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Indiana Mr. Football: Gibson Southern QB Brady Allen is 2021 winner (indystar.com)

The video of this. What a special moment for the Allen family

Or maybe it's because, unlike DT, they realize high school football is about education and opportunity, *not* about "competitive balance" and "making a few programs stronger." It's not "easy" to drive two towns away because your school killed your football program because of "competitive balance." And a LOT of the schools on DT's asinine contraction list are from low-SES backgrounds where kids need opportunities, positive role models and to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They can't just "go to a neighboring school" without having transportation. The true worth of a high school program is in the young men it develops and what happens between Monday and Thursday afternoons on the practice field, not so much what happens on Friday night. And great things happen at Connersville with their 34 players just as much as they happen at Center Grove with their 200. We should be talking about expanding opportunities with 8-man football for smaller schools, not getting rid of programs.

The true bias that no one wants to talk about…this is an offensive award. Defense and/or excellence in all 3 facets of the game means nothing. But, as predicted.

Congrats to Brady Allen!

I hope this is the case - along with success factor bumps. The IHSAA gets many things right. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they seem to overcomplicate the classification/sectional assignment process. I would think a computer algorithm to minimize travel distances between schools is a senior level Computer Science project.

Of course the head coaches would respond that way. It's part of their livelihood being threatened.

https://dailyjournal.net/2021/12/14/casey-gillin-named-new-indian-creek-football-coach/ A Gillin back leading the Indian Creek Program.

Financially he's going to be well off but in other ways he just keeps on getting away with being a turd. I wonder if there is an ethics clause in his contract?

Obviously I am very excited for Brady but all this bickering back-and-forth about who should and who shouldnt get it means absolutely nothing. Enlighten me if I am wrong but all it is is a notch under the belt correct? Congratulations to everyone else who were nominated for this award!

Well deserved. Really cool watching him getting surprised in the locker room with his Mom and Dad there. It's so cliche' but this kid put in (and puts in) just an incredible amount of work to get to this point. I expect that work ethic to continue well into the future.

Just making a statement that some folks are unqualified to speak regarding certain subjects. He always takes the bait too.

Not 6A Not central Indiana

Yeah, but now he's at Jeff. Lord, I apologize for that there.

