With Thursday’s news that a good many TSSAA Division II football teams are considering the possibility of opting to play an independent schedule rather than compete in the classification for Tennessee’s largest private schools, it became clear that prep sports are slanting in the direction of chaos.
It could also be summarized by the memorable line from the HBO series Game of Thrones, when the sinister character Ramsay Bolton said matter-of-factly: “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”
Regardless of how many large or mid-sized private schools choose to trade the chance of competing in the state playoffs for the peace of mind of not having to line up against teams they believe they can no longer compete with, one thing is certain: We’re drifting further from a unified TSSAA each year.
For those whose world doesn’t revolve around prep sports, the simplest explanation for what is being discussed is that enough schools that currently compete in Division II-AAA (the highest classification for private schools) have indicated they plan to withdraw from the league, a domino effect is expected to begin in the classification immediately below that one.
By TSSAA mandate, DII-AAA must have 12 football teams competing. But for each current member that opts to exit the classification and play a nonregion schedule, the replacement will come from the mid-sized conference (DII-AA), where the school with the largest enrollment will be automatically moved up.