On Monday, Tennessee governor Bill Lee extended his Covid-19 State of Emergency executive order until Aug. 29, 2020.
That essentially put the first two weeks of the high school football season on ice.
The TSSAA issued the following statement on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, from executive director Bernard Childress to its member schools.
The TSSAA Board of Control is set to meet July 1.
But what about golf, cross country and volleyball? From what we understand, these fall sports still have the green light to continue preseason preparations and their seasons since they’re non-contact in nature.
As for football, the Tennessee Football Coaches Association sent out a questionnaire to its membership to get a gauge of what route the coaches would like to go — a shortened season (eight regular season games, four playoff weeks), playing football in the spring and having spring sports flip to fall, or even adopting what is being called The Virginia Plan.
What is The Virginia Plan? See below, but it’s three condensed seasons beginning in mid-December that overlap each other yet still run into deep June 2021.
The Virginia Plan
Playing a reduced season this fall/winter seems the likeliest route of those three plans mentioned. That, though, couldn’t immediately begin the week after Aug. 29. Athletes have to have a period of scrimmaging and contact before the season begins.
But no matter the results of the Tennessee Football Coaches Association poll, that doesn’t mean the TSSAA will execute it.
The TSSAA and its Board of Control may conjure up their own way of doing things on Wednesday.
But even so, big question marks still loom, such as:
When will kids even return to school?
Who will be allowed and how many will be allowed in at football games, if football games do happen?
What happens if Gov. Lee extends the order past August?
Stay tuned.