HoopsCoach

In recent years, enrollment data has been released around this time of the year - roughly mid-December. I’ve checked almost daily for the last week or so and there hasn’t been any data for this year released. Count day was moved back to the start of October instead of mid-September, so it could come out a little later. I’ll be glad to put something together once they are released, but I’m always interested in having others take a look at it to see if there are any details I missed or errors.

As I said in my regional sites post, I am an advocate of neutral sites to host tournament games after the sectional round, and I think the facilities in Indiana are capable of a format with neutral site hosts for regional and semi-state. Here are my hypothetical neutral site semi-states for this year. This time I am presenting two options. The first is single games played on Friday night. The second features two games played at one site on Saturday afternoon/evening. All games in both options would be at locations with turf fields. This will reduce travel times for the majority of the games and remove field conditions as a variable. Just like the regionals, it gives host schools an opportunity to showcase the investment they have made in their facilities. Which format do you prefer? Neutral Site Semi-States Friday Night - Single Game 6A Crown Point/Westfield@ Lafayette Jeff Ben Davis/Center Grove @ Southport 5A Merrillville/FW Snider @ Plymouth Decatur Central/Bloomington South @ Martinsville 4A NorthWood/Leo @ Columbia City New Palestine/East Central @ Greensburg 3A Knox/Indianapolis Chatard @ Northwestern Gibson Southern/Heritage Hills @ Evansville North 2A Lafayette Central Catholic/FW Luers @ Logansport Southmont/North Posey @ Bedford North Lawrence 1A North Judson/Adams Central @ Maconaquah Sheridan/Indianapolis Lutheran @ Lawrence North Saturday Afternoon/Evening - Two Games @ Maconaquah Lafayette Central Catholic/FW Luers Knox/Indianapolis Chatard @ Columbia City North Judson/Adams Central NorthWood/Leo @ Columbia City @ Plymouth Merrillville/FW Snider Crown Point/Westfield @ Avon Sheridan/Indianapolis Lutheran Ben Davis/Center Grove @ Columbus North New Palestine/East Central Decatur Central/Bloomington South @ Washington Southmont/North Posey Gibson Southern/Heritage Hills

Thanks for catching that. I started to make a list of double header games on Saturdays and had both of those at Bedford. I forgot to change the 3A game to Jeffersonville when I made the list into single games on Friday nights.

I am an advocate of neutral sites to host tournament games after the sectional round, and I think the facilities in Indiana are capable of a format with neutral site hosts for regional and semi-state. Here are my hypothetical neutral site regional games for this year. All games would be played at locations with turf fields. This will reduce travel times and remove field conditions as a variable. It also gives schools an opportunity to showcase the investment they have made in their facilities. Neutral Site Regionals - Friday Night 6A Crown Point/Penn @ Chesterton HSE/Westfield @ Noblesville Ben Davis/Cathedral @ Arsenal Tech Warren Central/Center Grove @ Franklin Central 5A Merrillville/Valparaiso @ Hobart Mishawaka/FW Snider @ Warsaw Decatur Central/Whiteland @ Southport Bloomington South/Evansville North @ Jasper 4A New Prairie/NorthWood @ SB St Joe Leo/Mississinewa @ Huntington North Mooresville/New Palestine @ Greenwood East Central/Evansville Memorial @ Silver Creek 3A West Lafayette/Knox @ Kankakee Valley Delta/Indianapolis Chatard @ Pendleton Heights Tri-West/Gibson Southern @ Bloomington North Batesville/Heritage Hills @ Bedford NL 2A LaVille/Lafayette Central Catholic @ Logansport FW Luers/Bluffton @ Norwell Southmont/Eastern Hancock @ Plainfield Triton Central/North Posey @ Bedford North Lawrence 1A North Judson/Park Tudor @ Northwestern Carroll/Adams Central @ Oak Hill Sheridan/North Decatur @ Greenfield Central Indianapolis Lutheran/Providence @ Seymour

What high school athletic conference requires turf? I can’t imagine too many with the authority to dictate to their members that they must have turf. The investment in turf seems much more like a local decision made by a school corporation with no influence (other than envy) from other conference schools. There are several conferences with mostly large urban and suburban districts as members that consist of schools which all have turf fields, but it probably wasn’t due to a conference bylaw. I could be wrong, but I’m interested if you know of any with a bylaw like that.

