Brentwood Academy’s Weldon Garlington (3) is brought down by Baylor’s Buck Ferguson during a 2011 game at Baylor. A lawsuit filed by Brentwood Academy in the late 1990s drained the TSSAA of needed funds. The state prep organization is now making a comeback.
TSSAA logoWhen Bernard Childress took over as executive director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association five years ago the first thing he had to do was hark back to his days as a prep basketball coach.
In sports terms, it was late in the game and Childress’s team was so far behind that a monumental rally was needed.
The TSSAA had been financially drained after defending itself against one of its member schools — Brentwood Academy — in a lawsuit that circulated through the judicial system for 10 years, twice reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.
The football powerhouse never denied the recruiting violations it was accused of in 1997, but said that the penalty imposed by the TSSAA — suspension from post-season play for two years and a $3,000 fine — was too severe. After losing its appeal to the TSSAA, the school changed its argument, saying that its constitutional rights had been violated, and filed suit.
The suit was resolved a decade later in favor of the TSSAA, but the damage had been done.