By Stephen Hargis
Staff Writer
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association ruled Friday that Tennessee Temple Academy violated two of its major rules three times.
In a letter faxed to the school, TSSAA officials explained the findings from a recent investigation. According to Executive Director Ronnie Carter, Temple allowed at least one player not enrolled at the school to practice with the football team in the spring of 2006, and two others who were not enrolled went through 2007 spring practice.
Also, while he was an unpaid assistant football coach last season, Scott Chastain paid no tuition for his son, a member of the football team, during the 2006-07 school year. Temple is a Division I member of the TSSAA, which means no player receiving financial aid is eligible to participate in interscholastic sports.
Mr. Chastain later was fired by the school shortly after being promoted to head coach.
"In the instance of allowing kids who are not enrolled at the school to go through spring practice, a big concern that can't be overlooked is the fact that those kids would not have been covered under our catastrophic insurance policy," Mr. Carter said in a phone conversation Monday. "If something would have happened -- if one of those kids had gotten seriously injured -- there would have been major problems."
Temple first-year athletic director Caleb Marcum confirmed the administration had received the letter and passed it on to the school's attorneys.
"We've read the letter and will wait and see what our attorneys' advice is," Mr. Marcum said.
Temple administrators now must decide if the school will appeal the findings to the TSSAA's Board of Control. The school has until Monday to respond to the letter.
Mr. Carter said the TSSAA cannot speak on potential penalties until after the deadline.
Coach Chastain's son, Ryan, was an eighth-grader on Temple's 2006 football team that won the Region 3-1A championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. According to Coach Chastain, Ryan played in the Crusaders' final two regular-season games as well as their first-round playoff win.
Under TSSAA guidelines, Temple would be forced to forfeit any games in which Ryan Chastain participated and also would be required to pay to the TSSAA the gate receipts from the playoff game.
E-mail Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com
