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Mississinewa has a couple of volunteer coach's on the staff. These coach's typically have a full time job that limits how much time they can spend at practices. Usually the 6th grade head coach, which the team is part of the youth league, is one of the Volunteer coach's but he is there to learn the system to help build the program and prep the kids for junior high and high school play. All of the other coach's are paid. The bigger the program usually the more money but also the more coach's. There are some of the large programs that have coordinators and position coach's for the JV, and Freshman teams as well as the varsity. These coach's are assistants to the Varsity coach's. Some schools only pay the head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, JV head coach, and Freshman Head coach. All other coach's are volunteer coach's. Many times these programs are very easy to detect because the coach's are different every year and the program struggles because of the lack of consistency. The program may have one successful season where they are above .500 and then have several under .500. Another way to tell is the head coach turnover. Because he can't get paid coach's his staff changes every year making it difficult to build off the previous season.

Mississinewa has a couple of volunteer coach's on the staff. These coach's typically have a full time job that limits how much time they can spend at practices. Usually the 6th grade head coach, which the team is part of the youth league, is one of the Volunteer coach's but he is there to learn the system to help build the program and prep the kids for junior high and high school play. All of the other coach's are paid. The bigger the program usually the more money but also the more coach's. There are some of the large programs that have coordinators and position coach's for the JV, and Freshman teams as well as the varsity. These coach's are assistants to the Varsity coach's. Some schools only pay the head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, JV head coach, and Freshman Head coach. All other coach's are volunteer coach's. Many times these programs are very easy to detect because the coach's are different every year and the program struggles because of the lack of consistency. The program may have one successful season where they are above .500 and then have several under .500. Another way to tell is the head coach turnover. Because he can't get paid coach's his staff changes every year making it difficult to build off the previous season.

Mississinewa has a couple of volunteer coach's on the staff. These coach's typically have a full time job that limits how much time they can spend at practices. Usually the 6th grade head coach, which the team is part of the youth league, is one of the Volunteer coach's but he is there to learn the system to help build the program and prep the kids for junior high and high school play. All of the other coach's are paid. The bigger the program usually the more money but also the more coach's. There are some of the large programs that have coordinators and position coach's for the JV, and Freshman teams as well as the varsity. These coach's are assistants to the Varsity coach's. Some schools only pay the head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, JV head coach, and Freshman Head coach. All other coach's are volunteer coach's. Many times these programs are very easy to detect because the coach's are different every year and the program struggles because of the lack of consistency. The program may have one successful season where they are above .500 and then have several under .500. Another way to tell is the head coach turnover. Because he can't get paid coach's his staff changes every year making it difficult to build off the previous season.

Based on these numbers in the next realignment Ole Miss could drop down if teams are moved up due to success factors or have an increase in enrollment. Oak Hill could drop back down to 2A again depending on the enrollment cut off and success factor. Blackford, Frankton, and Eastbrook could all jump up the 3A. If Blackford, Frankton, and Eastbrook move up to 3A and Mississinewa drops to 3A, I wonder if Ole Miss, Blackford, and Eastbrook end up in the same sectional? If they do it would be a tough one to get out of depending on who else is added.

Yes MG does have 38 players this year according to the coach in today's Chronicle-Tribune. They also return some experience running backs. They need to work on their blocking for the RB's to have success. MG will struggle but with being in the CIC they could be a sleeper in the 1A Sectional and do well in the State Tournament. Their schedule will help them in the State Tournament as long as there are no major injuries. They will probably struggle in the CIC this year but give them a couple of more years and they will be challenging everybody again. They are in the same situation as Mississinewa but on the opposite end. Mississinewa is a 4A School in a 2A/3A conference where MG is a 1A school in the 2A/3A conference. I don't think MG plays a 1A school except for the scrimmage.

