Sullivan Central Appeals Move to Tennessee's Biggest Classification

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Sullivan Central football coach Scott Nelson knows what is at stake.

So does Cougars athletic director and baseball coach Brandon Krantz.

Now, they just hope the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association is listening.

Nelson and Krantz are two members of a Sullivan Central group composed of coaches and administrators that on Wednesday will travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn. The group will appeal a proposed classification ruling by the TSSAA during the organization’s two-day board of control meeting.

Based on student enrollment at the start of this school year, the TSSAA would move Sullivan Central’s athletics program up from Class 4A to 5A and place the Cougars in Division I,
Class 3A – the premier classification category in high school sports in Tennessee.

How serious is Sullivan Central about its appeal?

Krantz said Sullivan Central initially contemplated bringing a lawyer to represent the school in Murfreesboro.

“We’re still processing what we’re going to present to them,” Krantz said. “It’s not just the immediate. It’s a broad range. We’re looking down the road as well.”

TSSAA executive director Ronnie Carter said his organization will respond swiftly to the appeal, and that Sullivan Central should have a decision from the nine-member board before the TSSAA begins the final classification process of placing schools in districts and regions on Thursday morning.

The TSSAA’s final ruling on Thursday will affect high school athletic classification in Tennessee from 2009-13.

“The purpose of [a school] appearing is to explain or answer questions about something that is maybe hard to put in writing,” Carter said. “[Sullivan Central] can put [forth] any information they want to. They can say, ‘I think the way y’all do this is the sorriest thing.’ … It’s [their] time on the block. [They can] do whatever [they] want to do.”

Numbers game
At the heart of the Cougars’ contention is how and when the TSSAA gauged Sullivan Central’s student attendance.

Krantz said while Central began the 2008-09 scholastic calendar year on Aug. 4, the TSSAA waited 20 days before it calculated Sullivan Central’s student enrollment.

Krantz said that means his school is being penalized for an early start, compared to other area schools, and that students who transferred from Sullivan Central or moved after the 20-day tally were counted by the TSSAA as part of the Cougars’ student enrollment.

The TSSAA’s web site lists Central’s enrollment at 1,069, but Krantz said that Central’s current attendance actually is around 1,050, a number that is supported by school documentation.

That small discrepancy is a major issue – one that Central officials said could have a significant negative impact on the future of the school’s athletics program.

If its appeal is accepted, Sullivan Central would be allowed to remain in Division 1, Class 2A.

Chattanooga Central High School, the largest school in Division 1, Class 2A under the TSSAA’s new classification system, has a student enrollment of 1,065 – only four students less than the 1,069 attributed to Central by the TSSAA.

If its appeal fails, however, Sullivan Central will become the second-smallest school in the TSSAA’s premier classification category.

“For us, it’s going to be an extremely difficult path, in terms of rising to [other schools’] level,” Nelson said. “With a limited number of coaches, a limited number of players, all of those things kind of work against you.”

Big time
If Sullivan Central is bumped up to Division I, Class 3A, the Cougars will compete against perennial Northeast Tennessee athletic powerhouses such as Dobyns-Bennett and Science Hill in regular-season conference play.

The TSSAA lists D-B’s student enrollment at 1,942, while Science Hill’s is recorded at 2,158.

Furthermore, the Indians and Hilltoppers annually boast deep, talented athletic rosters that flesh out well-funded teams – D-B’s football team, which listed 87 student-athletes on its roster, was ranked as high as No. 2 in a regional Class 5A poll this season.

By comparison, the Cougars’ football team started the season with 48 players, but the roster was decimated by injuries.

Central is just 7-43 since the 2004 season, including an 0-10 record in 2006. And Central’s 2-8 record this year featured several blowouts, including a 42-0 loss to Sullivan South on Oct. 3 and a 56-6 loss to Tennessee High on Oct. 24.

The Cougars’ plight and possible move up to Division I, Class 3A drew sympathy from regional coaches and athletic directors.

“There’s always going to be a team that’s the smallest in a classification. … There’s always going to be schools that feel like, ‘Aw, man, we got the wrong end of the deal here,’ ” said John Dyer, Sullivan East athletic director and boys basketball coach.

“But when you’re competing against teams that have so many more resources and bigger numbers, it makes it hard. That does create [problems].”

Yet if Sullivan Central’s appeal fails on Wednesday and the TSSAA’s proposed classification ruling remains unchanged, Krantz and others feel the Cougars’ athletics program could soon face major problems of its own.

“I’m speaking for [Sullivan] East, North, South … all these schools,” Krantz said. “We’re not afraid to play anybody. We’ll go out and compete against anybody. But we have concerns, in not only football but our other programs, in keeping these kids spirited and still wanting to come out and play, year-in and year-out.”

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