So are you happy with 8 State Champions?

[Stonewall]

I congratulate all the State Champions. Everyone in their classifications had the same chance, and bascially 8 teams were able to play within the given guidelines and win. As an older fan and as a guy who loves Tennessee High School football, I wonder if we're doing the right thing. Maryville will be a threat to win any classification regardless of change; ditto with Alcoa. I'm not sure about the the rest. Case in point....Greeneville. They had a fine football team with great team speed and they put this Championship together over several years of obviously hard work. Still, with the watered down classifications that indicate our state has the population of Florida, which it doesn't, here's who they faced down the stretch of their regular season:

 

South Greene High School * Away

09-24-2010 Tennessee High School Away

10-01-2010 West Greene High School * Home

10-08-2010 Cumberland Gap High School * Home

10-15-2010 Chuckey-Doak High School * Away

10-22-2010 Grainger High School * Away

10-29-2010 Claiborne High School

 

The first three rounds of the playoffs weren't much different. I'm not surprised that they smashed the scoring record. Hear me now, this isn't their fault and they simply played who was put in front of them. Still, has our state prostituted our system in the name of making the most money? Greeneville lost a pre-season scrimmage to Dobyns-Bennett who was gone after the 2nd round. If our state had four classes which is truthfully all our population really needs, they would have had to walk through either Maryville or Alcoa. At least one of the A or AA Champions would likely have had to face one another as well. I don't mind what the private schools are doing as they are a separate deal. I'm just an old school guy who would like to see us do things the right way. We had a great playoff system and we've junked that and no one likes the new one. Now we've got 3 more Champions than the state of Georgia and I wonder if any of you are concerned about this as well?

[TruRebelPlaya]

Congrats to Greeneville. They are state champions. Without "taking away" any team's victory I would agree that we would do fine with four classifications, maybe even three. But keep in mind that it works both ways: Maryville would have had to "go through" Greeneville, who had a fantastic team this year.

[midtnmale]

Speaking to the topic heading without getting into the silly debate of which is the best team between Alcoa, Greeneville, and Maryville, I would like to see the dissolution of the private/public split and go to no more than five classifications. If the public and private split should remain then there should be no more than four classes on the public side and one on the private side.

[alt1958]

I tend to think we have overloaded our state with champions. Georgia only has 5 classifications and the private schools play up levels to make the competition work. We have no business having 8 state champions in Tennessee considering our population.

 

I was against splitting the private schools when they did that. My answer was to bump up the ones that recruited in classification to the largest and let them compete. If they still won so be it. I watch the Georgia Championships and I don't see the privates down there competing in the large classifications winning it all, every year.

 

I think at the most 5 classes would be all that we need, and frankly I think 4 would suffice. Please don't think I am belittling any of the winners, but look at the scores of some of these games and tell me that the championship pool is not diluted.

 

State Champinship games are supposed to down to the wire battles like Baylor-Einsworth, and Maryville-Smyrna.

[devilsden]

Kinda like SEC championship games should not end up 56-17 either. Bet Auburn has to "vacate" there SEC title before to long and Cam will "give" back the Hiesman.

[tigertom]

No.Makes the state look silly.Why not have ten or twenty classes? Tssaa has way to much politics in it. Congrats to all the champions you will always be a state champ.

[barnowl]

The 8 state champions are to many. Go back to the five classification regions, the way it was before the virginia plan(?). As for putting everyone back together, no way it's not fair to play teams that can go get players they need or want and public schools have to take what is zoned for them.. In Georgia they have more of a population to draw from and the majority of that population is very proud to send their kids to the public school they are zoned and do not look down on public education or are scared to send their children to school with common people.

[alt1958]

The 8 state champions are to many. Go back to the five classification regions, the way it was before the virginia plan(?). As for putting everyone back together, no way it's not fair to play teams that can go get players they need or want and public schools have to take what is zoned for them.. In Georgia they have more of a population to draw from and the majority of that population is very proud to send their kids to the public school they are zoned and do not look down on public education or are scared to send their children to school with common people.

 

As a Bradley fan I never said not to play Baylor. And they had players from Cleveland that would have attended Bradley or Cleveland at the time. When Bradley had good teams we competed and won a fair share of games. And that was back in the day of "Red" Etter still. If you want to be the best, be ready to take on all comers, and beat them.

 

Guess I'm old school in that regard.

 

I never understood the mentality of the TSSAA not just bumping Brentwood Acadamy up to AAA and telling them that if they wanted to recruit they had to compete with the biggest and the best Tennessee had to offer. And if they didn't want to do that quit recruiting. Simple answer, simple solution.

[my2cents]

As a Bradley fan I never said not to play Baylor. And they had players from Cleveland that would have attended Bradley or Cleveland at the time. When Bradley had good teams we competed and won a fair share of games. And that was back in the day of "Red" Etter still. If you want to be the best, be ready to take on all comers, and beat them.

 

Guess I'm old school in that regard.

 

I never understood the mentality of the TSSAA not just bumping Brentwood Acadamy up to AAA and telling them that if they wanted to recruit they had to compete with the biggest and the best Tennessee had to offer. And if they didn't want to do that quit recruiting. Simple answer, simple solution.

Bump BA up to AAA? You are kidding right? Before the split occured to division II There were 5 classes A through 5A. BA VOLUNTARILY played up in 5A and won two championships (95 and 96) beating Riverdale and Jefferson County. Nobody had to tell them to play up they did it on their own, that is why the cryout for something to be done and as they say the rest is history.

[barnowl]

Well let everyone recriut and fill the needs they have each year, do away with the transfer rules and school zones then put them all back together. How would that go over?

[barnowl]

Hey 2Cents I would always agree to play up if I knew that if I needed a stud player at a particular position or positions I would just tell someone close to my program and they would deliver. Let's not act like it is a level playing field because it is not. When you spomsor kids or give them rides based on their abilities it is not a level field period.

[RedRobin]

Well let everyone recriut and fill the needs they have each year, do away with the transfer rules and school zones then put them all back together. How would that go over?

 

 

The following is from the Alcoa Student Handbook:

 

ADMISSION OF NON-RESIDENT STUDENTS (TUITION STUDENTS)

Students residing outside the boundaries of the school system may apply to attend Alcoa High School. The director of schools and principal must approve admission. Permission for tuition students to attend the Alcoa City Schools will be granted on an annual basis. The tuition fee required of all students residing outside the boundaries for the 2010-2011 school year will be $500.00. (Note: Tuition amount subject to change, pending school board approval.) Tuition fees are due and payable on the first day of each trimester.

 

It appears that the "school zone rules" that you reference simply do not apply in this case. Why is this school allowed to play in DI and dominate against schools that indeed do have the zoning restrictions to which you allude? This seems to be a huge advantage. DII also has no zoning restrictions. DII does allow financial aid (based solely on financial need) for athletes, but it is not 100% of tuition - all students at all DII schools, even those students receiving financial aid, pay far more than the $500 annual fee required at Alcoa. It seems to me that Alcoa, and any other current DI schools that have similar "open zoning" policies, should be placed in DII. That would put Alcoa in DII-AA (playing against Ensworth, BA, MBA, Baylor, MUS, et al) rather than in DI-AAA. Does anyone know the rationale of the TSSAA for allowing what appears to be a patently unfair system? Please feel free to discuss.

Edited December 6, 2010 by RedRobin