TSSAA, Fayetteville litigation ends; appeal is now Tuesday, delaying 2 region's football playoff pairings

Tom Kreager
The Tennessean

The TSSAA and Fayetteville High School are no longer in court disputing the high school athletic association's ruling to declare a high school football player ineligible.

However, the school's playoff future, and now all of Region 5-1A and Region 6-1A are as muddied as ever.

TSSAA assistant director Richard McWhirter told The Tennessean that the TSSAA appealed to Circuit Court Judge M. Wyatt Burk in Lincoln County chancery court on Friday. However before a decision was rendered, both the school and the high school athletic association decided to drop the litigation.

Instead, Fayetteville will go before the TSSAA's Board of Control in a special-called meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday to determine the school's playoff status. The playoffs begin on Friday.

The TSSAA has set a 7 p.m., Saturday kickoff for the four games effected by the delay, but will permit games to be played earlier Saturday or on Friday night if both teams agree.

"Our attorneys presented, then the judge heard it and said he would make a decision whether it was dropped or go on to litigation on Nov. 13, like it had been planned," McWhirter said. "Between then, the two sides agreed on this.

"So the litigation is dropped."

The Board of Control could not meet on Monday due to a TSSAA regional meeting already scheduled in Knoxville.

Because of that, the TSSAA will not release the playoff pairings involving Region 5-1A and Region 6-1A until after Tuesday's ruling. The rest of the Class 1A bracket was released on time Friday night.

A special-called Board of Control meeting had been scheduled for Tuesday, but before that was held, Burk issued a restraining order to suspend the ineligible ruling until the Nov. 13 court date.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get high school sports news from the Tennessean on your mobile device

Fayetteville went from undefeated to having six losses and out of the Class 1A playoffs after the TSSAA's decision on Oct. 24.

At issue was a decision made in September by TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress declaring the Fayetteville athlete eligible. The letter said the TSSAA confirmed that the family had made a bona fide change of address to the Fayetteville High zone, meaning he was immediately eligible.

On Oct. 15, TSSAA assistant director Gene Menees contacted Fayetteville regarding a new complaint that the same student, who had played in six games, was ineligible.

Menees ruled that the athlete did not live in the proper Fayetteville High territory, meaning he was ineligible for one calendar year after he transferred. Per TSSAA bylaws, a transfer student must "live in the geographic boundaries and bus routes of the area served by that school as established by the local board of education."

The student does not live inside the Fayetteville city limits, which is where the school's bus drivers provide transportation. The student lives in Lincoln County. Students from Lincoln County are also eligible to go to Fayetteville, but must provide their own transportation.

Fayetteville personnel requested multiple meetings with Childress regarding Menees' ruling. However, Childress is on extended medical leave.

Fayetteville's complaint to the Lincoln County chancery court included that the TSSAA's constitution and bylaws include "numerous provisions that require the TSSAA executive director to perform certain duties including the initiation of investigation, notification to the school that it is being investigated, evidence-gathering, conduction hearing and determination of whether a violation has occurred, and, if so, what penalties should be imposed."

The complaint stated that there is no provision by which Childress may delegate his duties. 

Want to stay informed on the latest high school sports news? A Tennessean subscription gets you unlimited access to the best inside information and updates on local high school sports, and the ability to tap into sports news from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.

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