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There obviously isn't just one answer, but I think for SOME of these school's Admin either doesn't care or have given up. First, make practice convenient for players. Have an athletic class. Students no longer have to find a way home after workouts, plus it allows them to work after school during the off-season. Adding an activity bus would also increase participation. It would allow students a way home after practice in-season. This doesn't have to be difficult. Coaches can't drive players home after practice in their personal vehicles (at least aren't supposed to). So get them licensed to drive the activity bus and I'm sure a lot of coaches will be happy to take players home themselves. Secondly is coaching. I feel a lot of these schools fall in one of three categories. Either they hire a coach and fire them after 2-3 years if they haven't turned the program around. Coaches need more time than that to turn these perennial losers. OR hire a coach that averages 2-3 wins a year and the Admin allows them to stick around for 10-15 years. apparently they aren't a good fit. OR they hire a coach that has been to 2-3 schools and failed. It honestly puzzles me. I assume they feel that they are hiring someone that "knows" how to run knows how to run a program, keeping the Admin from having to deal with any day to day headaches. Admin should also take coaching into consideration when they are hiring teachers. It should factor in if a teacher is willing to coach one or multiple sports. Obviously not every teacher is going to be a coach, but I do feel like coaches are judged in a negative way by a lot of admin. They believe coaches just want to coach and don't care about teaching. Are there bad teachers that coach? Sure. Are there bad teachers that that don't coach? You bet! This would actually allow HC's to get talented assistants as opposed to having MAYBE a teacher or two, then hoping for lay coaches to fill out the rest of the staff. There are plenty of talented lay coaches, but work schedule keeps a lot of guys from coaching. Once again there are multiple reasons why some programs struggle year after year, but I feel Admin is one of the main factors.

Good info, thanks. I wish I was better on my geography, but those two counties do seem to indicate my question. Great hypotheticals. Would a 4A Adams County High be competitive in the "Northeast Nine"? Would South Jay and North Jay be 2A powers? Trying to check out the IHSAA membership map, it appears Fountain Central might be the only example I can find of a single county HS having winning teams on a regular basis I don't have a good reason as to why this appears to be the case. It just seems to be a common occurrence.

Cass: Wing T Tipton: Multiple with a nice Spread and under center combo from what I have seen, usually very good skill kids HH: Seem to be on the uptick now. lots of numbers, Spread team NW: Hodge Podge last few years, mix of Double wing, wing t to spread, numbers were less than 50 last year I believe , Great facilities Western: Been big and physical last few years, Gun Single Wing with some Zone concepts, and spread concepts sprinkled in. Well coached, competitive program West Side Its been WL playground since 2015 RCHS: We run Double Tight Single Wing, return a significant amount of players and very nice Freshman class coming in BC: Workign on getting numbers and excitment up. Spread Team, those kids played hard for Coach Marsh last year, numbers and signafigant injuries have done them in last few years LCC: Very good as expected each year, Coach Nay runs a spread No huddle, check with me system, VERY GOOD QB, going on 4th year starting into 2021, as a SR. 6'5 last time I saw TL: Flipped from Wing T under Coach Mannering to Spread with Coach Saylers, we missed them this past year due to covid and I think only saw them once on film, but they seemed to have had a nice year statistically speaking last year Cheers

Interesting post. Adams and Jay are next to each other. Both are rural but Adams has Berne, Monroe and Decatur which house (1A) South Adams, (1A) Adam’s Central and (3A) Belmont all of whom have been to or won state. Granted Belmont has been struggling. Other than Portland, Jay co is corn fields for as far as the eye can see. Combine all 3 Adam’s co schools into 1 and perhaps the outcome is a underperforming 4-5A (just like Huntington North / Jay)?

LOL, I'm just digging for some info..... What is the style of play there, who are the teams to beat, what teams have players, but perhaps under performed.

It is not an off-season on the GID, without a Hoosier Conference thread.

Lots of good stuff here, every situation is unique. The key is getting decision makers in those districts to read their own situation, and then make the decisions that help engage students in those districts. Getting kids to be active, take pride in their school and community, learn sacrifice and teamwork is only going to benefit these schools academically in the long run. Your 3rd point about Admin hiring coaches is a tough one. I'm right with you, but teacher shortage is making that harder and harder. Why can't every Administrator be given a list of district needs (teachers, coaches, directors, club sponsers, etc) and be given the marching orders by the Superintendent to cross off as many of those needs with each hire as possible? Wouldn't that mentality bring the greatest value to the school with each open teaching position?

