The TSSAA Board of Control met on Monday, February 7 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro. The traditional January and March meetings have been combined into a single meeting in February.
The Board elected officers, voting to re-elect both Mike Reed (President) and Greg McCullough (Vice-President) to their respective positions.
Financial reports in the sports of golf, volleyball, girls’ soccer, cross country, cheer and dance, football and bowling were approved by the Board.
Three schools were approved for membership in the association. Providence Academy in Johnson City, Lakeland Preparatory School in Shelby County, and University High in Memphis were all approved for membership in TSSAA beginning with the 2022-23 school year.
The Board approved Arlington High School’s appeal of sanctions involving the unsportsmanlike incident that occurred after the regional girls’ basketball game between Arlington High School and Dyer County High School on March 2, 2021. The school was initially placed on two years of restrictive probation and two years of probation at the beginning of 2021. The Board removed the second year of restrictive probation and extended the probationary period for Arlington girls’ basketball through the end of the 2023-24 school year. With this action, the girls’ program is eligible for postseason play this season (2021-22) and the fine associated with the second year of restrictive probation was removed.
There was a discussion concerning the Mercy Rule in football and basketball. The Board will discuss possible changes at the June Board meeting.
The Board also discussed football scheduling and the struggle it has been to have the officials needed to cover every game. The Board moved to permit the state office to identify approximately 20 games each week that schools would be required to play on Thursday so that all games each week can be satisfactorily covered. The state office must only reschedule one game for each school. This will be in place only for the 2022 season and a proposal for football scheduling in subsequent years will be presented at the next Board meeting. Schools will be informed by mid-March if they have a game that is moved and when that will be.