Blackford at Monroe Central--This will be a good game and will show if Blackford means business. Monroe Central has been a very good team the past few years while Blackford is building. In the end Blackford pulls this one out in OT. Eastbrook at Marion--Marion is ranked #1 in 4A because of the success of last season. Most of their defense starters have graduated and only 1 or 2 return. Offensively JT Thomas is very quick and will get some snaps at QB, RB, and WR. Eastbrook graduated a lot last year but also had a number of underclassman get significant playing time. Eastbrook taking on Marion will be a classic. Tickets have been on sale for 2 weeks. In the end Marion pulls out the victory but it will be closer than many think. Lapel at Elwood--Another year another coach for Elwood which means another new system. When will Elwood start paying their assistant coach's? Lapel wins this one in the 1st quarter and plays the JV and freshman most of the second half. MG at Tipton--MG has a few more players this year which will help them out. Tipton is young but is just too much for MG. MG will score but not often as Tipton runs away with it. Ole Miss at Pendleton Heights--This game will show how good Mississienwa is without Heisman Skeens. QB may be based on situation. PH has a much stronger schedule and will challenge Ole Miss every play. In the end Ole' Miss pulls it out in a close one. Oak Hill at Eastern--A little neighborly rivalry across county lines. Some players may live across the street from each other yet play on different teams. This will be a good game. Oak Hill is out to prove that they are improved from last year. Oak Hill moves up a class this year so they are out to prove that they will be a team to watch in 3A. Oak Hill pulls out the victory but a TD. Tri-Central at Frankton--Frankton shut out Tri-Central last year. Tri-Central's coach is in his second season and has had a year to examine and figure out what talent he has. Frankton is improving and this will be the 3rd season in this system. Frankton is just too much again this year for Tri-Central but Tri-Central does score this year. Wes-Del at Alexandria--Wes-Del is improved from last year and will challenge Alex early. Alex has too much talent on the team and are out to improve on last years 4 wins. Alex over Wes-Del.

Marion graduated almost all of their defensive starters. They will be good and have a high power offense. Will be a good test for Eastbrook. Next year Marion opens against Eastbrook and then plays Mississinewa in week 2. Preseason IFCA poll has Marion as #1 in 4A and Mississinewa as #9 in 4A. It is interesting that both teams received 1 vote each for #1. Eastbrook is #2 in 2A.

Mississinewa opens against Pendleton Heights and then in week 2 plays New Haven. Both very good football teams. Eastbrook opens against Marion at Marion. Both will be tested early. Marion is currently ranked #1 in 4A by MaxPreps. Hopefully Ole Miss and Eastbrook can pull out the victories.

Hopefully with these types of numbers Frankton might be able to go 2 platoon, something that Mississinewa hasn't been able to do. Being able to give kids breaks during the games reduces injuries and pays off in the end.

Skeens is going to play football at Wabash College. Not sure if he is going to be moving to wideout or to DB. He did play as a wideout in the North/South All Star game. McCoin was recruited to play football but chose to play baseball at Indiana Tech. He will be a sophomore at Indiana Tech this fall. Eastbrook has the philosophy of "we don't rebuild we reload" and it has worked very well. They lost a lot yes, but they return a lot as well. Some will change position or even play more at one of the positions they played last year. They will still be strong and fast. May not be as big as last year up front but will still have some size. Mississinewa will be huge up front this year compared to the last couple of years. They may be as big up front as the 2017 team when 3 or 4 the lineman were right at or over 300lbs. They return both Campbell boys that have speed. The QB position will be the tough spot to fill and may be QB by situation and opponent. They may be more of a running team this year than the last two again depending on the QB. Funk returns at LB where he was underclassman All State last year. Cade Campbell and Funk both have the potential to be All State this year. Ole Miss has around 13 or 14 Seniors and many of them this will be their 3rd year of Varsity playing time. Mississinewa also is getting into the philosophy "reload not rebuild." Oak Hill returns some players but also will have some new faces in the lineup. They have holes to fill and may be the sleeper in the conference. Blackford will be the team in the CIC that will challenge both Mississinewa and Eastbrook for the CIC title. With the Mississinewa/Eastbrook game being early in the season Blackford could be playing for at least a share CIC Championship when they play Mississinewa the final game of the season. Coach Sehy is showing what he can do. He started MG in the right direction and left for Marion but the Marion politics didn't agree with the way he was doing things. The kids are buying into his system and it shows. Blackford will not be the "pushover easy win" like Mississinewa and Eastbrook have been used to. Blackford may take both teams to the wire to decide the winner. Madison Grant hopefully the numbers are up from last year so players can get a break during the game. Being the lone 1A team in the conference they will struggle against everybody purely because of the depth of the other teams in the CIC. However, because of the CIC play they will be prepared for the post-season so they will probably finish towards the bottom of the conference but should experience post-season success. Elwood has another new coach. This makes their 3rd coach in less than 4 years. They will struggle again this year and may not win a game as they rebuild under the new coach that was recently hired. Just have to wonder what type of summer program they had this year? Alexandria could be another spoiler in the conference and surprise some teams. They have had talent that hasn't produced consistently but when they do produce they have been a dangerous team to play. Frankton will be there with MG and Elwood. They are still trying to figure things out. The days of the Statue of Liberty 20 times a game are gone and the younger kids are slowly forgetting about it. Once they get things in line they could be a team that will give the top teams a run for part of the game. They are still a few years out from competing an entire game with Mississinewa, Blackford, and Eastbrook. Real question is should be with MG dropping to 1A how much longer will they stay in the CIC? Blackford almost left the CIC a couple of years ago and joined another conference with Jay County and Southern Wells until Jay County backed out. Is Blackford still looking to leave the CIC? Mississinewa being the lone 4A and still growing how much longer will they stay in the CIC seeing how they are having success in the CIC in all sports. Eastbrook wants to keep Mississinewa on the schedule no matter what so if Mississinewa leaves will they follow with them? If a school leaves the CIC who would be the replacement school? Lapel? Marion? Western? Eastern? Kokomo-Taylor?

