TSSAA is an insult--Bob Gilbert TSSAA

[volfan2024]

TSSAA is an insult
The TSSAA, which governs high school athletics in Tennessee, should be ashamed of itself. The playoff formula, put in place for 2009, turned out to be a farce. When 23 playoff teams have losing records and 27 are only 5-5, there's something terribly wrong. The formula, of course, is designed to generate money for the TSSAA, not to create a meaningful experience for young athletes.
Not only does the expanded playoff formula reward mediocrity, TSSAA officials in the wee hours after the final regular season games botched the seedings for many teams. Coaches who were preparing to face one team in the first round found themselves a few hours later being told their opponent would be another team. Foolishness like that holds the TSSAA up to ridicule. The TSSAA should get it right or turn high school athletics over to another organization.

 

[Domestic Silence]

I understood Mt. Juliet and Oakland had to play each other in the first round of the playoffs, yet both had exemplary records....

 

[VolFan32]

I understood Mt. Juliet and Oakland had to play each other in the first round of the playoffs, yet both had exemplary records....

Farragut and Ooltewah had to play each other in the first round, too. They both were ranked number 1 in the state at some point this season.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I thought the move to 6 classes was incredibly stupid.

 

[CagleMtnVol]

It wasn't as bad as in the past where you had schools 1-9 & 2-8 make the playoffs.

 

[ViewfromtheJames]

I live in Virginia and there are 6 playoff divisions for 300 high schools. I wonder if any state has a good plan?

 

[Ohio Vol]

I live in Virginia and there are 6 playoff divisions for 300 high schools. I wonder if any state has a good plan?

Ohio's got 6 divisions for 720 schools and the overall plan is solid. To summarize...

Each school has their male enrollment determined by taking the number of boys from freshmen through junior classes, minus handicapped, deaf/blind, and certain forms of special needs. Divisions for football are broken down by a moving number that places as close to 120 as possible in each division. Schools of every type are grouped together by enrollment, so it's possible to have an open-enrollment public school playing against a secular private school in the playoffs with a closed-enrollment public school playing a religious private school on the other side.

Each division is broken down further into four regions, with the top 8 in each region making the playoffs. Each team is awarded points for a win based on what division their opponent is in (6 for D-1, the largest; 3.5 for D-6, the smallest). This goes into a pool for what are called first-level points. A team that defeats another gets first-level points for the win, then they also get the defeated team's first-level points in their own bank (second-level points).

Playoff seedings are determined by a mathematical formula that takes the first-level and second-level points into account, along with the divisor based off of numbers of opponents' total games.

It is possible for a team to go 10-0 and miss the playoffs, although this would happen only if they pummeled 10 smaller schools who were also extremely weak. The worst record to make the playoffs is 3-6, and that was for a team that defeated three 9-1 schools that were both extremely strong, one of which ended up in the state semifinals.

 

[ViewfromtheJames]

With 6 divisions for 300 schools in Virginia, it's almost diluted. During the regular season, divisions don't exist and because of the divisions, some really good postseason matchups don't happen because schools are placed in different divisions.

 

[ViewfromtheJames]

Oh, we had a situation where one school, which has been a traditional Division 6 school (the largest enrollment division), was placed in division 5 this year because its enrollment dropped slightly. For whatever reason, probably to avoid playing a cross-town rival that won its third state championship in four years, the school petitioned to be moved up to D6, but was denied. Funny thing was, had the school stayed in D6, it wouldn't have made the playoffs, but in D5, it did, even though it was one-and-done against the state champs.