West Ridge High School "The Wolves "

[kingindian33]

Will this be a 5a or 6a High School in Sullivan County , Or should we say Kingsport ?

Hefty group of players coming through Colinial Heights middle right now , I think they went undefeated ?! I know they have had some great teams the last several years .... 2020 will put them as juniors and seniors ...Could be a great team but how in the Heck do you bring all these kids together to play ball (3 high schools to one ) so quickly , probably a lot of battling for positions  .... and who might the coaches be ???  Graham Clark lol

 

I think the staduim will  look like Death Valley (Sullivan south ) because of position amongst the valley they are planning on putting it !

Will be an interesting next few years to figure and sort out everything !! 

 

 

[Gunner0331]

North should have a lot to bring to the table as well. Maybe they could hire one of them coaches that DB did not hire. Like the head coach of Greenback. Before Robbie Norris resigned from being North’s Head coach, I thought he would have been the best coach with the most expierience out of the three schools. It will be interesting to see who gets the job. 

[fredjones]

are any schools closing or is this a totally new school?

[Gunner0331]

1 hour ago, fredjones said:

are any schools closing or is this a totally new school?

Three schools are closing and combining into Westridge which will be Sullivan counties new school. It is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2020.

[fredjones]

15 hours ago, Gunner0331 said:

Three schools are closing and combining into Westridge which will be Sullivan counties new school. It is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2020.

which three?

[Tribal]

42 minutes ago, fredjones said:

which three?

North, South, and Central, but those schools aren't closing; they're becoming middle schools.  Kingsport is buying North and making it a City middle school, and the other two will be county middle schools.

[BlueDevil58]

On 5/5/2018 at 11:39 PM, kingindian33 said:

Will this be a 5a or 6a High School in Sullivan County , Or should we say Kingsport ?

Hefty group of players coming through Colinial Heights middle right now , I think they went undefeated ?! I know they have had some great teams the last several years .... 2020 will put them as juniors and seniors ...Could be a great team but how in the Heck do you bring all these kids together to play ball (3 high schools to one ) so quickly , probably a lot of battling for positions  .... and who might the coaches be ???  Graham Clark lol

 

I think the staduim will  look like Death Valley (Sullivan south ) because of position amongst the valley they are planning on putting it !

Will be an interesting next few years to figure and sort out everything !! 

The enrollment is supposed to be around 1500, so it'll be right at the cutoff for 5A or 6A.  With the way the enrollments worked out last time, it would be one of the smaller 6A schools.

No one has any idea who'll coach them.  All 3 schools that will be consolidated into it have gotten new coaches within the past 2 years and the word on the street is that they'll look to an outsider.  The facilities will be shiny and new, but the pay in Sullivan County's not the best so I wouldn't expect a huge name.  This will probably be the first head coaching job for a young up and comer or they'll hire a retiree from a successful SWVa school to keep the seat warm for a few years.  Whoever is hired is going to have a hard time bringing in his own assistant coaches as Sullivan County cuts positions to save money.

I don't expect a lot of success out of the gate because of the competition in 6A (Dobyns-Bennett, Science Hill, Maryville, Morristown West, Farragut, and Hardin Valley will probably be conference games!) and because consolidated schools like this are hard to build overnight due to no alumni network, booster club, tradition, or school spirit.  The football programs in all 3 of the schools it's replacing are bleeding numbers and support from where they were at just a few years ago and they don't have any outstanding talent.  I do think the school will attract some athletes who would have gone to Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High, though.

One thing that's not being discussed is that this will effect East, too, as about 200-300 kids from Central get rezoned for East and possibly bump them up a classification in the next redistricting.

[32hammer]

17 hours ago, Gunner0331 said:

Three schools are closing and combining into Westridge which will be Sullivan counties new school. It is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2020.

I'm not a fan of closing community schools to pack kids into a cookie cutter monstrosity of a big school. I've seen countless examples of it not working. Too many kids get lost in the shuffle, especially your average kids that could really excel in a smaller school.

I know its economically more efficient to have a huge school, but in the long run the elected officials are selling out the future of their kids.

I hope Westridge is an exception to the trend and is very successful.

[formerblazer]

7 hours ago, BlueDevil58 said:

The enrollment is supposed to be around 1500, so it'll be right at the cutoff for 5A or 6A.  With the way the enrollments worked out last time, it would be one of the smaller 6A schools.

