Volunteer high football placed on probation

[RichRich]

Kingsport Times News

"The Volunteer High School football program has been placed on probation by the TSSAA, according to a document obtained by Six Rivers Media on Thursday.

 

 

According to a letter from TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves to Volunteer principal Dr. Greg Sturgill, the TSSAA indicated violations of Article II, Section 17 (Recruiting Rule), Article II, Section 14 (Practice Rule) and Article IV, Section 8 (TSSAA Sports Calendar).

 

 

The TSSAA Sports Calendar violations occurred on at least three occasions, per the report, which indicates Volunteer conducted organized activities with more than six players that would be considered practice by TSSAA bylaws. These activities were not part of the 10 days of offseason practice permitted within a 15-day consecutive period outlined in the TSSAA Sports Calendar.

 

 

Article II, Section 17 — the TSSAA Recruiting Rule — prohibits influence on a student or the parents/guardians of a student by anyone directly or indirectly associated with the school to retain a student for athletic purposes.

 

 

The report states a Volunteer High School student who lives with head coach Jeremy Wagner reached out to a Cherokee High School student and invited him to a “Sunday training.” The Cherokee student and his father then went to the Volunteer football field house to meet with Wagner, and the student participated in organized activities for 30-40 minutes, which is defined as practice under the TSSAA Sports Calendar.

 

 

“To avoid the appearance of impropriety, a coach who is contacted by any student or family or individual about attending a school where he or she is the coach should inform that person that he or she needs to contact the administrative official or officials of the school who normally deal with the admission process,” the letter outlines. “The investigation conducted by Volunteer High School and the TSSAA office confirmed that these guidelines were not followed.”

 

 

Article II, Section 14 of the TSSAA Bylaws also states that only students who are enrolled and in regular attendance at a school may participate in practice.

 

 

“The student who visited Volunteer High School and participated in organized activities will be ineligible to participate in football at Volunteer High School for 12 months if he enrolls at the school,” the letter stated.

 

 

As a result, Volunteer’s football program won’t be permitted to have any additional offseason practice during the 2025-26 school year. Coaches may continue to provide individual instruction to no more than six players per day. The Falcons will be allowed to conduct five days of offseason practice within a 15-day consecutive period during the 2026-27 school year.

 

 

Volunteer’s football program will be placed on probation through the 2027-28 school year, which results in a $1,000 fine. The Falcons will still be eligible for the postseason should they qualify.

 

 

The Falcons enjoyed unprecedented success in their first season under Wagner's leadership, becoming the school’s first-ever football team to reach the seven-win mark. Volunteer went 7-4 in 2025 and reached the playoffs for only the second time since 2007."

 

Kingsport Times News

[redtiger]

I wonder who told? 

[Gridiron60]

So Volunteer doing DB & Greenville type things 😂😂😂😂. 

[vol_husky]

We all know it was likely Cherokee who complained. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cherokee was just as guilty. 
 

Volunteer had improved tremendously.

 

I don’t know Coach Wagner. I do know that Coach Hensley at Cherokee is a POS. I usually don’t pull for Greeneville, but I usually hope they and Elizabethton beat Cherokee like a drum. 

[Wolf1207]

Let me get this straight, the TSSAA puts Volunteer on probation for recruiting. Then you have Alcoa which has a student body around the size of Abingdon or smaller that has won something like 500 state titles in a row (I could be off by a couple of hundred) and there is no recruiting there. Plus they are about 5 miles from Maryville who was on a similar dynasty run until a few years ago. 
This makes the VHSL look like they have sense. 

[1inStripes]

11 hours ago, vol_husky said:

We all know it was likely Cherokee who complained. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cherokee was just as guilty. 
 

Volunteer had improved tremendously.

 

I don’t know Coach Wagner. I do know that Coach Hensley at Cherokee is a POS. I usually don’t pull for Greeneville, but I usually hope they and Elizabethton beat Cherokee like a drum. 

What has given that rep for Hensley?  He has turned a downtrodden program into a winner in recent years but I hadn't heard much negative about him.

[UnionGuy2017]

“The report states a Volunteer High School student who lives with head coach Jeremy Wagner reached out to a Cherokee High School student and invited him to a “Sunday training.”

 

Obviously, I don’t know if this is the HC’s son or not. If it isn’t, maybe the reports  of him bringing talent with him to volunteer were true. 

[tornado99]

The cynicism in me wants to point to an increase in talent from a special class or getting some infused outside is the primary reasons for quick turnaround more often than not. 
Coaches still must know what they are doing. But the talent available and increasing the talent seems to play a greater factor in success nowadays than the specific game management decisions overall. 
It’s the simple reason Alcoa is successful. They are always loaded or get the talent. It’s a shame that it appears the little guy gets caught and punished for it. (I know nothing about Tennessee football other than the big names and reputations.)

[1inStripes]

Maryville and Alcoa pull so much talent from the greater Knoxville area.  Knox West was......

[Union_Fan]

4 hours ago, UnionGuy2017 said:

“The report states a Volunteer High School student who lives with head coach Jeremy Wagner reached out to a Cherokee High School student and invited him to a “Sunday training.”

 

Obviously, I don’t know if this is the HC’s son or not. If it isn’t, maybe the reports  of him bringing talent with him to volunteer were true. 

It was definitely true. Don't remember what paper it was in, but there was an article talking about the students that followed him there.

[Gridiron60]

2 hours ago, Union_Fan said:

It was definitely true. Don't remember what paper it was in, but there was an article talking about the students that followed him there.

It’s not the first time players have followed a coach to a different school. Didn’t a handful of Richlands kids go to Honaker with Coach Lowe, albeit he was assistant at the time? 

[tornado99]

17 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

It’s not the first time players have followed a coach to a different school. Didn’t a handful of Richlands kids go to Honaker with Coach Lowe, albeit he was assistant at the time? 

These were middle school kids at the time. 

[Gridiron60]

3 hours ago, tornado99 said:

These were middle school kids at the time. 

Yeah, I was just using that as an example. As far as high schoolers in VA . It’s going to be a lot harder to follow a coach than it used to be with the new transfer rules. 

[tornado99]

47 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

Yeah, I was just using that as an example. As far as high schoolers in VA . It’s going to be a lot harder to follow a coach than it used to be with the new transfer rules. 

Yeah. That was a good example of how that could fly under the radar, as well. It will certainly be harder to follow a coach. I think the next trend will include more careful planning for parents that want their kids to play sports at a particular school ahead of time. It will be more difficult than now, but middle school may become the next best recruiting ground/talent pool.

[GC_Quincy]

Maryville's on probation also. Through the first semester of the 2026-27 school year.