Defending Class 4A Champion Tullahoma Wildcats

[ScottShasteen]

I'm opening the door of discussion about the upcoming season for the defending Class 4A state champion Tullahoma Wildcats.

They open the season at home against Shelbyville on Thursday, Aug. 18.

They have a new head coach in Coy Sisk.

They must play Marshall County, Pearl Cohn, and Montgomery Central on the road. All three were ranked in the Top 10 last year.

They lost 22 seniors and have a small but talented rising senior class.

Can they challenge for a third consecutive region crown?

[blazer1set]

58 minutes ago, ScottShasteen said:

I'm opening the door of discussion about the upcoming season for the defending Class 4A state champion Tullahoma Wildcats.

They open the season at home against Shelbyville on Thursday, Aug. 18.

They have a new head coach in Coy Sisk.

They must play Marshall County, Pearl Cohn, and Montgomery Central on the road. All three were ranked in the Top 10 last year.

They lost 22 seniors and have a small but talented rising senior class.

Can they challenge for a third consecutive region crown?

How many of the 22 seniors were starters or had significant playing time?

[lawnman]

2 hours ago, blazer1set said:

How many of the 22 seniors were starters or had significant playing time?

If I’m not mistaken they all started.

[blazer1set]

16 hours ago, lawnman said:

If I’m not mistaken they all started.

If that's the case then I don't see any way Tullahoma reloads enough to win this year's title.    Not to say they won't have an impressive run, but 22 guys is just too much to overcome.      Tullahoma fans - go out and give it your best shot, maybe you will surprise all of us

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

1 hour ago, blazer1set said:

If that's the case then I don't see any way Tullahoma reloads enough to win this year's title.    Not to say they won't have an impressive run, but 22 guys is just too much to overcome.      Tullahoma fans - go out and give it your best shot, maybe you will surprise all of us

They surprised everyone last year. 

[cbg]

2 hours ago, BIGPURPLEMACHINE said:

They surprised everyone last year. 

Tullahoma had a magical run last year but the chances of another fairytale season are not good.  The combination of 22 players lost due to graduation and the loss of a head coach to retirement is not a remedy for success.  

[chs1984]

14 minutes ago, cbg said:

Tullahoma had a magical run last year but the chances of another fairytale season are not good.  The combination of 22 players lost due to graduation and the loss of a head coach to retirement is not a remedy for success.  

Way too much to overcome, even if you were a huge 6A school. I knew a team years ago that won state starting Seniors at all 22 positions. They went 5-5 and missed the playoffs the following year. 

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

4 hours ago, cbg said:

Tullahoma had a magical run last year but the chances of another fairytale season are not good.  The combination of 22 players lost due to graduation and the loss of a head coach to retirement is not a remedy for success.  

I agree. Back to back is probably not in the cards. Last year I did a pre-season ranking for 4A and I believe I had Tullahoma 2 or 3. Some people that that was way to high and I admit I didn’t know much about Tullahoma. I just knew that returned everyone from a team that went 11-1 the year prior. Nobody had them winning state. They were a really good team that flew under everyone’s radar. 

[cbg]

15 hours ago, chs1984 said:

Way too much to overcome, even if you were a huge 6A school. I knew a team years ago that won state starting Seniors at all 22 positions. They went 5-5 and missed the playoffs the following year. 

As watered down as the state football championship are in Tennessee (6 state championships in the public school division and 3 state championships in the private school division) every coach and school administration  should be fully embarrassed if they fail to make the playoffs.  Let’s remember that Tennessee only has a population of 6.772 million people and the city of Houston, Texas and surrounding area is about 7.2 million people.  

Edited July 10, 2022 by cbg

[theawesomebro]

6 hours ago, cbg said:

As watered down as the state football championship are in Tennessee (6 state championships in the public school division and 3 state championships in the private school division) every coach and school administration  should be fully embarrassed if they fail to make the playoffs.  Let’s remember that Tennessee only has a population of 6.772 million people and the city of Houston, Texas and surrounding area is about 7.2 million people.  

aren't we working that out on another thread???

[MSURacer]

On 7/9/2022 at 3:25 PM, chs1984 said:

Way too much to overcome, even if you were a huge 6A school. I knew a team years ago that won state starting Seniors at all 22 positions. They went 5-5 and missed the playoffs the following year. 

 

On 7/9/2022 at 7:16 PM, BIGPURPLEMACHINE said:

I agree. Back to back is probably not in the cards. Last year I did a pre-season ranking for 4A and I believe I had Tullahoma 2 or 3. Some people that that was way to high and I admit I didn’t know much about Tullahoma. I just knew that returned everyone from a team that went 11-1 the year prior. Nobody had them winning state. They were a really good team that flew under everyone’s radar. 

Reminds me of our first state championship team. Went 10-2 the year before, returned pretty much everyone, “shocked the world” and went 15-0, then graduated probably the best senior class we’ve ever had. 

Was definitely a drop-off the next year, although it wasn’t quite as dramatic as losing all 22 starters. Believe it was 18 if memory serves. That’s a tough row to hoe. 

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

47 minutes ago, MSURacer said:

 

Reminds me of our first state championship team. Went 10-2 the year before, returned pretty much everyone, “shocked the world” and went 15-0, then graduated probably the best senior class we’ve ever had. 

Was definitely a drop-off the next year, although it wasn’t quite as dramatic as losing all 22 starters. Believe it was 18 if memory serves. That’s a tough row to hoe. 

2011 right?  Wasn’t that the team with the big lineman Jelks who went to Vandy?  He was a handful.