Updated: 10/31/2009 4:02:32 PM
The TSSAA playoffs are being set for the first time under the reorganization of Tennessee High School football known as Plan Z, and the confusion and controversy have already started.
The TSSAA said it would have the brackets posted by 7 a.m. Central time, and they were up. But the result left a number of coaches upset and confused over the seeding.
Around 11 a.m. EDT, TSSAA pulled the brackets off their website and put up a note that said "Brackets are down while adjustments are being made. TSSAA apologizes for the inconvenience. We have made some errors in the seedings which will create changes in some of the brackets."
It was concern over these kinds of issues that had many coaches opposed to Plan Z before it was ever adopted.
TSSAA posted it's final version around 3:30 EDT.
Statement from TSSAA regarding the playoff brackets:
TSSAA would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused due to mistakes made in some of the quadrants initially released in our football brackets. This has been a very frustrating process. One mistake made is one too many.
Our staff spent a minimum of three years studying this plan and felt comfortable going into the selection night that proper preparations had been made. After many hours working on and releasing brackets we felt comfortable were correct, we found several changes that had to be made in order to get each bracket set right.
Please know that our staff was determined to get every bracket correct even if it took a week to complete. The errors made are totally unacceptable. As Executive Director, I take full responsibility for them. We apologize to our school administrators, coaches, fans, student-athletes, and the wonderful staff at 104.5 THE ZONE for releasing brackets that contained errors.
We are not willing to blame those errors on a new system which definitely has some flaws that must be worked out. The system did not fail- we did. We constantly tell our schools to "Just Do Whats Right". As Director, I felt the right thing to do was the pull the brackets, make the correct changes, apologize to each of you, accept the well-deserved criticism, and move forward for the betterment of our student-athletes. This can also be used as a teachable moment for them.
Adults make mistakes because we are all human. Stand up and accept responsibility when it happens. On behalf of our staff, I accept that responsibility. We assure you that we will ask the TSSAA Board of Control to re-visit this playoff format at their November Board meeting.
