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THats what I thought, but the other post made it sound as if he was gone...... Clay is a Great Young man.... I used to work a lot of Camps with him.

Has anyone broken the news to Mrs. Potato Head?

@Donnie Bakeris one of the greatest humans on this Earth. I swear he is. 😉 Ran out of likes to give, so here is a big like/thank you Muda.

It was difficult in my early years, but very manageable. We were on tri-mesters. A LOT of planning the 1st year. Coached football, basketball and softball. I attended all off season work outs for all sports that didn't interfere with my in season sport. I was also the student council co-advisor. My advice....DO NOT try and reinvent the wheel.

I am not trying to make it anything... Seeger is the only school in Warren County. They have had success. My point was/is that does the success come from good Community support or does the community support come from the success?

Any Non-success list would have to include Pike Central. Has the IHSAA football tournament been around in its current format since 1985? 1986? Pike Central has won one sectional game in that time span. Not won the sectional. ONE GAME. So their postseason record is 1-35. If that doesn't define a team that can't be competitive as a 3A school, I don't know what does.

Haha...I always kind of get a kick out of veteran/older teachers telling us "how I used to do things" This is going to come across smug/arrogant and it is not actually meant that way - but the days of "read/hand out a worksheet" are over. Teaching expectations and documentation and data collection in CORE subjects have become almost too much to try and do and still have energy to run a program. It's why I've asked numerous times on here about head coaches and the subjects they teach. More often than naught , especially at your bigger programs (4A and above) - the head football coach is not in your traditional classroom setting. They are teaching PE, Strength, or have some Admin position. And I know those have their challenges, but they don't necessarily require the daily/hourly requirements of core subjects.

I have raised multiple teenagers. Most "parental sacrifice" in Clinton county is working 60+ hours a week just to keep a roof over your family's head and food on the table. Fancy schmancy personal trainers and athletic camps are a pipe dream.

maybe you don't have a teenager but I prefer to call it parental sacrifice since I'm not rich....limit restaurants, drive a modest vehicle type stuff....basically sacrifice my needs, so a kid can have more opportunities and life experiences....you only get one chance.

Combing the 3 Adams Co Schools would put the enrollment around 1400. I think they would do very well in the 4A North. This would probably be the Sectional they would fall into. Delta FW South Side FW Wayne Huntington North Jay County Marion Mississinewa New Haven

Apologies to you and @Donnie Baker I glanced at the Membership Map https://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/calendars/MembershipMap.pdf and confused I-74 with the county line between the two. It appears then Seeger (Warren) is the single HS exception and not Fountain Central. Great point. It's always easier to support a winner.

I would argue school boards are more impactful, particularly in smaller communities, or one-horse communities. Often times, admin's hands are tied because of policies or impacts they know can come from the board. A good school board that works well together and has a progressive vision can do wonders for any school district.

In a rural setting, that includes school boards.

I may need help to verify my answer to this. A big problem getting teachers to coach is their teaching workload may be too big to handle all. Example, in a big school, a math teacher may only be teaching Algebra all day. The same teacher in a small school may be teaching Algebra, Geometry, Trig, and Calculus. That's 4 different preps daily. A lot to put on a plate. Also, some coaches may get an extra prep during their season...That's shorts the department one class someone will have to cover. For the experienced teacher, may not be a problem, but the new teacher...very difficult to master in the first couple of years.

follow the money...counties with thriving industry will produce better athletics programs including superior football teams and better developed football players. Take Bartholomew County....if you combined the best players from Jackson, Jennings, Jefferson and Scott Counties to play against Columbus East and North teams..both Bartholomew schools beat the piss out of them with ease.

Gary West travels to Pulaski County to take on West Central on week 6. This is the 1st ever meeting between the 2 schools and I'm thinking the 1st 4A school West Central has ever played. This will also be the 1st time since the late 80's- early 90's West Central has played a regular season contest against a team from the Region. When I was in school (graduated in 90) we played Whiting and had some great games with the Oilers. The last time West Central played a Region team was in 2015, when they lost to Lake Station in sectional competition.

