CROSSVILLE — The winter sports season is almost over, which means spring sports will begin on March 14 and carry on through mid-May.

Both CCHS and SMHS officially started practice on Feb. 14, and have had some nice weather to be outside.

There was only one coaching change this spring, as Lady Jet soccer coach Cub Whitson takes over as Jets coach, while David Prichard (baseball), Darrell Brown (softball), Terri Jacobs (tennis) and Ted McCaslin (track and field).

Four of the five spring sports teams at SMHS have new leaders — James White (baseball), Kirstie Reed (softball), Tim Smith (track and field) and Michael Husbands (soccer), while Ray Hawn returns as the tennis coach.

Smith coached the cross country and Lady Panther basketball teams, while Husbands had the Lady Panther soccer team in the fall.

A spring sports preview will come out on Friday, April 1 (no fooling).

Congratulations to Lady Jet pitcher Kelly Walker for signing with Tennessee Wesleyan Colllege for 2011-'12, and to Panther pitcher/outfielder for inking with Bryan College.

Both will be stalwarts for their respective teams this spring.

CCHS tennis coach Terri Jacobs pointed out to me Wednesday afternoon the surface at the school courts has three cracks on the courts, which was resurfaced several years ago.

CCHS has three doubles and six singles matches for both boys and girls competitions. That means only two to four matches could only be played at one time. Thank goodness for daylight savings time starting in March.

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The winter sports seasons ended abruptly for the CCHS Jets and Lady Jets, losing in the opening round of the District 6AAA Tournament, and to the Lady Panthers who lost in the opening round of the District 4AA Tournament.

Coach Mike Buck's Panthers will be playing at Knox Carter Saturday at 6 p.m. CST in the opening round of the Region 2AA Tournament. Carter lost to Fulton Tuesday night in the District 3AA Tournament championship game.

Coach Bryan Parker's Panther and Lady Panther wrestling teams had an outstanding season. The Panthers won the region and finished fourth in the state duals tournament. He several grapplers participate in the traditional state tournament last weekend.

First-year Jet wrestling Coach Jim Brady had a young competitve team and took one wrestler to the traditional tournament last week.

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My biggest gripe is with the Cumberland County elementary basketball season, especially the tournament which ran for six days — two nights at CCHS and four at SMHS.

Weather is becoming a factor, as well. A number of non-divisional games were canceled due to the winter storms which hit the Plateau from mid-December to January. Two divisional dates were made up to determine the seedings for the divisional rounds.

The tournament should go back to the old format of playing eight games on the opening day, with the semi-finals and finals the following Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Have the winner of one division host the fourth seed from the other division; second host three, etc. or seed them one through eight, based on overall record.

If divisional play continues, let the highest seed host all the way through and just take the winners to final night.

The biggest reason for the four extra nights is money.

If the highest seed hosts, let that school get the concessions and then have the shares divided after all the expenses are paid.

Athletes should play for the school they are zoned. The board of education needs to enforce this rule.

There is another way to solve the elementary basketball situation.

Have to countywide teams like the ones for baseball, golf and soccer.

Let the high school coaches oversee the teams. Invite all of the seventh and eighth graders to a tryout and pick a team of 12 to 15 players and the coaches to coach the teams.

Those who don't make the team still can play for their respectively schools.

Should one of the players from the countywide team should quit, get hurt, get sick or become academically ineligible, then another player from his or her respective school will move up.

The remaining seventh and eighth graders, along with the sixth graders and below can still play a county schedule. This makes sense.

Both high schools have already picked their elementary baseball teams. Their seasons will begin April, with home games at both CCHS and SMHS.

A similar plan could be used for elementary football.

The Cumberland County Junior Cross Country League has started practice and will have five races this spring. This program has helped get the youngsters prepared for both high schools' cross country programs.

Several years ago, CCHS held an elementary field day.

Why not have something similar for those youngsters interested in track and field?

Here are the events offered at the high school sub sectionals — 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash, 800 meter run, 1600 meter run, 3200 meter run, 100- and 300-meter hurdles, relays (4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 4x800), high jump, long jump, shot put, discus and triple jump.

Pole vault, javelin, pentathlon and decathlon events are offered at the state meet.

Use these or modify to fit the elementary students under the guidance of both high school coaches and athletes.

Have one at each high school for their feeder schools.

This is better than having boys volleyball.

There scholarships available in both track and field and cross country. Athletes from both high schools have received scholarships in those sports over the last few years.

There have been athletes who received scholarships in football, boys and girls basketball, baseball, girls volleyball, golf, softball, tennis and wrestling over the years but not in men's volleyball.

The whole elementary issue would be resolved if there was a countywide athletic director to work with the high school coaches and athletic directors on making the elementary sports better, which will make the high school teams more competitive in their districts.

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Tennessee was cited with 12 major violations after 22 months of investigating and has 90 days to respond. It will probably be later this year before the NCAA hand down the sanctions.

According to reports, Pearl was charged "with impermissible contact with prospective student-athletes during an unofficial visit, acting contrary to the principles of ethical contact, failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance, and failure to monitor the activities regarding compliance of all assistant coaches within the men's basketball program."

Kiffin was cited for "failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program and failure to monitor the activities regarding compliance of several assistant football coaches" in regards to the two major violations committed under his tenure which lasted just one year.

The athletic department allegation was "failure to monitor the men's basketball coaching staff's telephone contacts to ensure compliance."

Who oversees the athletic department? Mike Hamilton.

He hired both Kiffin and Pearl and should have had more control over of both of them and their staffs.

Kiffin is now at USC, which was sanctioned by the NCAA for violations under former Coach Pete Carroll.

Whatever sanctions come down from the NCAA for UT, Hamilton should be "sanctioned" as well, because of his lack of control over his coaching staffs.

This situation is an embarrassment to the entire university system, to the state of Tennessee and the schools alumni.