Tennessee Temple Drops Football

Tennessee Temple Academy, which enjoyed a lot of success in their first five football seasons, has decided to drop that sport.

The Crusaders won their region championship in 2006, but the program has been in disaray since. Volunteer co-head coaches Steve Beard and Kevin Skogen stepped down. Scott Chastain was hired as the Crusaders head coach in December of 2006, but asked to step down last June.

Former Tennessee Vol and College Football Hall of Famer Chip Kell volunteered to coach the Crusaders, but quit after his teams were outscored 153-2 in only 4 games.


Kell actually suggested to school officials that because only around 17 players were on the team that they drop the sport and forfeit the rest of their games... but that would cost around 15-hundred dollars a game, and school officials decided to finish the season with Caleb Marcum, who was in his first year as athletic director and head basketball coach, coaching football. The Crusaders won 2 of their last 6 games.

During the season, the TSSAA, high school sports governing body in Tennessee, finished an investigation in to reports that during Chastain's tenure, several rules were violated. The TSSAA handed down sanctions against the school.

According to Marcum, the school has lost money every year they've played football, and dropping the program will cost even more, since Temple will have to pay three teams in their region $1500 each to drop their game from the 2008 schedule.