So, is this a case of “backlash” against the well-known Central Indiana bias? 😂😅

That article doesn't make me upset that those kids, coaches, and administrators gutted out a rough year. Football can take a lot... but it also gives a lot. Those players are among a select group of people with the guts and will power to overcome rough circumstances. I did enjoy how they used Mater Dei as the bar for participation. They dressed about 100 players against us with only 1 freshman (kicker). Linton has great numbers for a public school... we usually have between 45-55 players. CC is just a few students above the 1A/2A line. Their unique situation with distance and poverty probably makes it even tougher to keep kids involved. Lets break down some things on this "list". This is from someone with almost no direct knowledge of Crawford County... so take it for what it is worth. It is probably fair to make comparisons to similar programs. Eastern Greene and Forest Park both started their programs around the same time. Enrollments are close, but Eastern probably compares better in regards to lacking a good size town... I'm also guessing their poverty rate is higher than FP. In the first 10 seasons... CC had 11 wins; Eastern had 21 wins; FP had 35 wins... Coaching seemed to be the biggest factor. CC had a revolving door... Eastern finally got their feet on solid ground by year 7 or 8... FP came out with a good coach (they have only had two in 14 seasons). 1. Chronic lack of competitiveness- I'm not sure this should be addressed specifically... all the other things directly impact this. 2. Chronic staff turnover- Forest Park had 2 experienced coaches for the first 14 years of their program... there is consistency. They also were able to grab an experienced coach in the beginning to help establish the program. Eastern has had 8 coaches in 19 years (Coach Lorig got the program on its feet, but didn't coach in its 1st varsity season). It wasn't until Luke Dean took over that progress was made. He was a young energetic... almost an arrogant coach, but exactly what the program needed. He seemed to focus on a feeder program and his teams competed. Paridean comes in and reaps the benefits of a strong Junior/Senior class to guide them to a couple really good years. Good coach + a few good classes = success. It didn't hurt that they were one of the biggest 1A teams during their deep tournament runs. Since then, they have struggled. Crawford County has had 6 coaches in 15 years... I didn't recognize all the names, but I wonder if they were young, energetic, experienced, etc... Or were they stop gap coaches. Hard to gain credibility with your players and the community/school that way. 3. Low numbers- This could be a couple problems. How does distance effect participation numbers for their teams at all levels? What does feeder program look like? Are they losing good athletes to other schools? Is the coach good at recruiting athletes? I'm guessing their feeder program is attached to another league, which means they may only be fielding 1 team. Are players being developed? In an area that may not have many former football players, what kind of coaches do they have in place at the youth level? Is there conformity in what they do on offense and defense? So many questions 4. Poor administrative support- It sounds like there is at least a base level of support, but most of us know fielding a team is not the same supporting the team. What does the field and practice facilities look like. What about the weight room? Do they have a weight lifting class? If not... they should. Is there work to tie the program together from top to bottom (elementary)? 5. Poor community support- This is a tiered issue. Showing up is a part of that.. but not always the most important. Does the community support kids playing all sports? Are there qualified coaches to fill out the varsity staff, JH staff, and youth league? Is there an effort by the school to make football a community unifying event? Is the community open to the vision of the coach in terms of plays/strategy? 6. Lack of coordinated feeder system- A coach having to go over plays over and over until their whole team is there is hard to read. Maybe they need to start their offense at the youth league level and build on it every year. Of course, that would require a coach to stick around for awhile. Being small... I'm guessing they feed into a bigger league or travel around and play other small schools. Do they participate in a few school affiliated tournaments at the end of the youth season? 7. Strong apathetic attitude towards football- It isn't just losing that creates this... it is all of this stuff wrapped up into one. We now have COVID to deal with on top of the general apathy some kids have. 8. Competitive consolidation- Who could they possibly merge with. It is a rural school. Any kid that would have the means to travel to a better program... probably already has... or they just didn't buy a house in CC school district. I would look to play as many 1A or struggling programs as possible. A few wins could help if other things are in place. 9. Merger consolidation

My guess is the reason Muda says they are 4A in enrollment only is that the community and student body is around 30% Hispanic, and that demographic isn’t traditionally a fertile recruiting ground for them. So even in a Sagamore Conference with schools ranging from 2A-4A, they have been dismal for some time. I believe their soccer and baseball teams have been pretty competitive recently.

Congrats to Brady, he is officially Mr. Football!

Dude.

Here we go my hopes are up seen good things and things they need to improve on BUT I'm trying to temper my expectations however its just NOT in me as an IU fan. looking forward to seeing how the Big Ten season plays out As far as the PG situation couldn't agree more but lets keep in mind X and Woody are both still in a feeling out process. I do wonder what Lander is doing that Woody doesn't like ? Its pretty clear there is something that he HAS to improve on in practice before Woodson will up his mins despite the fact that he played Big mins and his best basketball in the St Johns win and Syracuse loss Ready to watch vs Notre Dame in the "Archie Miller Crossroads classic" LOL

Only roughly 150 kids fewer than Cathedral. Bet if they had a better coaching staff that worked harder they could compete with the Irish...

Albeit lopsided, it still is amazing to me that BD and CG have played each other 6 times in 3 years, with half of those games coming in Semi-State. No matter happens with the HCC, I still hope to see Warren and BD play against CG and Carmel in the regular season. I think to all 4 of those communities, those games still massively resonate. Even if no regular season match-ups, these games will be a blast to attend during the tournament.

