Will TSSAA remove boarding schools' unfair advantage as Baylor, McCallie football dominate? | Kreager

There was a time Nashville high school private schools dominated the state's largest classification in Division II.

Think back to Brentwood Academy winning four straight BlueCross Bowls from 2015-18 under former coach Cody White. And Ensworth did the same from 2010-13 under former coach Ricky Bowers.

But when a state champion is crowned after the Division II-AAA championship on Thursday night, a team from Chattanooga will win for the fifth consecutive year. All five champions are a boarding school.

Baylor (10-2) plays McCallie (11-1) at 6 p.m. CT Thursday at Chattanooga's Finley Stadium for the Division II-AAA championship. The two teams are also the top two teams in the Tennessee Super 25 high school rankings, a USA TODAY Network poll of the top programs in the state.

It's hard to see where that trend doesn't continue unless TSSAA bylaws change.

Baylor and McCallie — the two largest Chattanooga private schools and city's lone boarding schools — don't have all the same rules as every other private school in Division II-AAA. Neither does Division II-AA's Webb School − Bell Buckle, which raised a struggling girls basketball program into a national power by adding international players as a boarding school.

Also consider the football playoff history of both Baylor and McCallie. Baylor has been to seven championship games and four have come after 1977, including the past two years. McCallie has been to six, including four of the past five years. So it's not like either has been perennial state champion favorites. That's come with this recent success.

For non-boarding private schools and public schools the TSSAA requires an entire family unit to make a bona fide change of address if an athlete changes high schools for that athlete to be eligible immediately. That means if an athlete moves from school A to school B, everyone living in the athlete's house at school A must leave that house and move into school B's zone.

That's not the case for athletes who attend boarding schools if that athlete is a boarder. Boarding students transferring 20 miles or more away from a school are eligible immediately.

An example: If an athlete in Nashville chooses to transfer to Baylor or McCallie and that athlete lives in one of the provided boarding units, that athlete is eligible immediately even if the family remains in Nashville. However, if an athlete moves from Chattanooga to a Nashville private school and part of the family unit remains in Chattanooga, that athlete is ruled ineligible for one year from their last game without the TSSAA granting a hardship waiver.

You see the problem?

This truly isn't about winning gold balls although there are many that believe this is what this argument is truly about. It's about fairness and rules being the same for everyone. It's about keeping a playing field as level as possible.

Here is what we all should remember: A proposal made by Fayette Academy asking for all transfers to boarding schools to sit out one year from their last game that an athletic record was established. That proposal was supported by 84% of the schools in attendance. The TSSAA Legislative Council heard this proposal and chose to not approve it.

The reason at the time for council members was schools like Carroll Academy, a boarding school in Huntingdon in West Tennessee that serves as an adolescent intensive day treatment program according to its site. Students are sent there to complete a behavioral plan.

That, though, shouldn't give the council and the TSSAA a reason to ignore what an overwhelming percentage of the association's members want.

Time for TSSAA to step in

TSSAA second-year executive director Mark Reeves told The Tennessean that boarding schools will be a topic of conversation on Dec. 7 when the Legislative Council meets.

Reeves said there will be a discussion on its residence rule.

"It stems from where we left our discussion in our June board meeting," Reeves said. "I guess the idea that we haven't floated out there yet is there a way to make the rule the same for everybody.

"What we heard from (athletic director and football coach) John McNeal at Friendship Christian is kind of what his message was. We aren't trying to take anything away from boarding schools. Is there a way to make that residency rule where it applies to everybody?"

Some of those concepts for discussion include:

• Take away residence rule for all students that don't have athletic records. That means an incoming freshman wouldn't need to be living with their guardian in the school zone they are attending.

• Everyone who has an athletic record would be subject to the residence rule, meaning a bona fide change of address has to happen.

Why do TSSAA Division II-AAA football teams care in 2023?

Now, let's be honest. When Nashville was dominating the largest classification in Division II, there was very little chatter about unfair advantages for Baylor and McCallie.

But here lately we have seen an increase in talent coinciding with an influx of Canadian transfers who were talented football players. That started about the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and helped boost McCallie's football team. In 2020 three Canadian athletes were researching American schools to attend after Canada canceled high school athletics. They chose McCallie and eventually spread the word to friends.

An influx of key athletes have continued to move in as boarders since the COVID-19 pandemic.

That model has continued at Baylor. Look at the Red Raiders roster now and you will find hometowns listed from cities in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia along with players from Canada and England. To be clear: This is not a TSSAA violation. Both schools have found a way to take advantage of their business model.

More: Top college prospects in 2023 TSSAA football championships, including Tennessee, Vanderbilt commits

And no one really cared enough to propose anything. But things are different now. Webb School chose to play up in class to Division II-AA in basketball this year when opposing schools complained about their influx of big-time talent. Webb got too good and it became too obvious of an advantage.

Baylor and McCallie are similar. They didn't break a rule to get this good. They just used a rule to allow them to get better — much better.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA football championships: Baylor, McCallie have unfair advantage