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Jellico’s Mike Reynolds, Campbell County’s Jason Kitts and Brad Honeycutt share comments regarding the new shot clock coming to high school basketball by 2030
By Clayton Carroll
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF) – A major change is coming to Tennessee high school basketball by the 2029-2030 season. The TSSAA announced that a 35-second shot clock would be slowly installed this season and fully in effect by the 2029-2030 season.
The shot clock can be utilized as soon as this basketball season, but only in Christmas and Thanksgiving tournaments, as well as Hall of Fame games. Campbell County coaches gave their opinion regarding this new change.
“I’m supportive of it,” said Jellico Blue Devils’ Head Coach Mike Reynolds. “It won’t really affect us much on offense due to our high pace of play. However, I do foresee it changing late-game situations. It may be easier for a team to come back, and it may make it more difficult for a team to hold a lead.” Reynolds continued to say that he is okay with change, and that some of the push back against the shot clock is due to apprehension of change.
Mike Reynolds sits down with Josh Parker after the Blue Devils punched their ticket to the 1A substate game in 2023-2024
“The one area that I am concerned about is the cost of it,” continued Reynolds. “It looks like it could cost us thirty-five hundred dollars and over four thousand dollars if we wanted the shot clock with the game clock on it as well. I am apprehensive about that. Other than that, though, I don’t foresee it affecting us a whole lot.”
The sixth-year head coach of the Lady Cougars, Jason Kitts, gave somewhat of a different perspective. “There’s some good to this, and there’s some bad.” The good is that it helps a team like us that runs a zone in girls’ basketball. If you push that zone out, or even press a team that struggles against it, they are gonna have a hard time breaking the press, and especially getting a good shot up in 35 seconds.
Coach Kitts did agree that the new shot clock won’t affect the Lady Cougars very much on offense. “We average a shot every 10-12 seconds. We, or for that matter anybody, don’t really hold the ball anymore.”
Kitts shared two negatives he feels about the shot clock. One of which was the common denominator among all CC coaches…the cost. The second is a deeper issue. “When you add the new one-time transfer rule, that is only going to allow the good teams to get better. That is going to create a larger skill gap between, let’s say, a school in a highly-populated area versus a rural school like Campbell County or Jellico.” He believes that the shot clock is going to make the margin of victory even larger in some games.
Kitts coaches former Lady Cougars Lacey Pemberton (left) and Cora Browning (right) during his first season in 2021
“You take someone like a Bearden or an Oak Ridge or Maryville and match them up with a 1A school…that team can’t hold the ball anymore. The team with the lead will get to keep taking shots every 35 seconds, further driving up the score.”
Brad Honeycutt, the Cougars’ head coach, shared his opinion. “Honestly, in 90% of games, the shot clock isn’t even needed. Teams don’t stall the ball anymore in boys’ basketball. It happens, but it’s extremely rare.”
Honeycutt also pointed out some negative technical aspects of it. One of which, just like Reynolds and Kitts mentioned, was the cost of buying the shot clocks and installing them. Second, Honeycutt sees concerns with the operation of the shot clock. “There’s at least one malfunction per NBA or college game nowadays. Now you take that, and get someone who doesn’t have the training or practice that someone has in the NBA. No offense to anyone because we are blessed to have people willing to run the clock, but you have to think about the cost of paying an extra person, and that person being proficient in running the shot clock. Also, that person, in my opinion, should be an official who is actually trained.”
Honeycutt, who coached the Lady Cougars for 7 years, will wear his patented light blue button-up leading the Cougars for his first year
Also, Honeycutt gave an interesting perspective on the new shot clock. “In a weird way, it might actually slow the game down. When it comes to a team like us that wants to be methodical and look for open shots and not necessarily shoot all the time quickly, now we have a tangible number to look up at and see. For instance, we may go ‘we aren’t getting into our offense until 10 seconds or 15 seconds’. Now we can look up at any time and see that.
“If it’s a train wreck, maybe they’ll reverse it,” said Honeycutt jokingly at the end of the conversation.
When the Cougars and Blue Devils see the shot clock is currently to be determined. It could be as soon as this season during Hall of Fame or holiday tournament games, but it won’t be fully in effect until the 2029-2030 season. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 6-16-2026 6AM)