So are you happy with 8 State Champions?

[PHargis]

The real interesting observation I might see is if the TSSAA needs extra money, how much are they losing by as many schools going out of state and not getting the ticket revenue and is it because of as many classifications. There evidently is a scheduling problem. Look at the TSSAA bulletin board. Someone needs to buy scheduler software and use it.

[youngbuck51]

the state still has pretty much the same amount of champions that it did back in 2000. Think about it... counting the private schools. you had 1A through 5A and then in the private divisions you had D2A, D2AA, and D2AAA so really we have the same amount of champions

[smeagle1]

Well I think when the T$$AA went to all these classes for football the reason they gave was it give more kids the opportunity to experience/win a State Championship. Well that my friends is complete Bull. If this was the case then why wouldn't they have the same number of classes in the other sports. Heck their are far more schools with basketball teams than there are football teams and they are still on the old classification system. So do you really think its to give more kids an opportunity or is it money?

 

I would like to see 5 classes total mix private and public together. But only if they would eliminate scholarships and/or financial aid for athletes at private schools. Then keep the multiplier since they don't have a defined boundary to draw from. If they can't do this then go to 4 public school divisions and 1 or 2 private school divisions and make all private schools play in them.

 

Not that any of this matters as it is clear to me the only thing that does matter to the T$$AA is MONEY. And football generates it with the playoff system.

[coachfoozeball]

the state still has pretty much the same amount of champions that it did back in 2000. Think about it... counting the private schools. you had 1A through 5A and then in the private divisions you had D2A, D2AA, and D2AAA so really we have the same amount of champions

 

Yeah, and the T$$AA probably looked at that and said that if we used more on the Div I side that would be more people at the games because a public school is going to have a bigger backing of people just on mere numbers. so this = more $$$$ for the greedy T$$AA!

 

So let's have 6 Div I with larger crowds only 2 on the private side with smaller crowds and in the long run this is more playoff games on the Div I side which is MORE MONEY. Man its like a drug dealer increasing his profit margin!!

[92Dragon]

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.

8 might be too many, but we have so many small schools in Tennessee, they would never be able to compete with the larger schools in my opinion.

[OmahaVol]

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?

 

Excellent post, Stonewall!! I couldn't have stated it better myself. I am old school, as well, and have been preaching this for years. It's all about the T$$AA.