It would make sense for KV and Rensselaer to be in the same conference. KV has outgrown Rensselaer by a lot but there isn’t a significant difference between them in the strength of their athletic programs. The Hoosier Conference will probably continue their patchwork and try to get Lebanon to replace Northwestern. The Tigers are not a bad fit and they are looking for a home, but I wonder if they want to bring Danville and Tri-West with them. I know this will be another example of things that are unlikely to happen, but the Hoosier Conference and the remaining members of the Sagamore could split into 2 conferences like this. KV would be a decent fit for the Hoosier in my opinion, so I’m including them as a 7th member. Hoosier Conference Logansport 1214 Kankakee Valley 1074 West Lafayette 730 Twin Lakes 674 Benton Central 508 Rensselaer Central 468 Lafayette Central Catholic 294 Sagamore Conference Lebanon 1027 Western 819 Danville 778 Hamilton Heights 710 Tri-West 613 Tipton 439

You’re right, none of what I suggested will ever happen. The eastern schools probably wouldn’t want Tipton. The western schools would most likely prefer not to drive to BC and Rensselaer. I don’t think any of the schools would be willing to bring in Central Catholic.

Frankfort just announced they are starting a new, yet to be named conference with WeBo, North Put, and the Montgomery County schools. I posted this on another forum: There would be some long drives, but arranging travel partners to limit the number of long trips in a season could help minimize the fuel costs. Hoosier Conference Danville 778 Hamilton Heights 710 Lebanon 1027 Logansport 1214 Tri-West 613 Twin Lakes 674 West Lafayette 730 Western 819 All of these schools are 3A or 4A in football, and when the change to the enrollment based classifications passes, all of these schools will be in 3A for basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball. The Hoosier Heartland could then take the smaller members of the Hoosier and expand to 12 schools with 2 divisions like this: Heartland West Benton Central 508 Rensselaer Central 468 Delphi 405 Clinton Prairie 347 Carroll (Flora) 346 Lafayette Central Catholic 294 Heartland East Eastern (Greentown) 464 Tipton 439 Taylor 373 Sheridan 324 Clinton Central 268 Tri Central 236 Rossville goes to the Midwest Conference. Midwest North Newton 343 Rossville 273 North White 266 Faith Christian 245 South Newton 242 Tri-County 225 West Central 203 Frontier 198 DeMotte Christian 108

Just my opinion, but they could go with 9 members (Brown County, Cascade, Cloverdale, Edgewood, Indian Creek, Northview, Owen Valley, Sullivan, West Vigo) and play 8 conference games in football plus 1 non-conference game. 9 is not ideal for sports like wrestling, track, etc. with conference events that are better suited to 8 members. Maybe they convince Linton to be a 10th member in football and basketball, but that still doesn’t help the other sports.

This is the exact reason Jeff and Kokomo voted Harrison out. They saw the opportunity to be the dominant school with the Raiders out of the way.

In my post on the topic of Harrison and McCutcheon being booted from the NCC, I proposed a plan to expand that conference and include a blend of the current members with some slightly smaller schools within the NCC footprint. I’m applying that same thought to the NIC and NLC, which would be to combine them and split into 2 regions (East and West), each with two divisions (Large and Small). Something like this, with enrollments from the fall 2022 count day included. East Region, Large Division (EL): Elkhart 3302 Goshen 1981 Concord 1775 Northridge 1389 East Region, Small Division (ES): Plymouth 1076 Northwood 917 Wawasee 906 Mishawaka Marian 698 West Region, Large Division (WL): Penn 3401 Warsaw 2096 South Bend Adams 1976 Mishawaka 1463 West Region, Small Division (WS): South Bend Riley 992 South Bend Washington 834 South Bend Saint Joseph 819 New Prairie 978 In football, each school plays the 3 in their division, 2 from the other division of schools their size, and 1 from each of the 2 divisions of schools a different size. That gives each school 7 conference games. It also allows them to preserve some long-time rivalries and still play 2 non-conference games against opponents of their choice. In basketball, each team plays everyone in their region (east/west) and the 4 schools from the opposite side of the conference who play in the same size-based division. So using Penn as an example, this could be their football schedule, not necessarily in this order. Valparaiso Cathedral Mishawaka (WL 1) Warsaw (WL 2) South Bend Adams (WL 3) Elkhart (EL 1) Northridge (EL 2) Northwood (ES) New Prairie (WS) Elkhart could then have a schedule like this: Hammond Morton Lake Central Concord (EL 1) Goshen (EL 2) Northridge (EL 3) Penn (WL 1) Warsaw (WL 2) Mishawaka Marian (ES) South Bend St. Joseph (WS) This is just as unlikely to happen as my suggestion for the NCC.

I wonder if they will try to work the name Clay into the name of the charter school that will eventually open on that campus. Career Academy High School will probably get quite a few more requests to enroll in the next few years.

