It was two years ago, just about the time the late-fall gusts swept the last brittle, brown leaves from the trees, that the bleak future for Howard’s high school football program became clear.
In early November of 2022, a group of Howard administrators and coaches met with the TSSAA Board of Control in Murfreesboro to plead their case for why the school should be given special consideration for an exception to the 55-year-old rule that dictates how teams are classified.
The nine-member board listened intently to the Howard contingent — which made a nearly hour-long presentation to explain that, because the influx of Hispanic students who were causing the enrollment to climb at a rapid rate do not play football, the program should not be forced to move up in classification.
The key point was that, although the school enrollment was growing, the football team’s roster was not. And that fact was not only making it nearly impossible to be competitive but was also a safety concern because so many of the Hustlin’ Tigers had to play both ways, while the opposing teams had much greater depth with as many as 60 and even 70 more players.
Before voting, board member Greg McCullough, who represents Memphis, told the Howard assembly: “It’s a problem, but it’s not something we can fix for y’all and not for other member schools.”