Cheez

I might be wrong, but I think that the autographing of anything that has your school name/logo on it would likely be violating the "spirit of the rule," if not the rule itself. Maybe a photo of yourself in your uniform, but a shirt or hoodie with your school's name? Those are the kinds of things that will have to be clarified. For example, you can't go to do a commercial for a local eating establishment while wearing your team hoodie with your school name or logo on it. However, could you do that same commercial while wearing a blank hoodie that is clearly displaying your school colors? ChatGPT says "I would advise against it."

Having spent 3 years coaching in Michigan, I am definitely intrigued to see how co-ops would work in Indiana. Michigan is a different beast because of the sheer number of schools in the State with small enrollments - A scan of the MHSAA website shows that there are ~180 high schools with enrollments between 100 and 250 students. Indiana is in a different situation (see: "Indiana School Reorganization Act of 1959"). Yes, some smaller Indiana schools who don't offer football could co-op with bigger and established schools, but I'm not sure how many schools would be willing to "bump up" a class by taking on what would amount to only a handful of extra bodies. Are 5 extra guys worth going from 2A to 3A? I'm not sure. Rossville forming a co-op with either of the 1A Clinton County schools would result in a combined enrollment that would bump them to 3A for football. There are a handful of programs that could explore starting a co-op program from scratch. For example, Kouts (219 students) and Washington Township (240 students) are only about 20 minutes away from each other, and would have a combined enrollment (459) that would put them in 2A. Argos (169 students) and Oregon-Davis (130 students) are a half hour apart, and a combined program (299 students) would be in 1A. Obviously there is more to the equation than just counting bodies and mileage - football isn't exactly the cheapest sport to participate in - but it still makes for some fun discussion board conversation.

"But, Coach, we pay $1000 a month for little Billy to see a private trainer. How is it possible that he's not going to make the varsity team?" When you go to the barber, the barber will never tell you that you don't need a haircut.

I agree, it's parents (or, rather, just the adults in general). I still think the average kid doesn't care if they have a 10-yard night or a 100-yard night as long as they're on a team and having fun, they're going to battle with their buddies, and they feel like they're contributing. You have lots of athletes who would rather have 8 catches for 150 yards in a loss than a night where they maybe went 1 for 10, but it was a game that the team won - And I think that comes from parent pressure. Kids nowadays are different, you can't argue that. But they're different as a result of their environment.

Coach Brian Burkart (Mishawaka Marian, Michigan City Elston, Michigan City, Knox, and South Bend Adams) passed away Saturday morning, June 21. Coach Burky was always a character, and lord knows the man was a TALKER. He’ll be missed terribly by his family. He loved being a part of the IHSAA and IFCA coaching community. Our family is still working on arrangements, but we’ll definitely have some kind of a remembrance ceremony in the coming weeks.

Saw this thread pop up and thought “oh, ****, what did I do?” Wish Ed nothing but the best. I’ve only known him since January when I began the interview process, but he was always very fair and was nothing but supportive of all of the crazy ideas I have thrown at him since accepting the position.

I appreciate it, Muda! Happy to have the opportunity to lead the Hot Dogs.

Carson Steele has a pet Alligator that he has had since he was a little kid. It's name? Crocky J. During weekday MACtion coverage when he was at Ball State, the color commentators had a field day discussing him, that's the only reason I knew about it. Long live weekday MACtion.

I think all future job postings should come with the disclaimer added "NOT TRITON CENTRAL" for clarity and consistency.

On an Apple device, in the bottom of the URL bar at the bottom of the window there is a button like this: AA Click it, and select "request desktop website."

Absolutely a first-class guy. He coached up here in Northern Indiana for years, and he's legitimately one of the nicest guys in the business. Best of wishes to him.

He played on L.C.'s State Runner-Up team back when Elmer Britton was their head coach... So he was on the team for the 1993-94 school year.