You’re right, with Harrison’s growth, my suggested conference additions would probably be a short-term fix that prolongs the conference for another 5-10 years. I don’t think rotating those cross-division and cross-region games would be a requirement. Harrison’s schedule could have been something like this: Roncalli Crown Point West Lafayette Lebanon Lafayette Jeff Mississinewa McCutcheon Kokomo Marion I think this would have been better than the schedule they’ve had in the current NCC. Other schools could have benefitted from the expanded conference as well, like West Lafayette. A schedule for West Side could have looked like this: Central Catholic Rensselaer Central Harrison Lafayette Jeff Western Marion Lebanon Logansport Yorktown

Sure, this is all just a fantasy anyway, so let the Puppies come on over to the Conference of Voting Out Champions. If this ever had a chance of happening, Frankfort could be a candidate for the West Small division. Inevitably, at least one of the schools I suggested for membership would not join. Western and Mississinewa both like playing in conferences of much smaller schools and probably wouldn’t leave their current status as a big fish in a small pond. Frankfort could be an alternate choice in the West Small division, and Hamilton Heights for the East Small division instead of the River Rats.

Jeff fits competitively in the NCC in most sports. They will ignore the travel time and abandon their Tippecanoe County neighbors because they see the opportunity to be the top dog in the NCC for football. They will compete just fine in basketball and most other sports. Harrison was the only true target of this move. Jeff was on board with it because they don’t like that Harrison has leap frogged them in every sport including boys basketball and football. McCutcheon hasn’t and would honestly be a good fit to stay in the NCC. I think the NCC schools even asked McCutcheon to stay but they were loyal to their district sibling. The problem for Harrison and McCutcheon is that they want to be a package deal, but there aren’t many schools that would want both of them in their conference. Harrison’s enrollment has grown at a faster rate than McCutcheon’s and their athletic programs are stronger across the board. McCutcheon might struggle in some conferences that would take Harrison, but Harrison may not get much competition in conferences that are a better fit for McCutcheon. In my opinion, this could have been avoided by taking a more progressive approach. Expand the conference to include a blend of the current members and some slightly smaller schools within the NCC footprint. Conference championships really don’t mean anything, they are just used to keep some people quiet when a team underachieves in the state tournament. “Well, we did win conference….” Anyway, my thought would be to add several schools to get to 16 members. Split into 2 regions (East and West), each with two divisions (Large and Small). Like this, with enrollments from the fall 2022 count day included. East Region, Large Division: Anderson 1790 Marion 1041 Muncie Central 1326 Richmond 1317 East Region, Small Division: Delta 786 Mississinewa 791 New Castle 836 Yorktown 791 West Region, Large Division: Harrison 2136 Kokomo 1497 Lafayette Jeff 2113 McCutcheon 1825 West Region, Small Division: Lebanon 1027 Logansport 1241 Western 819 West Lafayette 730 In football, each school plays the 3 in their division, 2 from the other division in their region, and 1 from each of the 2 divisions on the opposite side of the conference. That gives each school 7 conference games. It also allows them to preserve some long-time rivalries and still play 2 non-conference games against opponents of their choice. In basketball, each team plays everyone in their region (east/west) and the 4 schools from the opposite side of the conference who play in the same size-based division. So using Harrison as an example, they would play their division (Jeff, McCutcheon, Kokomo), region (Lebanon, Logan, Western, West Lafayette), and the East Large schools (Anderson, Marion, Muncie Central, Richmond). New Castle would play their division (Delta, Mississinewa, Yorktown), region (Anderson, Marion, Muncie Central, Richmond), and the West Small schools (Lebanon, Logan, Western, West Lafayette). I think this would serve a lot of the interests of all schools in the expanded NCC. The toothpaste is already out of the tube though, and many of these schools would not go for this anyway. So where do they go? I don’t have a clue. Conference Indiana might make sense if it wasn’t so far to travel for the current members. Adding Harrison and McCutcheon would bring the conference to 8 members, which is ideal. It also has a mix of schools that would fit the competitive level of McCutcheon (Southport, THN, THS) and schools that would compete better with Harrison (BL North, BL South, and CN). Those schools probably won’t even consider adding Harrison and McCutcheon due to travel, and the current members seem to be looking for other places to go already. Another possibility is to partner with the Indy parochial schools in the Circle City Conference. If they look north, they would fit nicely in the Duneland. Travel would be a concern with the added factor of time zone changes, and the Duneland schools probably have no desire to expand. The Mid-State would be ok also, but like the Duneland, I don’t think they want more than 8 members.

Swap Wawasee (enrollment just over 900) with Jimtown (enrollment 540) and this looks pretty good.

