TSSAA considers vote to change systems
A TSSAA Board of Control study session about multiple re class ifi cation plans is in jeopardy of being pushed aside as Tennessee deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress acknowledged to the USA Today Network that potential school postponements and concerns about the return to sports with COVID-19 cases rising could be deterrents to adopting a new classification system.
The study session will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Siegel High in Murfreesboro in the board's first in-person meeting since the pandemic hit. The meeting will be streamed on tssaa.org.
TSSAA has four-year classification plans with the current plan scheduled to end after the 2020-21 school year. To figure out which schools are in each class, schools must submit enrollment numbers to the TSSAA from its 20th day of school this year.
Schools' reopening plans have varied and include in-person, virtual and a combination of the two.
"Do schools feel confident that on the 20th day of school they are going to have all their kids accounted for if it's a hybrid model, in-class or virtual," Childress said. "Can they give us an accurate number and will the school systems feel comfortable that they are giving us because they literally have to turn their 20th day numbers to the state department (to help determine funding)?
"But when is that 20th day? Will it be by mid-september like it normally will be?"
And if high school sports are being played this fall, Childress wonders how much time staff will have to work on re class ifi cation and potential post season changes.
"If we can get our fall sports started, it's going to be a day-to-day struggle to keep them going," Childress said. "We're going to have to make decisions on what happens to a team that has to quarantine for two weeks and can't play for two weeks.
"Can we keep sports going and are we going to have time to deal with classification or just delay it for a year?"
What are the plans?
The TSSAA is expected to present at least three new plans for Division I and one for Division II.
In Division I, board members have asked to see plans for four classes in baseball, basketball and softball. Those sports currently have three. There will be a plan for five classes in baseball, basketball, football and softball and there will be a plan showing what football would be like in five
classes.
There have been six football classes in football since 2009.
"It is time, COVID-19 or not, for the state to make some much needed changes," Lenoir City football coach Jeff Cortez said. "Continuing to wait would be awful. We need to add more classes to basketball, baseball and softball."
In Division II, a plan for three classes in basketball, baseball and softball will be presented. There are already three classes in football in DII.
The board could choose to make no changes to the current system.
A survey of baseball, basketball, softball and soccer coaches in the USA Today Sports Network showed 76 of the 118 who responded are in favor of reducing DI football state championships from six to five.
"I would be in support of five classes in football," Hendersonville football coach James Beasley said. "I believe that would increase competition in each class and greatly improve first-round playoff matchups."
Of that 76, 49 coaches are in favor of seeing baseball, basketball, football and softball with five classes each in an effort to form the same rivalries in all sports.
“My preference would be five classes to keep districts and regions the same in the major sports," Huntingdon girls basketball coach David Wilkins said. "I do feel this is important for rivalries to continue to generate interest for fans. Basketball and other sports need more classes in order to give more schools a better opportunity to compete for postseason success.
"The downside is travel, but coaches would be OK with this if it means a more level playing field than what we currently have in some classes.”
Forty-two coaches were in favor of four classes in baseball, basketball and softball. However, for many coaches that included keeping the state tournament at eight teams.
The TSSAA has said it would need to reduce the teams it takes to state tournaments to four if it added a classification.
Clarkrange girls basketball coach Lamar Rogers, who has won eight state championships, is in favor of adding a fourth class in basketball if eight teams from each class can still play at MTSU in the state tournament.
"I'm afraid if they went to four classes, they would reduce the number of teams that got to go to state," Rogers said. "As you know, that is an experience that every community just always remembers.
"So, I would like it to stay like it is if changing things would change the amount of teams that got to go to Murphy Center."
Twenty-three coaches preferred classification remain the same in Division I.
In Division II, five coaches preferred adding a classification in baseball, basketball and softball while three asked for it to remain the same. And one said all DII sports should be two classes. Football is the lone DII sport with three classes.
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-2598089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.