Well stated...I have watched tremendous athletes come out of the MIC for years and do great things at the next level. It was a huge source of pride to have my kids compete in the MIC. I have no doubt about the next generation of great MIC athletes in football among other sports. I'll always be a MIC fan...while I cheered for "my team" when they played, I love cheering on the MIC and all Indy metro players at the next level. I know change is a part of life, and I understand revenue and focus on all sports instead of my favorite is the driving force, but will miss the rivalries. As I mentioned in an earlier post about CG's 2 year run, the Trojans have played BD and WC four and three times respectively in the last 2 seasons. Those are rivalries that won't be the same. That bums me out. Indy Metro needs their conferences to prosper....I have no doubt they will.

Someone messaged me last night and said it was the same guy. I had to unfollow that Facebook page.

Appreciate it. Wish nothing but the best for the kids on the South Side. We were especially hard hit by Covid (lost 3 games this year, had roster issues all season, and didn't have access to a weight room or a locker room for over a year), but my staff managed to put together a great freshmen (~20 kids) and sophomore (~28 kids) class, and we built a really strong connection with our feeder system down at Jackson. I hope they find the right guy to keep the program moving in the right direction, and I'm not just talking about the W-L record.

Interested to see MIC schools fill their non conference games in football. That will be 4 non conference games now. Hard enough for MIC schools to find games.

Hep ,that’s another story.

Hmmmm…..wild…..ridiculous….trolls. First I’ve heard about all of this. Good point, glad you pointed it out. This has to stop!

100%

I will personally say Indiana and Purdue will pay more attention to lesser touted recruits from (Texas, Florida, and Ohio) than they will top recruits from Indiana. I think it is a shame because some great players leave Indiana to play at out of State Colleges because Indiana and Purdue do that exact thing. I may try to do some research when I get some free time, but I would bet some big hitters in NCAA D-1 do a pretty darn good job of recruiting and focusing on the top players from their own State. I will exclude Notre Dame from this discussion because there are many factors that makes it different. I 100% can't wait to leave Indiana (not because it is a bad State) but because I am not a fan of cold bitter winters and would rather park my rear end near a beach! I have made a good living in Indiana just would rather be in warmer climates!

Traitor? You mean to those same state universities that have no problem admitting an out of state student over a state resident student because it means more $$. Go check out the rosters of IU, Purdue, ISU, Ball State football teams. They are chocked full of out of stats traitors.

There is absolutely no objective measure that puts WeBo in 2A without also putting Chatard in 3A. Neither should happen, IMO

We are taking about BEN DAVIS and WARREN CENTRAL. Two schools near/above 4000 students who eat, sleep, and breathe football and have for 4 decades often at the expense of other sports and programs. Center Grove and Carmel are sending double figure kids to the next level annually while BD/Warren are sending a handful combined. Save the “monster freshman class” nonsense for a couple of years. So many variables to consider before taking that comment seriously. Its not hard to see where things are trending and save me the “it’s cyclical” argument. BD and Warren will continue to compete and dominate “the new MIC” solely based on enrollment advantages. As recently as 20-25 years ago, IPS schools were competitive in multiple sports on a state wide level and now they are an afterthought. Marion County schools have now taken on that moniker in most sports due to simple socioeconomic shifts and urban sprawl. Money talks and the suburbs have it. I walk the front lines daily and can tell you that by the time many kids at most Marion County schools reach the practice field at 3pm, they have already fought multiple battles that most suburban kids don’t have to. It’s a much steeper climb. Why don’t schools like Warren and BD compete for state titles in sports like golf, tennis and swimming? Shouldn’t they be able to? They have 4000 kids! Are their coaches not trying hard enough? I encourage anyone to job shadow me and see the trauma that many kids in the city experience on a daily basis. It’d blow your mind and you have to see it to believe it. Do some quick research on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It’ll do you some good.

Yet Brownsburg had a few more players in those rankings and still lost, albeit with a "month to prep". WC has a monster freshman class coming in and they'll be top dogs soon enough in the new MIC. WC, BD, LC (Mickens, plus others), and LN(just sent three to FBS programs), will be just fine. Even Pike and NC are sending players to higher levels in the '23 class. Can we stop with the "MIC is dead" narrative. They'll still be high caliber players and programs in the conference and they'll battle with the same programs they've battled with the past 25 years. We have no idea what the next 20 years will look like, the projections and guesses crack me up.

