

[Stat_pack1]

Just correct it all by throwing it away and put some common sense back in it. This system this year was insane to began with, call it an experiment that didn't work , go back to last year and fine tune that one. Is sort of like the government, lets fix the problems we have in the past before creating another one for the future.

 

Apology accepted.