Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Reaction to the recent TSSAA Board of Control decision

Just a couple of days ago, we posted an article about a recent decision that the TSSAA Board of Control had made. That decision had to do with the error in the brackets that the TSSAA had made and how they were going to deal with any mistakes in the future.

Here is the first reaction to that decision from Douglas Fritz of JohnsonCityPress.com and he makes a lot of sense:

Sometimes it’s hard not to laugh at the TSSAA.

Here is the organization’s solution to an embarrassment a couple of months ago, where it left a qualifying Sullivan South team out of the football playoffs: Let’s anticipate messing up the football playoff bracket, and make a rule that gives schools only five hours to catch any errors. If they don’t spot the mistake — and make an appeal within the five-hour window — they are out of luck. Furthermore, we will announce the brackets but not make them official — until the five-hour “oops! window” has passed. Then, and only then, will the brackets be official.

At last week’s Board of Control meeting, the TSSAA announced it will release the football playoff brackets at 11 a.m. (EST) on the Saturday preceding the first round of the playoffs. Schools have until 4 p.m. to appeal if an error is suspected. The appeal, says the new TSSAA rule, must include the nature of the suspected error. (Does that mean a school cannot appeal an error without telling the TSSAA what the error is? So for all the silly little schools across the state that were planning to make an anonymous appeal, the TSSAA is having none of that business).

If no appeal is turned in by 4 p.m., the bracket becomes final. No word on what happens if someone does make an appeal. There is apparently no deadline on the TSSAA to rectify the situation.

Also, the TSSAA changed the wording of what games count toward opponents’ records for tiebreaker purposes. Previously the handbook stated: “In the event of a tie for a championship, second place, or qualifier, should one of the team’s opponents play 11 games, only the first 10 games played shall be counted.”

Now it reads, “In the event of a tie for a championship, second place, or qualifier, all opponents’ varsity games played through TSSAA Week 10 will be counted.”

The new language would have doomed Sullivan South this year, which made the Class 5A playoffs because the 11th game for Enka, N.C., didn’t count. Enka remained a .500 team — in the TSSAA eyes — with an overall record of 5-6.

So you really have to understand the playoff process now or have someone close to your program that does or you're screwed if there is a mistake that you don't catch.

Also, the TSSAA voted to increase the crews for football playoff games from five to seven. This begins with the quarterfinal round, and the cost will be paid from the percentage of gate receipts received by the association.

The move adds two more officials on the field. They will be in the position of side judges, approximately 15 yards from the line of scrimmage on the defensive side.

As always, we welcome your comments but please post your name along with your comments.

No comments:

Post a Comment