TSSAA

[sourone]

Story published: 6/3/2003 • Print Story • E-mail Story to a Friend • Back to Sports

 

 

TSSAA says money needed for ‘catastrophic insurance’

 

By Douglas Fritz

Press Sports Writer

dfritz@johnsoncitypress.com

 

Many administrators and coaches have expressed concerns in recent years about the amount of money the TSSAA takes from the schools.

They have questioned how the money is used, and if there are ways the organization that governs high school athletics in the state could take less and still get its job done.

 

So when situations arise like moving the Spring Fling to Memphis — or the current issue of taking the boys state basketball tournament to a city that’s farther away from Northeast Tennessee than the Atlantic Ocean — many area people seem skeptical whether the TSSAA’s intentions are guided by anything more than greed.

 

However, Sullivan North principal Richard Carroll, a member of the TSSAA’s legislative council, said the organization just doesn’t have a lot of money.

 

“Most people have a false impression of the money the TSSAA has,” said Carroll. “It has a certain amount of operating expenses and salaries. I’ve heard it many times, but I’m telling you the money is not there.”

 

Carroll’s stance is understandable, but the TSSAA takes 50 percent of the gate receipts from every high school football playoff game around the state. And that”s 150 games in Division I alone.

 

So where does that cash cow hide? Carroll said the biggest part goes to pay a $500,000 catastrophic insurance policy each year.

 

“That’s the big item,” said Carroll. “It’s a tremendous amount of money.”

 

TSSAA executive director Ronnie Carter said the football playoff money only pays a portion of the catastrophic insurance.

 

“We used to have a one-third, one-third, one-third split of the playoff money,” said Carter. “When catastrophic insurance came in, the schools said we can”t do it individually. They said the only way they stood a chance was to come together. That’s when we changed to the 50-25-25 split.”

 

Carter added that the remainder of the catastrophic insurance is paid for by a $5 assessment based on the number of players on the football teams along with other money assessed to the schools annually. He said the $5 per football player item is included because the majority of catastrophic injuries occurred in football, driving up the cost of the insurance.

 

“If you’re talking to coaches, they want more money out of the football playoffs,” said Carter. “Nothing would be better for us than to get out of the catastrophic insurance. But they would have get the insurance on their own and that would be a real dilemma.”

 

If the TSSAA has so much trouble paying the catastrophic insurance bill, perhaps it needs to look at how things are done by its neighbor to the south. The Georgia High School Association adds the one-third of the catastrophic insurance bill to the school”s annual dues. The GHSA pays the other two-thirds of the bill.

 

Joyce Kay, the associate executive director of the GHSA, said last year’s bill was approximately $400,000.

 

“The goal has been since we started the catastrophic insurance to eventually pay all of it,” said Kay. “We’re working in that direction.”

 

Also, the GHSA takes only 12 percent of the gate for high school football playoff games, a whopping 38 percent difference from Tennessee. In basketball, Georgia takes 40 percent while TSSAA schools send in just under 20 percent for district and regionals and then 33 percent for substate games.

 

So how does Georgia get by with less money? Perhaps the answer could be found in administration. The GHSA has four administrators and four secretaries.

 

“We only have eight people in the office,” said Kay. “Tennessee has a great deal more.”

 

Indeed. The TSSAA operates with five executives, five assistants and four administrative assistants. That’s a total of 14, but Carter said only 13 are funding positions — still five more annual salaries than Georgia has to pay.

 

To get an idea of what that means in dollars, a source said Carter made just under $100,000 two years ago. If Tennessee dropped down to the number of office staff Georgia uses, it could possibly save enough to pay for a large chunk of the catastrophic insurance.

 

“We have only had four executives in the GHSA since its inception,” said Kay. “And every one of them has tended to pinch pennies. They have all leaned toward that direction, cutting corners everywhere to help the schools as much as they can. They’ve never tried to get rich. They just try to make enough to function.

 

“I think in this business you are always making somebody unhappy, but I think in general everybody in the state of Georgia believes we are trying to run things as well as we can to assist the schools. That”s what we here for, as a service to the schools and we try to keep this in mind.”

 

Carter said his immediate response is that Tennessee needs those extra salaried positions.

 

“What you will find if you look at both associations is a lot of differences,” said Carter. “Georgia is very low. They don’t do a lot of things other associations do. If you cut from 13 to eight in Tennessee, we would not be able to do some things we”ve done over the last 25-30 years.

 

“An example is the officiating program, which is recognized as being one of the tops in the nation.”

 

But the bottom line is the money available to the schools for participation in things like the football playoffs. It can be a battle to find the funds when road games turn into bills for the traveling team.

 

“I obviously think the TSSAA does a good job,” said D-B head football coach Graham Clark. “But I know it”s awful tough to have to end up paying money to play a playoff game. To go on the road you lose money, if you take an overnight trip. If $5,000 was an average gate, we would get $2,500 and that would be just enough to cover the buses. And everything else that”s paid at the stadium, other than the referees, comes out of the gate money. So you wouldn’t even get the $2,500. If you have a good night selling popcorn, you might break even.”