I spoke with an AD last spring about officials for all sports. He said that it is getting harder and harder to find officials for games. He said football isn't as bad as others. He said the hardest sports to find officials are baseball and softball with baseball being the hardest. He said many of the umpires want to do 2 games not 1 in a day. Saturday's usually aren't a problem getting umpires and baseball typically plays a doubleheaders. Softball usually isn't hard finding umpires because there is a typically a Varsity and JV game to umpire. He went on to say that his school installed lights to the baseball and softball fields which has made it easier to get umpires. Baseball and softball usually start at 5 at schools without lights and sometimes even earlier. Many of the licensed umpires work until 4 or 5 so getting to the games before the scheduled start time is difficult for the umpires. He moved all his start times to 6 and is trying to schedule JV/Varsity baseball doubleheaders like softball does and he hopes this solves his umpire issue. In Football varsity games start at 7 or 7:30 typically but when an official has to be there 60 minutes before kickoff and they get off of work a 5 and have an hour drive to the game it makes it difficult on the crew to make sure that they have a full crew for the game. JV football games start at 5:30 and many times there is only 1 game that takes just over an hour to play. Not every school has a freshman team. Some schools have a combined 7/8 grade team and others have a team for each grade. If they have separate 7th and 8th grade teams, then the officials do both games in just over 2 hours some times 3 but the first game starts at 5 or 5:30. Getting younger officials is something that is needed but the younger people that would be interested in officiating have jobs that they don't get off until 5. If the younger people work at a factory they are typically on 2nd or 3rd shift because they don't have the seniority to hold day shift. Perhaps AD's need to look at ways to start games a little later and maybe that would help with getting officials. Another thing that the AD told me is that he has had officials call a day or two before and cancel because they were offered more money by another school for the same date to officiate/umpire a makeup game. AD's complain that some sports aren't making enough to cover the costs of the officials/umpires, playing field preparations, coach's salary, uniforms, etc but when the games start at 4 or 5 due to not having any lights or because "that's when we have always started games for this level" philosophy attendance is down. Who wants to pay to get into a game that starts at 5 and is over by 6:30 when the fan can't get there until 6 because of work and the drive to the game? I am not an official but have considered it but part of my problem is I don't get off of work until 5. Many times I am done with work for the day by 3 or 4 but I have remain available for work until 5. I am also the "on call" person for the medical company that I work for the last half of the month. The other person that I split on call with would cover me but not every night. I could check emails during timeouts, breaks, etc as I have a hour or two to call people back or send someone out so this would be flexible. By the time I get off work at 5, go home to change clothes, grab something to eat, and hit the road to get to a game it's 5:30.

Eastbrook seems to be able to rebuild every year and shouldn't be counted out of leading the CIC. Mississinewa has some holes to fill after the loss of Skeens. They have a good solid running game and the line is large. I think there are 13 or 14 Seniors this year so they should be the team to beat because of being the 4A school in the CIC. Blackford is going to be right behind Ole Miss and Eastbrook. Coach Sehy has the Bruins believing in his system and have made huge improvements in a very short time. MG numbers are still questionable and being a 1A school numbers will be an issue. MG will have a very tough regular season and may have a shot at a very good postseason. Elwood and Frankton well these two still have some work. Seems like Elwood can't keep a coach more than a couple of years. Frankton is still waiting to run the Statue of Liberty a lot. Alexandria could be the team that challenges Blackford for the 3rd spot in the conference. Oak Hill may be the spoiler this year but they are also rebuilding still. Should be a good season and could this be the year that the CIC has 4 teams go past Sectional?