I won't talk you out of switching. I live near Nashville and I kept running into the same thing; an endless cycle of spring beauty and lushness followed by a summer of death followed by a fall of seeding and endless watering and winter young plant nurturing. Too much trouble for what you get if you ask me. Bermuda is a much better play turf if you have kids, anyway.
Jon

I'm glad to see that someone else knows my pain ;)

endless cycle of spring beauty and lushness followed by a summer of death followed by a fall of seeding and endless watering and winter young plant nurturing.

Well that is pretty much what happens when you live in the TRANSITION ZONE trying to grow cool season grasses. In transition Zones you are pretty much forced to make a choice of having a green yard in cool and cold months, or green in warm and hot months, but cannot have it both ways..

Same thing happened to me so don't take it personally. I did everything right; even had a soil test done, fertilized, limed, etc. Right now I am deciding whether I want a yard full of weeds (spurge and crabgrass is already starting to come up) or if I want to make one last effort at heading them off with some new seed.

That makes me feel a bit better. Maybe I'll just hope for the best and aerate/overseed this fall.

Bermuda will work fine if you can live with its dormancy period. Just overseed with perennial ryegrass in the fall and you should have some winter color.

I say go bermuda, SKIP the rye grass, which totally weakens the bermuda (trust me, i tried it) and enjoy the break from mowing in the winter.
Jon

I lived in the transition zone for 12 years, and struggled with fescue for 9 of those years. Then I moved to a house (in Richmond, VA) which had a fescue/bermuda mix. I know this goes against all lawn care wisdom, but it worked for me. I mowed it at about 3", and when it got hot, the bermuda filled in the bare patches in the fescue. I only reseeded in the fall once in 3 years and the fescue did great. It was an established yard, and if you want a mix, you may have to overseed fescue in the fall, since your spring crop may have severe damage.

Now I am down south and have a bermuda lawn. I don't really like the dormant season (5-6 months here) but it is way too hot for fescue here unless you have some shade, which I don't.

I say go for it...throw down some bermuda seed!

Great topic as I am struggling with the same thing. My yard is about 35% Bermuda now (not by choice) and its thriving in the sun where the fescue is dormant/dying. Mowing everything at about 3 inches actually looks pretty good although I don't like the feel of the current lawn (stiff stressed fescue and taller Bermuda).

I've been mulling over how long to continue overseeding with fescue, myself. The fescue actually looks pretty good in early spring so maybe I'll continue until the Bermuda takes over completely on its own...