As a former Indiana HS football coach who is now in my second year coaching in Michigan, I just thought I'd chime in and share how co-ops work in Michigan. An example, Covert High School has 96 students. Bangor High School, with 349 students, is 12 minutes away. The two schools co-op for football, so Covert students can go and play at Bangor under the name "Bangor Vikings," and the MHSAA uses the combined enrollment of 445 for classification purposes. In every other sport, Covert and Bangor each field their own separate teams - they opened their basketball seasons against each other in 2022-23. I think the main reason the IHSAA doesn't allow (or, rather, hasn't addressed the idea of co-ops) is simply because the amount of small schools who would be impacted by co-ops is fairly small. Michigan schools are organized much differently, so there are nearly 200 high schools throughout the State - public and private - with enrollments below 200 students. By comparison, a quick peek at the IHSAA member list shows that there are less than 40 high schools in the whole State of Indiana that have an enrollment below 200. Here's the MHSAA list of approved co-op programs for 2022-23 - It's 28 pages long (each school is listed twice, so 14 pages of co-op teams): https://www.mhsaa.com/sites/default/files/Enrollment and Classification/2223hscoop.PDF To be fair a quick glance at the approved co-op teams also shows that a large number of these co-op football programs also happen to play 8-man so it's fair to say that the two schools are in a position that, without the co-op, *neither* team would be able to field an 8-man program. Here's a link from the MHSAA explaining the co-op process: https://my.mhsaa.com/portals/0/documents/AD Forms/srcoop.pdf

Awful to hear... Condolences to his family, and to the entire NP community.

Can confirm. The Tribune already reported it, but the teaching and coaching resignations weren't officially posted on the SBCSC School Board agenda minutes until 1/10/22.

South Bend St. Joseph and South Bend Riley are also open, and not on the list. Both jobs are posted. SB St. Joseph: https://theapplicantmanager.com/jobs?pos=DF696 SB Riley: https://sb.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=1697

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.

Riley HS has openings for several varsity skill position coaches on both O and D, depending on the best fit for the candidate. Coordinator opportunity also available. We expect teaching positions in the building (English and Math, particularly). We have a large corporation with many positions open nearby, but obviously would prefer a coach in the building. Please contact Head Football Coach Justin Kinzie at jkinzie@sbcsc.k12.in.us

I use the same process: Brush off the factory wax, Shaving cream, baseball mud, Wilson Prep kit. Like NPFB says, something about the manufacturing process in the last few years is definitely different. The balls show up looking more like basketballs than footballs the last few seasons. I've never had a crew comment on the balls being "illegal." Would be interested to hear an official chime in on this.

So excited for my former boss - and friend - to be back on the sidelines. Reggie is a truly good man, and that entire community is going to benefit from having him in that position.

The series between Bremen and Riley is 2-2 in the last 4 years. While 3 of those games ended with a final score that wasn't close (the average margin of victory of the last 4 games was 22 points), every one of the games was hard-fought and competitive up until the end. If the landscape of conferences changed and Bremen and Riley ever ended up in different conferences, there's a very strong argument there that both communities would be well-served by making sure this series continued into the future.

Google searching "ifca zebras [name of school]" should turn up some really good info for you for your encyclopedia. Mark Candler used to do a great job updating that, so it's full of great data for teams up through around 2016.

Another big reason why GID involvement has dropped off for some schools and conferences is just public awareness on social media in general, just to add the perspective of a coach. It used to be fun to get on here and banter and get a little friendly "bulletin board material" on game weeks. Nowadays, anything that gets posted on a public forum can have professional implications, and we're all hyper aware of that fact. So now we just lurk. 🙃

My coldest: Regional Championship, 11/10/2017 in Fort Wayne against Luers, back when I was on Reggie Glon's staff at Mishawaka Marian. 24 degrees at kickoff with a nice steady 10mph wind according to the Google. I was on the press box (ON the press box) and it was so cold that the HUDL iPad froze probably a minute into the second half. Considered jumping off the back of that press box several times that night.

LOL ouch.