Deadline for Moving Up in Classification - Official Declarations

[ChrisATN]

North Greene moving from 2A to 3A.

[FootballFan51]

This is a cost issue, IMO. In Fulton's case, Jody Wright felt that they had to move, otherwise they'd end up in a small 4A region with a ton of travel; plus, they'd have to find a lot of non-region opponents, and that is easier said than done for a program like theirs. And if you look at how this is shaking out, Anderson County is in a really bad position, because they are the lone Knox-area team left in 4A, along with Union County, who may not even play football next year.

 

Wright said, "We felt like there was going to be so much movement from 4A to 5A, we had to make a decision. You worry about a small region. You worry about having to schedule a bunch of non-district games and a lot of travel; we felt like there was so much movement to 5A, we had no choice. We made this decision today, but we had been talking about it the past three or four days. I met with Coach (Rob) Black again today and felt like there weren’t a whole lot of options."

im sure you are right, but if these four 4A teams had stayed put, there would be five 4A Knoxville area teams.

[osunut2]

im sure you are right, but if these four 4A teams had stayed put, there would be five 4A Knoxville area teams.

Yup. Pretty baffling.

[catcher55]

North Greene moving from 2A to 3A.

any other news on those moving from 2A to 3A? trying to figure how 2A regions will work out....

[CoachT]

http://www.coacht.com/tennessee/article.cfm?id=573933

[catcher55]

http://www.coacht.com/tennessee/article.cfm?id=573933

Thanks!

[BlueDevil58]

out of curiosity, what is the benefit of declaring up? Travel costs? Natural rivalries?

Assuming these were all 4A schools (along with Fulton), why would you move up, especially if Catholic stays at 5a?

Travel costs and scheduling are the biggies--both for the school and for the parents/fan support.  Natural rivalries matter, too.

 

Scheduling is a pain for top programs like Fulton.  Nobody wants to schedule a non-conference opponent who's going to beat you up and blow you out, which everyone knows they would do, which would have made the travel issue even worse.

 

It really does take a toll on the program if you've got to drive 2 hours for road games for the next 4 years,especially  since the visiting team doesn't get a dime off the gate or concessions unless the host team pays them to play, which is what Fulton would have wound up having to do for non-conference games.  It's worse when parents and families can't go to the games due to the drive.  Heck, some of the Super 32 teams were losing around $10k+ for road games at times.

 

With half of Knoxville going to 5A, it just makes sense for top programs like Fulton to move up.  They know they can be competitive there.

 

I have heard that some coaches really were against the decision for their teams to play up, but the ADs made it for the concerns above.

Edited October 26, 2016 by BlueDevil58

[TheAmbassador]

North Greene moving from 2A to 3A.

Why?

[crazzyness]

I just don't understand North Greene moving up. They aren't even able to compete in 2A.

[Swipes]

I just don't understand North Greene moving up. They aren't even able to compete in 2A.

Here is the write up in the Greeneville Sun of why they moved up. It's because their 3a region will be easier than the 2a region.

 

http://www.greenevillesun.com/xml/nitf/north-greene-football-elects-to-move-to-a/article_50a8a94a-8735-544e-88cf-fc8fdf9f2304.html?mode=jqm

[KennyPowers55]

I believe they make all the Greene County schools play each other, so since West Greene and Chuckey-Doak are in that league, it would free up a non league game for them to schedule whoever they want. That, and Region 1 2A is better than Region 1 3A...