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TSSAA football teams in Division II-AA and DII-AAA will no longer be affected by a success formula after the Board of Control approved a change at its March 4 meeting.
The Board eliminated the success formula and approved a uniformed method for classifying all Division II football teams, in order to comply with TSSAA bylaws.
The approved method established a minimum of 12 teams in DII-AAA. If 12 teams don’t declare to play in DII-AAA, the remainder needed will be selected in order of highest enrollment. DII-AA and DII-A will then be divided by enrollment.
TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves considers this to be the "least disruptive" method of classifying DII football schools, he said, considering that DII-AAA would have an unprecedented number of teams if DII were split into thirds based on enrollment.
More: TSSAA proposes harsher penalties for illegal recruiting in Tennessee. What are they?
More: How rampant is school to school recruiting? Nashville coaches speak up
The decision does not move any schools from their current classifications during this cycle. The method will be applied during the next cycle in 2029.
In 2024, a success formula was instituted to fill out DII-AAA if 12 teams did not declare for the division. Christ Presbyterian Academy — a DII-AA football power that had appeared in seven consecutive state championship games — moved up to Tennessee’s largest private-school class due to that formula.
CPA finished 4-9 overall and 1-4 in its region in 2025. The Lions reached the state semifinals but avoided having to play Chattanooga powers Baylor or McCallie in the playoffs.
DII-AAA was the only classification that previously used a success formula to round itself out. That prompted CPA to propose a rule that eventually passed, requiring the TSSAA to create uniformed methods for each sport in each classification. That means if a success formula was used for DII-AAA football schools, it must be used for all football schools in that classification.
An overwhelming majority of Division II contacts responded ahead of the meeting saying they did not want a success formula, Board member Dennis Goodwin of DCA said during the meeting.
The new format doesn’t guarantee CPA will move back to DII-AA in 2029. The school was still the ninth largest in DII-AAA based on 2024 enrollment numbers, which would have put the Lions in DII-AAA anyway if the TSSAA had used enrollment as its method at the time.
Reeves said he isn’t concerned by current bills aimed at allowing private school students the ability to try out for sports at public schools in their zones.
HB 1785/SB 1882 as originally written requires public schools to allow a student at a private school with fewer than 200 students to try out for sports at the public school if the student lived in its zone.
Reeves said his understanding is that the House will see an amended version of that bill, which states that the private school must be a non-TSSAA member, and that those students can only play at a public school in their zone if their current school doesn’t offer the sport the student wishes to play.
“If that’s the way it goes and they wrote that in, it’s pretty easy for us,” Reeves said. “That looks just like a non-traditional student for us. That looks just like a homeschool or virtual school student (who are already allowed).”
SB 1882 was authored by Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, who spearheaded a recent one-time transfer bill.
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean's high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSaa football classification method changes in Division II
Continue reading...
The Board eliminated the success formula and approved a uniformed method for classifying all Division II football teams, in order to comply with TSSAA bylaws.
The approved method established a minimum of 12 teams in DII-AAA. If 12 teams don’t declare to play in DII-AAA, the remainder needed will be selected in order of highest enrollment. DII-AA and DII-A will then be divided by enrollment.
TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves considers this to be the "least disruptive" method of classifying DII football schools, he said, considering that DII-AAA would have an unprecedented number of teams if DII were split into thirds based on enrollment.
More: TSSAA proposes harsher penalties for illegal recruiting in Tennessee. What are they?
More: How rampant is school to school recruiting? Nashville coaches speak up
The decision does not move any schools from their current classifications during this cycle. The method will be applied during the next cycle in 2029.
In 2024, a success formula was instituted to fill out DII-AAA if 12 teams did not declare for the division. Christ Presbyterian Academy — a DII-AA football power that had appeared in seven consecutive state championship games — moved up to Tennessee’s largest private-school class due to that formula.
CPA finished 4-9 overall and 1-4 in its region in 2025. The Lions reached the state semifinals but avoided having to play Chattanooga powers Baylor or McCallie in the playoffs.
DII-AAA was the only classification that previously used a success formula to round itself out. That prompted CPA to propose a rule that eventually passed, requiring the TSSAA to create uniformed methods for each sport in each classification. That means if a success formula was used for DII-AAA football schools, it must be used for all football schools in that classification.
An overwhelming majority of Division II contacts responded ahead of the meeting saying they did not want a success formula, Board member Dennis Goodwin of DCA said during the meeting.
The new format doesn’t guarantee CPA will move back to DII-AA in 2029. The school was still the ninth largest in DII-AAA based on 2024 enrollment numbers, which would have put the Lions in DII-AAA anyway if the TSSAA had used enrollment as its method at the time.
TSSAA not worried by new legislation that could affect rules
Reeves said he isn’t concerned by current bills aimed at allowing private school students the ability to try out for sports at public schools in their zones.
HB 1785/SB 1882 as originally written requires public schools to allow a student at a private school with fewer than 200 students to try out for sports at the public school if the student lived in its zone.
Reeves said his understanding is that the House will see an amended version of that bill, which states that the private school must be a non-TSSAA member, and that those students can only play at a public school in their zone if their current school doesn’t offer the sport the student wishes to play.
“If that’s the way it goes and they wrote that in, it’s pretty easy for us,” Reeves said. “That looks just like a non-traditional student for us. That looks just like a homeschool or virtual school student (who are already allowed).”
SB 1882 was authored by Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, who spearheaded a recent one-time transfer bill.
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean's high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSaa football classification method changes in Division II
Continue reading...