Sorry to hear...prayers to his family and the MD community.

https://reason.com/2021/02/23/progressives-say-good-riddance-to-businesses-who-cant-afford-a-15-minimum-wage/ Nevertheless, other left-wing commenters approvingly tweeted out Khanna's original remarks, saying that forcing businesses who can't afford the new higher minimum wage to close would be a good thing. That's a callous attitude to take towards small business owners in light of the difficulties they're already facing amid a pandemic and related public health restrictions. Given how many mom-and-pop operations would struggle to cope with a $15 federal minimum wage, these commentators are writing off a huge number of existing businesses as essentially worthless. Nationally, about a third of small businesses have closed since the start of the pandemic. Small business revenue is down by about the same amount. The proposed $15 an hour minimum wage, which the proposed Raise the Wage Act would phase in by 2025, is higher than the current median wage in Mississippi, notes Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute. The figure is only a little less than the median wage in states like Arkansas, West Virginia, and Louisiana. Making that median wage the new national floor would prove fatal for a huge number of employers in those lower-wage, lower-cost states. And even if one isn't inclined to shed a tear for mom-and-pop businesses, it's not like the current lower-wage employees of those businesses would be made better off either. They'd stand to make $0 an hour if their employer shuts down. And even if the business does survive, those employees still risk cuts to their hours or worsening working conditions. That's what's playing out in Fresno, California, where the rollout of that state's $15 an hour minimum wage law was the subject of a recent investigation by The New York Times. As that story notes, Fresno, as a lower-wage, lower-cost area of a higher-wage, high-cost state, makes for a good case study on how the phase-in of a $15 an hour federal minimum wage might work. In January, California hiked its minimum wage to $14 an hour. Businesses in Fresno, where the median wage is $17 an hour, have responded by either raising prices, cutting staff, or both, the Times found. The Congressional Budget Office estimates a $15 an hour national minimum wage would cost 1.4 million people their jobs. A similar story is playing out in West Coast cities that have passed hazard pay ordinances that require grocers to pay their employees an additional $4 or $5 an hour during the pandemic. Some grocery store chains have responded by closing down poor-performing stores. Independent operators say they're being forced to operate in the red, and might not survive for much longer. According to a city staff analysis, a proposed $5 an hour hazard pay proposal in Los Angeles would risk price hikes, job losses, store closures, and the creation of "food deserts." Grocery stores are particularly sensitive to sudden increases in their labor costs given the typically tight margins those businesses operate on. That's true even during the pandemic when some grocery chains have reaped record profits. Small businesses experiencing declining revenue during the pandemic would obviously be harder hit by sudden increases in their labor costs. Even if one thinks it's fine for businesses that pay low wages to go extinct, their shuttering also means fewer job options for low-wage workers. There's no social justice in that. Progressivism truly is a mental disorder, and this kind of "thinking" proves it.

That can often be the case for many athletic departments--too much of an old boy network.

Agree.

Eastbrook is a county school and they have a huge following and great support!

Explain Western Boone... or Seeger Memorial? Both have multiple small towns and multiple elementaries that feed into 1 Jr High and High School. There isn't a parade from homecoming around the "town". I think you will find instances of both support/pride and instances of programs that stuggle to get that. It really is what came first the chicken (success) or the egg (support/pride/identity)?

I feel "county" school may be better replaced with Rural. Where I'm at is not the only school in the county, but the only corp that is experiencing excessive student population decline, I think that factors into it more than anything. Other factors involved for sure, but enrollment and participation is key!

The press not have access to the internet and Zoom?

I don't think I'd go that far. Jay County will be far more competitive in the ACAC within a couple of years, but to go from 3 wins per year since joining the ACAC (1 in the past two years) to being too strong for the conference in 3 years is an exaggeration. The potential might be there eventually, but the conference is usually top heavy with strong teams recently from SA, AC and, a few years ago, Woodlan. Those 3 teams have had stretches of consistently winning lop-sided games in the conference. Since Jay County joined the ACAC, here's how their 3 wins per season stack up with the top 4 teams in those years: AC - 10 wins per year, 3 regional championships, 4 sectional championships SA - Just under 8 wins per year, 1 state runner up, 2 regional championships, 5 sectional championships Woodlan - 7 wins per year, 1 state runner up, 2 regional championships, 2 sectional championships Bluffton - 5 wins per year, 7-8 wins per year the last 3 years Jay County has the numbers, assuming Coach Zgunda can get them to come out, to eventually make its way to the top of couple teams in the conference, but it will take more than a great coach to get them to the point where they need to be promoted to a larger conference in 3 years.

This is huge for Jay County. Coach Zgunda should be able to turn them into a solid program. A school the size of Jay County should be much more competitive in football in the ACAC against schools around half its size. I'm assuming the primary hurdle will be to get kids to come out and to get the community to buy in to what it takes to build a winning program.

Feb 16 2021 Muncie Star Press Grant Zgunda is the new Jay Co. Head Coach