Hmm, I left Indiana for almost 9 years, then came back. And have never been happier. Just because you have abandoned your home state for good doesn't mean all of us do.

LOL. Ben Davis is about to have more pros in the league than it's ever had before at the same time, dude. Gosh, you really should pay attention.

Conferences are a confederation of schools. The IHSAA has no role in the creation of or regulation of conferences. Plus, almost every school in the HCC or the MIC is in either one of the two largest football classes and the largest class in other classed sports. Why use what's happening between these two leagues as an excuse to breakdown the rest of the state's conferences? You think a team of mostly Class A schools cares about the MIC or HCC?

Common sense says that it's an extra-curricular activity for kids and if there's enough kids wanting to play it, and the school is willing to sponsor it, who are you to suggest they shouldn't have that opportunity?

Please. Like others here, I'm calling you out on your lack of reality/understanding in your posts and pointing out the flaws or lacking. Would be nice to see your response to my statements and answering the two examples that I provided as opposed to child's play. By the way, I also noticed that you didn't respond any to the post about districts when you found out that your assumptions about districts was wrong. Districts don't make the game not worth playing and doesn't exclude rivalries or prevent them from continuing. I can tell you that as a student of a district state as well as a follower of teams in a district state. Now, in the case of a closed conference, yes, that certainly ends rivalries or long-standing games from being played. As an example, and using the "nomadic" Raiders, Harrison has played Westfield every season for the last 20 years as a member of two different conferences. If the HCC goes to a 10-team closed conference, that two-decade matchup will go by the wayside.

A new alignment would probably take place at the next executive meeting. I feel that all State champions should bump up a class and go by enrollment with the rest. Just my opinion.

I’m sorry. The MIC is much, much than an athletics conference. The Moose out front should have told you.

Again, if grown-ups were in charge in the MIC at least they would have handled the loss with some grace. I find it ironic that those administering sports tell the players to accept a loss with grace and class yet act like petulant 8 year olds when things don’t go their way = as demonstrated by that silly rant of a press release. It just confirms my worst fears as regards who is running our public schools - and public institutions in general.

From 2008 to 2019 Tri High school had 1 winning season including 4 (0-10) seasons. If they would have just given up and cut the program they never would have made the semi-state run they just made. And I can tell you that those kids during that decade would say that football enriched their high school experiences regardless of the record. But since Tri isn't in Indianapolis or the region they don't exist in (the artist formerly known as) DT's mind so they must contract. This whole contraction crap gets old. If the money spent on football was really hurting these systems, they would cut them.

Their call. I wouldn't want some third party forcing me into not continuing if I thought otherwise or wanted to try something different to effect change.

Good post. I about vomited when someone suggested he be the next coach at Notre Dame. He's washed up, I think you are right about the MAC...........or a low level Power 5.

I wouldn't go that far, but no reason to think that with a solid support staff, good feeder program, etc Frankfort shouldn't fare much better than they currently do in a conference comprised of mostly 2A and 3A schools. I'd start there first.

DT & HHF

Coach Peebles also coached at Southport and Lawrence Central. I believe he also responded with having 40 seniors at Cathedral is not the normal (in other words he was being honest he had a large SR class). Regardless it all remained the same, read Coach Lidy's too and while you down play Coach Peebles response you got similar responses for others. Coach Skinner did go more in depth and didn't just spout your typical BS. Curious to see what you get from Coach Pasch, Coach Hart, Coach Moore. I don't think you would get much difference in an answer. Probably wouldn't get much different from the State Runner-up Coaches. Keep on chugging though Thomas the Tank Engine. Sorry Coaches don't and likely won't agree with some of your notions now matter how hard you try to spin it.