The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Board of Control met at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro today at 1:00 p.m. CDST, with two main items on the agenda.
The original purpose of the meeting was to discuss reclassification of high schools in coming years, but a topic most Tennessee coaches, athletes, and parents were most interested in was the contingency plans for fall sports in 2020, notably high school football and girls soccer. These sports have been waiting since July 8 for a decision on what the fall will look like for high schools across the state. On that date, Executive Director Bernard Childress recommended a delay on the decision for one of three playoff options because of ongoing negotiations between the TSSAA and Gov Bill Lee’s legal team, hoping for an exemption from the Governor’s State of Emergency, which expires August 29.
The Board of Control agreed to delay without taking a vote, and no objections were raised.
Today, Exec Dir Childress explained a hybrid option for Option 2, which is an 8-game schedule, 16-team playoffs format (Region winners and runners-up) . Practice would start Aug 30, and regular season games begin Sept 18. If the state of emergency were to be lifted and an earlier start allowed, the hybrid option would kick in and only one game of the season (the first) would be affected, with all schools keeping their current schedules except for the first week of the season. The playoffs would revert to a 32-team bracket in the hybrid scenario.
This Option 2 hybrid was passed by vote of the Board of Control.
For more details, stay tuned to OnTargetNews.Com
