April 14, 2026 at 9:00 AM - APRIL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  The Legislative Council took action at its December meeting to allow TSSAA volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, football, flag football, and soccer coaches to coach their own children in the preseason and offseason, provided that there are no other students from their school on the team. The Board of Control as well as a number of member schools have asked for clarification as to when this new provision goes into effect. 

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  This proposal would remove the requirement for classified employees to take the NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching and NFHS Sport First Aid Courses.  It was tabled during the December Meeting.

At the December meeting, the Council requested that Mr. Colbert look into the proposed change to research the legal/liability implications that could exist. They also directed the staff to provide statistics outlining how many coaches are subject to the training each year by category (non-faculty, classified employee) compared to the total number of coaches, which also includes full-time certified teachers and retired educators who are not subject to having the training.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  The staff would like to discuss some issues that arise from the terminology and application of the Scrimmage Rule and Jamborees as they currently appear in the TSSAA Bylaws  

Current Language:

Scrimmage Rule - After the TSSAA first official day of practice in all sports, a school cannot practice with or scrimmage another school until both schools have practiced a minimum of three days. No tournament format of any type may be used. Scrimmages should look more like practice than games. Once a school has played their first game, there can be no more scrimmages. (Applies to High School & Middle School Division) In the high school division a school may have a maximum of four scrimmages or two scrimmage dates or one scrimmage date and two scrimmages (A scrimmage date is defined as more than two schools scrimmaging on the same day).

Jamborees - A member school may participate in one jamboree per sport provided
(a) the jamboree is held before any of the participating schools play their first game;

(b) the jamboree is sponsored by the participating schools and all proceeds go to the participating schools;

(c) the jamboree is conducted in accordance with the following regulations:
A. No team or participant shall play more than the equivalent of half of a game or contest.
B. Registered TSSAA officials must be used.
C. Schools must hold membership in TSSAA or membership in a Tennessee conference in order to be eligible to participate in a jamboree. (Out-of-state schools must obtain approval from their state association before participating.)
D. In the high school division, football schools may participate in a jamboree as early as Thursday of the week preceding the opening of football season.
E. In the high school division, basketball schools may participate in a jamboree one week preceding the opening of basketball season.

Participation in such a jamboree shall not count as a regular-season contest or pre-season scrimmage provided the jamboree meets the above regulations.

This item was brought for discussion during the December meeting.  The Legislative Council asked the staff to bring a proposal for consideration to the April meeting.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  The attached proposal was submitted by Lipscomb Academy.  This item was tabled during the December meeting.  The state needs to determine a standard that must be met before a student can participate with a school team during the summer.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report): 

In anticipation of the changes to the transfer rule and in response to a number of inquiries from member schools, the staff is proposing the following change to the definition of "athletic record."  

"Athletic Record" Defined.  A student has an "athletic record" if the student has played in an interscholastic contest at the varsity, junior varsity, ninth grade, or any other level, on behalf of a TSSAA member school or a school that is a member of a state athletic association holding membership in the National Federation.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  The proposed change is below:

There can only be 10 days of team-against-team competition which must occur after the conclusion of the Dead Period (Exception: Two of the 10 days may take place in June, provided the competition takes place in Tennessee).

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  Currently, schools can request to join TSSAA during the school year and that their membership be effective immediately.  This creates issues with scheduling and postseason tournament seeding.  The TSSAA staff is recommending that deadlines be set for schools to join TSSAA based on whether they are fielding their own teams or participating in a cooperative program only.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  The attached proposal was submitted by Cleveland High School.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  Cleveland High School proposed that Alumni Games no longer count as an official contest toward the number of regular season contests allowed.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  Cleveland High School proposes a policy to prevent schools from adding or substituting contests in their schedule after a coach or player is suspended for a certain number of games.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  Currently, students can participate in summer activities at multiple member schools without it impacting their transfer eligibility.  The staff would like to consider additional options to address this issue that could be discussed with the membership this fall.  

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  Currently, students can profit from their name, image, or likeness.  The staff would like to introduce language for discussion by the membership that clarifies that compensation must not be tied to a student's participation in interscholastic athletics at a particular member school.

Description (Appears on Agenda Report):  After asking how other states handle the period of ineligibility for ineligible transfer students, the staff has discovered that a number of states handle it differently from TSSAA.  The staff would like to bring this item to the members of the Legislative Council for discussion to determine if this is an item that deserves to be included on the Regional Meeting agenda in the fall of 2026.