The shot clock won't be coming to Tennessee high school basketball after the state athletics board voted Monday not to implement it. The board also agreed it would not be discussed for another three years.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Board of Control rejected the move despite surveying coaches before making their decision, according to board minutes. TSSAA executive director told
the Tennessean the state's basketball coaches favored adopting a shot clock.
The paper reported the issue for the board centered around training officials to deal with shot clocks in a time when referees remain in short supply. Some states rejecting shot clocks express issues with cost.
"The issue continues to be officials," Board of Control member Jody Wright, who is the boys basketball coach at Fulton in Knoxville, said in the story. "Let's solve that problem first and then we can come back and look at (the shot clock issue) down the road."
The move bucks a push started in 2021 when the National Federation of State High School Associations said its members could implement a 35-second shot clock starting in 2022-23.
Oregon was the latest state to implement a 35-second shot clock, joining California, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah and Washington. The Beaver State was the third to move to a shot clock since the NFHS' recommendation.
The TSSAA Board of Control voted Monday not to implement a shot clock for Tennessee high school basketball and won't approach the issue for another three years. (Photo: John Rowland)
