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Bernard Childress, executive director of the TSSAA.MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Looking to simplify the state’s high school football playoff scenario, TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress unveiled a classification plan designed to combine the best aspects of two proposals.
During the TSSAA’s Board of Control summer meetings at the Embassy Suites, Childress explained Tuesday night the plan, and the nine-member board then opted to put off voting until August to allow them to discuss it with the schools they represent.
“There are some pros and cons to it, but since it’s brand new we have to be able to look it over and let the schools we represent tell us if they want it,” said Sequatchie County principal Tommy Layne, who represents the Chattanooga area on the board.
Under the new format, the 32 schools with the state’s highest enrollments automatically would qualify for the Class 6A playoffs. All other teams would be divided into five classes, based on enrollment figures, with the top four teams from each region qualifying for the playoffs.
“It’s kind of the best of both worlds in that it eliminates all the questions of how a team makes the playoffs that were such a problem under the six-class system we have been using,” Childress said. “But it also lets the coaches and administrators know we heard their concerns when they told us they felt they couldn’t compete with the teams with the largest enrollments.”