AD’s love 8 team conferences because they only have to work to schedule 2 non-conference games, which is enough games to satisfy coaches that want a little control over their schedule. 7 teams is not ideal but could be worse, and anything less than 7 seems to create frustration for both AD’s and coaches. That being said, I think 6 team conferences are perfect. 5 conference games plus 4 non conference. One should be a game your team expect to win, 1 should be a game you should expect to lose unless you play incredibly well, and 2 should be “toss ups” that could go either way and prepare you for the state tournament. Looking at the Indy area, 6 team conferences for the 6A/large 5A schools could be split pretty close to what you’ve suggested. My choices would be Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville in the Hoosier Crossroads North. Then the Hoosier Crossroads South becomes Avon, Brownsburg, Center Grove, Columbus North, Franklin Central, and Southport. The MIC goes with the 6 remaining members - Ben Davis, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, North Central, Pike, and Warren Central. If Carmel and Center Grove can figure out a way to be adults again, these 3 conferences can help each other by playing 2 crossover games. Each school would play 1 opponent from the other 2 conferences. That leaves open 2 games to play out-of-state opponents, Cathedral, Penn, FW schools, or smaller schools in the Indy area if they prefer. The Mid-State has been a solid, competitive conference, but if we are throwing out their happiness, it could also become separate conferences of 6 teams. Throw in some of the Hoosier Heritage and it could look a little like the 6A conferences I previously mentioned. Mid-State West could be Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Martinsville, Mooresville, Terre Haute North, and Terre Haute South. Then the Mid-State East is Decatur Central, Franklin, Greenwood, Perry Meridian, Plainfield, and Whiteland. The Hoosier Heritage then joins the group with Greenfield-Central, Mount Vernon, New Castle, New Palestine, Pendleton Heights, and Shelbyville. The HHC waves good-bye to Delta and Yorktown who join a new conference of Anderson, Delta, Marion, Muncie Central, Richmond, and Yorktown.

I meant to say Culver Academies as the 6th school in the private school division, with Blackhawk Christian as an alternative option.

New Conference: Penn, Elkhart, Warsaw, Homestead, Carroll, FW Snider, FW Northrop. 6 conference games, leaving 3 open weeks for non-conference games to maintain existing rivalries and play against opponents that fit the competitive level of each team (or cherry pick an easy win). NLC: Concord, Goshen, Mishawaka, New Prairie, Northridge, NorthWood, Plymouth, Wawasee. Summit Athletic - Public Division: SB Adams, SB Riley, SB Washington, FW North, FW South, FW Wayne Summit Athletic - Private Division: SB St. Joseph, Mishawaka Marian, FW Bishop Dwenger, FW Bishop Luers, FW Concordia, FW Blackhawk Christian (this is a stretch, but they will become competitive quickly).

Penn and Elkhart needed to either convince the Duneland schools to take them and expand the conference or put together something new with Homestead, Carroll, and maybe Warsaw. The time to do it would have been with the Elkhart consolidation, but it’s probably too late now.

It would be a tough sell trying to convince Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley to leave the Three Rivers Conference. The enrollment gap between the largest schools and smallest schools in the TRC seems to be increasing, but the top 7 schools (including Rochester and Valley) would have basically the same enrollments as the 7 schools that would form a new conference with them (not including Winamac). The average travel time for Rochester in the TRC is 28.5 miles, and Valley’s average is 27 miles. In the resurrected Northern State Conference, Rochester’s average travel distance would be 33 miles and Valley would be 32 miles. And that’s if Winamac is included since they are not far from Rochester. Here’s the enrollment comparison: TRC Peru 608 Maconaquah 594 Tippecanoe Valley 545 Rochester 485 Wabash 478 Manchester 463 Whitko 382 North Miami 278 Northfield 266 Southwood 253 New NSC Glenn 625 Knox 570 Tippecanoe Valley 545 Jimtown 541 Rochester 485 Bremen 472 LaVille 387 Winamac 374

TW, Danville, and Lebanon really haven’t grown that much, but the gap is increasing because some of the other SAC schools, especially North Montgomery and Southmont, are seeing a decline in enrollment. Here’s a comparison going back 15 years to 2007-08 and the enrollments from count day this past fall. School - 2007 Enrollment / 2022 Enrollment Danville - 811 / 778 Lebanon - 1033 / 1027 Tri-West - 560 / 615 Crawfordsville - 726 / 689 Frankfort - 906 / 895 North Montgomery - 684 / 516 Southmont - 651 / 477 Western Boone - 619 / 556

I did say “If geography was not a consideration…” My suggestion will never happen due in large part to geography. The similar enrollments, demographics, and strength of competition would make a lot of sense in my opinion, but geography is just too prohibitive for that swap to actually work.

Those schools tried the HCC and it didn’t work. I don’t think they would make any more sense for the MIC. Jeff and McCutcheon seem to fit pretty well in the NCC. Harrison has been dominant, winning the all-sport championship every year since they joined the conference. I think the only sport Harrison hasn’t won or been co-champion at least once since they joined is boys basketball, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the emphasis placed on boys basketball by all the other NCC schools. If geography was not a consideration, a trade between the NCC and Conference Indiana would be interesting. Something like this: Conference Indiana: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Columbus North, Southport, Harrison, Lafayette Jeff, McCutcheon North Central Conference: Logansport, Kokomo, Marion, Muncie Central, Anderson, Richmond, Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South