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PDB26

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Everything posted by PDB26

  1. I think we agree it was an error for Penn to make their public announcement this way. It always going to be connected to and viewed alongside the masterful production for Notre Dame football by Fighting Irish Media after Freeman was hired with no chance of capturing any of that energy––let alone editing. My contention is that the players' reactions tell us nothing about their willingness to play for Pete. The answer to that question will come on Friday nights.
  2. I wouldn't put too much stock into their "reaction". I don't recall our reaction being all that different when Cory was announced as head coach. We had a pretty simple team meeting in LGI A. There was no dramatic reveal, no hugging and cheering, and Cory didn't spend any time trying to fire us up. We wanted Cory to be the guy, he told us he was going to be himself, it was a relief when the announcement came, and it was business as usual from there.
  3. Really good point. Also, it's weird to be used as a prop for PR as a high schooler and the guys aren't exactly bouncing off the walls listening to the strength coach. @BLACKGOLD2007 I share a bit of the sentiment in that I don't care for handling our business through this type of contrived PR stunt––I have to believe this is Thacker's work. I'd expect a high school's PR misstep wouldn't be enough to affect your optimism given the number of your thoughtful and intelligent contributions to this board.
  4. If he is successful in making Penn a threat in 6A, it will be because he had the courage to force the program into evolving instead of simply iterating on what already exists. Only time will tell on that.
  5. It isn't often that I get to feel like I'm right there in those moments anymore, but, for some reason, this did the trick. Thank you.
  6. When Penn was among the elite teams there was greater diversity––relative to the past 20 years––in state finalists, champions, and where they hailed from in the state. I can remember that WC and NC were basically as big or bigger than Penn by 2000. Here's a link from the IHSAA that used enrolled boys in grades 9-11 for the 2001, 2002 season classifications (based on '99-'00 enrollments). https://legacy.ihsaa.org/archive/media/2000-01/121900.htm Certainly, Penn has fallen off to some degree. I'd argue it's related more to which schools have not closed an enrollment gap than those that have, and I don't know if they've necessarily fallen as far as we think. While suburban Indy has grown substantially and more large schools are playing great football here, that growth has not impacted Penn's success in football.
  7. Unless I've lost it, it's four state runner ups for Cory. No need to qualify his success, but, to your point, there are plenty of good programs that would love a single state finals appearance.
  8. I'm agnostic so far as the tournament's format is concerned, but nobody should indulge this type of thinking––especially not from coaches. The idea that there is nothing to play for once you cannot win any type of championship is shameful.
  9. Yes. I think the full statement should be, “everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win, even though they didn’t earn that chance during the regular season when they had the opportunity, despite substantial evidence that they have no chance to win––especially in football."
  10. I agree with your conclusion, but it's not about uniqueness of the all-in format. As you note, there is no incentive to institute a qualifier because of membership interests. Just as membership interests resulted in the demise of the single-class tournament. In the end, everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win.
  11. Well, that's not the best news. Are you surprised by who it is or no?
  12. I think I'm like @GOLDRUSH1985 in that I might be leaning toward an external candidate. Ultimately, it's about getting the right guy, so, I don't have a preference. Any concerns I have are probably more with the administrative side of the upcoming search; I think it would be prudent for Cory and Gees to have some input. There's a good chance it's an external candidate with no connection to the program. To my knowledge, there isn't an heir apparent on the staff, and I can only think of two Penn guys (around the right age) who have gone out and become head coaches elsewhere. There are certainly capable leaders on the staff now, but it might just be time for some new blood at the head of the whole operation.
  13. It will be interesting to see what approach they take with this one. Not sure if there is an heir apparent on this staff--certainly not in the way that Cory was when Gees retired at least--or if there is greater incentive to look outside of the wider Penn "family."
  14. Buffalo is bad. Next fall Bison would be good. Rams even better. I might have been pulling for this one based on uniqueness. A little awkward maybe. Probably more awkward if shortened to Workers.
  15. I hear there are maybe a couple of good teams down Indianapolis way, too. Crown Point might even have to face one of them in a state championship game if they ever happen to advance that far in the tournament.
  16. You're right. It's hard to see a scenario where Penn gets the boot from the NIC. Even trotting out the JV team against certain conference opponents is probably an improvement for the conference in the long run.
  17. Maybe not a big fall as reflected in the rankings, but Penn's objectively below average schedule is about to get much worse when it needs to get much better. Could it be the worst schedule in 6A?
  18. Right, the schedule through the '04 season is at least below average if not objectively bad by today's standards, but playing Valpo and BD was basically good enough for that time. Under Aldrich, Mishawaka had gone from occasionally tough, to pretty pathetic by the late 90's into the 2000s, so we basically only played Valpo and BD back then. Keeping schools like Cathedral and Carmel on the schedule is the absolute minimum for helping this program be competitive.
  19. Dikos has always been a dog on a bone and a bit of a renegade--I mean that in the most positive way possible. So, it's not surprising that he's publicly against the NIC schedule. It's too bad he's not the athletic director. I can't speak to Cory's subjective mind about the importance of winning the NIC relative to anything else, but I agree that it has always been important. There's nothing really wrong with that unless it is negatively affecting the program. I think the coaches should strongly consider getting JV players better reps in varsity games. This means starting them, splitting quarters, making sure the game doesn't get to a running clock before they can get in to the game--I'd say whatever means necessary. Freshman football exists, where it can, for good reason, so I'd be against putting that group into varsity or JV games wholesale. However, the coaches should consider removing the physically capable freshman from that team and find a way to develop them at the JV/varsity levels. It seems like Elkhart is on its way to being a lost cause with the structure of that athletic department and the alleged infighting there. They could get lucky with a good young coach again, but, until the other stuff gets cleaned up, there's no way to retain those guys long term. The big stink in all of this is keeping the series with Mishawaka over an Indy program. Mishawaka is fine on the schedule if they're the third or fourth best opponent, but it's not great (being generous) if they're the second best. However, one positive is it does get the JV and freshman a better game that week since Penn has never found a way to get its younger players onto the field against the JVs from one of the better out of conference programs.
  20. I hadn't yet looked into how this was going to affect the other programs. It looks like the basketball and volleyball programs benefit from the arrangement with the opportunity to schedule more out of conference games, while all the other programs get locked into full round robin schedules with reduced out of conference opportunities. I'm glad we can count on Dikos to be the one Penn coach to complain publicly about the arrangement, and I hope there are at least some private complaints from the others. “I’m not a big fan of this at all,” said Penn Baseball Head Coach Greg Dikos, who has guided Penn to back-to-back State Championships the last two seasons. “The double round-robin does not benefit us as a program. This is forcing us to take off some non-conference teams that we have built a very, very good relationship with over the past couple of years. “For example, the high schools that are in the mix of being removed are Lakeshore, Fort Wayne Carroll and Mishawaka,” Dikos continued. “Those are the teams that come to mind but nothing is set to stone yet. “We have to trim the schedule up. As an organization, we do not want this to take place, we don’t want to play conference teams twice, we want to be able to see what our team is capable of with teams like Lakeshore and others. We aren’t benefiting from this.”
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