Played against his teams back in the day. You always knew you were going to get a tough test from them. Got to know him a bit later on. He was a good man. RIP

Been away for last 2 weeks or so... Will try to free up some time later in the week to update some stuff around these parts

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.

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)?

NP has good years when Bart Curtis was there. He lived right in the heart of downtown New Carlisle. During the summertime he would have the boys camping out at night on Amzie Miller Field.

I was always wondered about north Newton as the school is literally in the middle of no where. It serves half the county I believe and I wonder how kids get home etc.

New Prairie is a rural school. Every time the Cougar's make a deep tournament run both the towns of New Carlisle and Rolling Prairie go all out. There is never a single business that does not a show of support for the team displayed on their business marquee or store front window. Many will take out full page ads in the newspaper. Restuarnt owners often host the team for a meal or breakfast prior to going downstate on the road for their tournament games. That is one of my favorite things to see concerning high school athletics.

I think the only solution, albeit an imperfect one, is to convince coaches, players and parents of the virtues of playing multiple sports, through education.

One unintended consequence is increasing single sport specialization, which studies have shown increases the probability of both injury and burnout.

Haha. My step dad and I have probably watch every episode multiple times.

That didn't take long. lol

https://mises.org/wire/pro-act-not-just-union-handout-its-assault-freedom-association-itself There have already been mountains of coverage of the disastrous results of this policy. Former Mises summer fellow Peter St. Onge has written about how the scheme is likely to result in lower wages for contractors turned employees. But that only applies to those fortunate enough to keep working. Writing at Reason, Billy Binion has documented numerous instances of freelancers in California being basically blacklisted from numerous companies located outside the state because of the new bureaucratic hurdles that came with them. Uber and Lyft simply defied the law and said they would ignore it, which they did until a popular referendum added app-based drivers to the list of exceptions to the rule. On its face, the ABC test is merely another way to corral employees into dues-paying unions. However, its unseen effects are even more insidious and will lead to more state power and centralization. The federal government seeks to obliterate and subsume all sources of power outside itself, as it has already done with the lower levels of state authority in our federalist system, and the nonstate mediating institutions of social power such as the family and community. The freedom of association, whether in one’s private, public, or economic life, is an essential freedom upon which many other freedoms rest; therefore, its further degradation is extremely alarming. As someone who has made a living writing as an independent contractor for the past few years, I can attest that it is not always the most secure and easiest way to work in the world, but I find that this insecurity is worth it, because in exchange I have a great deal of independence and freedom. I do not have any bosses to answer to, I don’t have any HR departments to listen to, and I can work whenever I want. I am very free to organize my life how I desire. Those in power have good reason to detest this freedom. As government bureaucracy continues to metastasize throughout the economy, like a malignant cancer, increasingly more employees fall under its authority and control. Unlike regular employees, independent contractors do not have to sit in HR seminars to be force-fed woke social justice garbage or engage in struggle sessions to cleanse themselves of their gender and ethnic privilege. By forcing formerly independent workers together, they become easier to control and manipulate. Not only do those in power benefit from centralization, but it provides numerous opportunities to provide patronage to those seeking reprieve from the law (and therefore allows them to derive even more power). The California law is stuffed full of exceptions and carve outs for different professions and industries. Uber and Lyft were able to orchestrate a successful referendum campaign to have their business model added to the list. But tough luck to freelancers in industries that don’t have multiple multibillion-dollar tech giants backing them or an army of lobbyists at the ready. The relevant part of the current draft of the federal bill (section 101) doesn’t even mention any exceptions at all. No doubt that if the bill seems to have a chance of passing, lobbyists will be pouring into politicians’ offices to bow and scrape in order to protect their industries and secure exceptions and carve outs. You can’t blame businesses for trying to defend themselves in this way, but such a situation flies in the face of the idea that the law is for everyone and further feeds the culture of corruption and cronyism. The PRO Act may claim that it is all about freedom and choice, but in the end, it will only result in less choice, less freedom, and more government control. Agreed. This is horrendous legislation. I urge all those who truly believe in personal freedom and the freedom of association to contact their elected representatives and voice your opposition to this bill.

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.