No one has any idea who'll coach them.  All 3 schools that will be consolidated into it have gotten new coaches within the past 2 years and the word on the street is that they'll look to an outsider.  The facilities will be shiny and new, but the pay in Sullivan County's not the best so I wouldn't expect a huge name.  This will probably be the first head coaching job for a young up and comer or they'll hire a retiree from a successful SWVa school to keep the seat warm for a few years.  Whoever is hired is going to have a hard time bringing in his own assistant coaches as Sullivan County cuts positions to save money.

I don't expect a lot of success out of the gate because of the competition in 6A (Dobyns-Bennett, Science Hill, Maryville, Morristown West, Farragut, and Hardin Valley will probably be conference games!) and because consolidated schools like this are hard to build overnight due to no alumni network, booster club, tradition, or school spirit.  The football programs in all 3 of the schools it's replacing are bleeding numbers and support from where they were at just a few years ago and they don't have any outstanding talent.  I do think the school will attract some athletes who would have gone to Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High, though.

One thing that's not being discussed is that this will effect East, too, as about 200-300 kids from Central get rezoned for East and possibly bump them up a classification in the next redistricting.

Just go to the tssaa classification website and you’ll get your numbers.  800 from south 400 from north and 800 from central.  2000 kids in a 1700 student school.  Ain’t no way you are getting 500 kids in East.

West Ridge will be 6a and East will move up to 5a.  Good for them, who wants to be in a conference with Greeneville and Elizabethton.

[formerblazer]

Food for thought.  This year is the last year of contracts for the first half of the four year classification.  After this year, schedule will be a mess in 4a with south and central leaving the conference.

so..... what are the chances this is the last year north, south, and central play under their banners

[kingindian33]

18 hours ago, BlueDevil58 said:

The enrollment is supposed to be around 1500, so it'll be right at the cutoff for 5A or 6A.  With the way the enrollments worked out last time, it would be one of the smaller 6A schools.

No one has any idea who'll coach them.  All 3 schools that will be consolidated into it have gotten new coaches within the past 2 years and the word on the street is that they'll look to an outsider.  The facilities will be shiny and new, but the pay in Sullivan County's not the best so I wouldn't expect a huge name.  This will probably be the first head coaching job for a young up and comer or they'll hire a retiree from a successful SWVa school to keep the seat warm for a few years.  Whoever is hired is going to have a hard time bringing in his own assistant coaches as Sullivan County cuts positions to save money.

I don't expect a lot of success out of the gate because of the competition in 6A (Dobyns-Bennett, Science Hill, Maryville, Morristown West, Farragut, and Hardin Valley will probably be conference games!) and because consolidated schools like this are hard to build overnight due to no alumni network, booster club, tradition, or school spirit.  The football programs in all 3 of the schools it's replacing are bleeding numbers and support from where they were at just a few years ago and they don't have any outstanding talent.  I do think the school will attract some athletes who would have gone to Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High, though.

One thing that's not being discussed is that this will effect East, too, as about 200-300 kids from Central get rezoned for East and possibly bump them up a classification in the next redistricting.

I agree somewhat , but the atheletes coming up ( in colonial heights) right now are great and Qbs aswell ! But it all depends on playing together due to the combining ! Don't know much on the rules here but I wonder if they will be able to practice longer / earlier the spring before they open and the big question is will these kids have to drive to west ridge from all 3 schools just to practice in the spring .... tryouts will be interesting and sad for some kids !!

[formerblazer]

25 minutes ago, kingindian33 said:

I agree somewhat , but the atheletes coming up ( in colonial heights) right now are great and Qbs aswell ! But it all depends on playing together due to the combining ! Don't know much on the rules here but I wonder if they will be able to practice longer / earlier the spring before they open and the big question is will these kids have to drive to west ridge from all 3 schools just to practice in the spring .... tryouts will be interesting and sad for some kids !!

I'm more wondering about spring next year.  With schedules being changed, South, Central, and North are going to be a burden on their respective conferences not the 2019 year, but the 2020 year.  You have a name, you have a color, figure out a busing schedule and go ahead and put all the teams together after this year.  That leaves a full two years to have a good 10 game schedule before heading up to 6A.

I don't think there are any special rules where they would get to practice longer or what not.  With them dropping the high school and losing 3 some 3 and 4A schools, I guess it would be on the county (and fundraising) to make sure the kids are getting from point A to point B.

Still, I would assume that if they went this route, for two years the West Ridge crew could dominate their conference (of course they couldn't be in the playoffs, but they would build a lot of school morale).

They will be playing 6A when it is all said and done.  That school will at the least have 1650 kids walking the halls.