MURFREESBORO, TN - After the school administration self-reported a violation, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association has found Blackman High School football team to be in violation of TSSAA by-laws.  

“As Athletic Director for Rutherford County Schools, I expect all our coaches to adhere to all TSSAA guidelines,” RCS Athletic Director Chris Harris said. “Today, the TSSAA issued sanctions against Blackman High School for violating the off-season practice policy. I appreciate the swift action principal Dr. Leisa Justus and her staff took in self-reporting this incident.”

Blackman High football team practiced on April 14, 2022, with some team members on the field and coaches present giving instruction. 

“Any violations of these types will not be tolerated,” Director of Schools Bill Spurlock said. “We want to ensure our schools are following all TSSAA rules and we will take steps to ensure compliance.”

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The team’s violation was self-reported by Blackman High School administration in a letter to TSSAA. In the letter, Blackman High gave details of the practice and the steps it would take to prevent future violations. 

TSSAA has accepted the actions taken by Blackman, and thanked Blackman High School for self-reporting the violation, showing confidence the school administration “will take the necessary steps to ensure this type of violation does not occur again.”

The following actions will be taken by Blackman High:

• Blackman High administration will assign a compliance assistant principal
• Blackman High administration will require all coaches to complete TSSAA rules training this summer
• Blackman High administration will review all TSSAA calendar restrictions and permissible off-season activity 

The following actions will be taken by TSSAA:

• The program will reduce the number of spring practice days from 12 to 6 this year.