 

Another area Carroll said the TSSAA has been forced to spend money on is dealing with the Brentwood Academy lawsuit. However, Brentwood Academy football coach Carlton Flatt disputed that.

 

“It is my understanding they have an insurance policy to pay that,” said Flatt. “They have a one million dollar policy and they haven’t spent that up to this point. I certainly feel like it wouldn”t be a true statement to say they have spent money dealing with court costs and lawyers, but I don’t know it for a fact.

 

“I also know from day one we tried to keep this thing from going anywhere, and they were the ones that said things about us

[TankTalk]

Very good and informative article. A great read.

 

My point is this:

 

If i have a bunch of people who are doing contract work for me and they just aren't getting the job done, what would I do? I would find someone who would get the job done or change the way that group was working.

 

The TSSAA essentially is supposed to be working for high schools and their athletic programs. If they aren't getting the job done then change the way they do it. Look at other associations that are doing it and get better. It seems mighty simple to this country boy.

 

I will say it again, the TSSAA does a great job with the "icing" of high school athletics. However, they take the cake out of the oven too soon and it falls flat.

[BDURHAM]

That reporter deserves a raise! He did his homework. Why haven't the major newspapers written this type of story?

 

This quote should turn a few heads across the state:

 

Another area Carroll said the TSSAA has been forced to spend money on is dealing with the Brentwood Academy lawsuit. However, Brentwood Academy football coach Carlton Flatt disputed that.

 

“It is my understanding they have an insurance policy to pay that,” said Flatt. “They have a one million dollar policy and they haven’t spent that up to this point. I certainly feel like it wouldn”t be a true statement to say they have spent money dealing with court costs and lawyers, but I don’t know it for a fact.

[wildcatfan]

That insurance is very mportant. The way that it has been explained to me is that: Schools benefit from the insurance policy if they have bus that flips over a cliff en route to an athletic contest or something along those lines. I think making a school pay for its own insurance would prevent many of the poorer or smaller school from beng able to play football. They already have to worry about funding equipment and transportation costs.

 

The TSSAA deserves a cut of the gate at playoff games. The playoff games are possible because of the months of organization and hard work by the TSSAA.

 

I personally think that the money ought to be split in this manner...

40% TSSAA

35% HOME TEAM

25 % VISITING TEAM

I do think that game expenses (minus the referees) should come out of the home team's cut.

[TankTalk]

The insurance thing, you can't argue about. It's a must. The cut and who works hard, I think is a very arguable item. Who works harder to get to the playoff point? The executives at TSSAA or the coaches, players, parents, administration, etc. of the schools?

 

I think any cut that is divided, should be AFTER expenses. And yes, the official pay has been a sore spot for me for many years. If you talk about who works harder, I have to take the side of the schools, but that is just my opinion. Bottom line, like the article says, the TSSAA spends too much money and needs to cut the fat a bit. And it is very hard for me to put anything about fat trimming in a post because it hits close to home.

[muffin]

Great post, sounds like the TSSAA and high pockets Carter.

[mhabballfan]

I think any cut that is divided, should be AFTER expenses.

I believe all cuts must be made after expenses. What most people don't understand is how much money it cost to put on games. For example, to put on 2 JV and 2 V basketball games it cost about : $525. (about 105 PAYING fans)

The Breakdown

Officals: $345

Game Personal: $180

This is not including electricity or anything like that.

[BigDogDaddy]

That insurance is very mportant. The way that it has been explained to me is that: Schools benefit from the insurance policy if they have bus that flips over a cliff en route to an athletic contest or something along those lines. I think making a school pay for its own insurance would prevent many of the poorer or smaller school from beng able to play football. They already have to worry about funding equipment and transportation costs.

 

The TSSAA deserves a cut of the gate at playoff games. The playoff games are possible because of the months of organization and hard work by the TSSAA.

 

I personally think that the money ought to be split in this manner...

40% TSSAA

35% HOME TEAM

25 % VISITING TEAM

I do think that game expenses (minus the referees) should come out of the home team's cut.

Sorry I'm not in the insurance business, so I need a little help with this premium issue. I have a personal umbrella policy for $1,000,000 and it runs about $25 a month. I have a term Life insurance policy for $500,000 and it costs $62 a month.

 

So somebody explain to me 1) how much the premium is on this Catostrofic $500,000 policy and 2) If a school bus does go over a cliff with 60 kids on board does that mean that each kid's family gets $500,000? Or do the sixty families split $500,000.

 

If they have to split it the policy can't be near what you are eluding to and if every family gets $500,000 than we probably ought to back it down to $100,000.

 

If a family(s) wants to sue the bus driver and or the school. Wouldn't they ultimately end up suing the state anyway?

 

It's all too confusing. Who sells the TSSAA the policy and does he earn a great big commission every year for doing it? And does his firm take the directors on fancy trips?