In a joint statement, Christian Brothers and Memphis University School announced that both high school football programs will play an independent TSSAA football schedule for the 2027 and 2028, leaving Division II-AAA rendering both teams ineligible for the TSSAA playoffs in the next two years.
The Purple Wave and Owls will create their own 10-game schedule with a bowl game for the 2027-2029 school years.
"Christian Brothers measures success by the men our students become, not by the games they win but by the integrity with which they play them," CBHS President David Poos said in an emailed statement obtained by the Commercial Appeal on Sept. 28. "This decision gives our student-athletes and coaches the chance to build real continuity, season after
season, in a way that reflects the brotherhood we build in every corner of our school. A full season, played from start to finish with something meaningful at stake throughout, is a program our young men can fully invest in. We look forward to what this new chapter makes possible for our students, whose best interests remain at the heart of every decision we make.”
CBHS and MUS become the third and fourth DII-AAA schools to announce a move to an independent schedule. Nashville area schools Christ Presbyterian Academy andFather Ryan will also play independent schedules for the next two years. CPA made its announcement on Sept. 22. Father Ryan sent a letter to its parents on Sept. 27 declaring its intentions.
Both CBHS and MUS were slated to remain in Division II-AAA under the TSSAA's new enrollment numbers and initial football classifications. CBHS as the largest school in DII-AAA, according to those enrollment figures with 1,478 students. The Purple Wave have not been to state championship game since 2005. The program's lone state title came in 1977.
“As the landscape of high school football continues to change, we believe MUS has a responsibility to remain anchored to our school’s mission,” MUS Headmaster Pete Sanders said in the statement. “We hold true that relational coaching is far more impactful and meaningful than transactional, and we strongly believe in the development of our student-athletes over their replacement. We will continue to give our student-athletes an unparalleled experience that prepares them for success in every category on and off the field.”
Christian Brothers is 4-2 through six weeks of the 2026 TSSAA season and faces Briarcrest Christian on Oct. 2.
MUS is a storied Memphis area program with a mountain of TSSAA championship pedigree, having played in the state title game 11 times winning five (1985, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009). Its most recent trip to the championship game was in 2020. MUS holds 752 students. It's football program is 3-3 entering Week 7 vs Brentwood Academy.
Reach The Commercial Appeal's high school writer, Ryan Myers at ryan.myers@commercialappeal.com and on the X platform @RyanMyers_23.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Christian Brothers, MUS latest TSSAA football programs to move to independent schedule
