crimsonace1

I'm not sure the conferences made mistakes as much as the schools themselves by going into leagues that are not really good fits football-wise. The HCC and Mid-State were both seven-team conferences. Each needed another team to balance it out - eight teams is the perfect number for a conference. In both cases, Conference Indiana - despite the horrendous travel - seemed to be a really good cultural and athletic fit. PM/Southport/FC held down the southside of Indy. Columbus & Bloomington are not terrible drives for either down I-65. The only real problem with CI is the travel to Terre Haute. While FC is rapidly changing with new neighborhoods popping up all over Franklin Township, it feels like a strange fit as a township school in a league full of north/west side suburban schools. While the Mid-State has one township school in Decatur Central, its bread-and-butter is mid-sized community schools, not a 6A school in a two-school district. However, remember there are more sports than football. Franklin Central has a really solid cross country/track program (the HCC is a *powerhouse* in CC) and more than holds its own in basketball - where the HCC is one of the top leagues in the state. Perry Meridian has a great wrestling program that fits well in the Mid-State with Franklin (which also has one of the stronger wrestling programs in the state). While both feel like really strange fits in their conferences, there are individual programs that fit really well. As far as some of the other leagues ... New Palestine is a mid-sized 4A school that punches above its weight in football but is already in a league with its area rivals. MV doesn't really fit in the Mid-State geographically and doesn't really fit in the HCC in terms of school size yet ... and is also already in a league with its two longest-standing, biggest rivals in New Palestine and Pendleton Heights. Neither one is looking to change conferences right now. Columbus East dominates the Hoosier Hills in football, but fits the profile of that league very well in other sports. It, too, may not be looking to move (and would probably fit better in Conference Indiana, but I believe the BCSC board has tried to keep the two Columbus schools in different conferences to tone down the competition between the two).

He did dress. He was also IU's special teams scout team player of the week this week.

But the schools in the sectional do split the gate from all of the games (minus expenses), so it hurts their bottom line. Moreso, a team isn't going to want to give up its homefield advantage even if it means more people in the stands. The health departments might frown on that, too.

Colts games are being played with 12,500 spectators distanced throughout the stadium. I've been to the last two games and people are very spread out. Concessions are prepackaged only, not a lot of crowding at entrances. I think the finals will be fine, especially if each school gets a specific allotment. Lucas Oil has 63K seats. It's a pretty big place.

No. There are no "senior year transfer rules." Eligibility rules are consistent from grades 9-12.

Remember, the original "stay up" threshold was 4 points (which would mean one state title, a semistate/sectional or two regionals). I remember leaving Lucas Oil after the insane New Palestine-Snider game in 2015 thinking "the silver lining is New Palestine will be back in 4A while it's going through a rebuilding cycle" ... and then two months later, the IHSAA changes the threshold to 3 points AND said a bumped team could only drop one class (which prevented Cathedral from dropping from 6A to 4A). It was lowered to 2 points in 2019. I believe that change was made *after* the new classifications and sectional alignments were announced. I believe Cathedral was the only football team affected, as it would've dropped to 4A but the two-point threshold kept them in 5A, although a handful of basketball teams had two points and were also affected by the change.

Waiting for the Department of Education to post the school count day enrollment data to be able to reasonably forecast who might be moving up/down, but they aren't moving fast enough for me yet ;).

Valpo would need to win a semistate to move to 6A. They got 3 points last year (sect-reg-ss) and would need to repeat that path this year. A regional win would leave them with five points. (they may move up due to enrollment, though).

Along with Greenwood, NP would be - by far - the smallest school in the Mid-State and would be the smallest school in Conference Indiana, while also being an hour-plus drive from every school in the league besides Southport. While NP is growing, it's not quite to that size/level yet in most sports. Remember, there are 19 other varsity sports to think about. You don't just make a move for football. It affects basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, et al. NP is a strong cultural fit in the HHC and sits in the middle of the conference enrollment-wise. NP does play a lot of Mid-State schools in most sports, but has no natural rivals there as it does in the HHC with MV/G-C/PH. It would have nothing in common with any CI school. Circle City is a private school conference. NP doesn't exactly fit that profile.

As you've repeatedly done over the years, you assume high school football (which is community and education-based) is college football (where teams are 100% recruited) or pro football (where a draft and salary cap maintain competitive balance). The IHSAA's job is not to "maintain competitive balance." That is next to impossible in high school athletics, because one community might have better resources than another. Its job is to run state tournaments, oversee rules, license officials and allow opportunities for education-based teams to compete with each other. The only thing it can really do is make adjustments to the class system (which it has, with the splitting of 5A into two 32-team classes and the success factor). It is always going to allow a student to play unless there is a bona-fide reason the transfer was for athletic reasons (and usually not accompanied by a change of residence) and even then, there is an independent review board that can veto a decision of limited or no eligibility. DT's original throw-it-against-the-wall ridiculous point (that NP football is somehow "slipping quickly" because it's 5-1 in a rebuilding year, with the only blemish a 13-point road loss to a 7-0 senior-laden team in a rivalry game, despite dealing with an incredible number of injuries) was rebuffed, so he pivots to his claiming NP's success is based on transfers, which is also ridiculous. People are going to move into high-growth areas, and some of those people might be good football players. New Palestine's success begins with good coaching, an incredible youth league that develops players, and tremendous community support. Period.

The family business was moved to the Indianapolis area to take advantage of better business opportunities. The family bought a home in New Palestine. The father is from Hancock County. It might have also provided a better educational opportunity for their three sons who were in school. You cannot simply say "sorry, can't go, you have to stay in Muncie 70 miles away from your family." Schools in large, growing suburban communities attract new families. Property values in New Palestine are through the roof right now because there are a lot more people trying to move here than there are houses available. Neighborhoods cannot be built fast enough to meet the demand. Families who are looking to move are going to seek out good school districts for their children. If my kids were football players, I'd want them to go to an academically successful school (which New Palestine is) and know they're going to be coached by the best coaches available (which New Palestine has). There are lots of reasons a family will choose to do so. My son is a soccer player. We decided to move to New Palestine before he enrolled in kindergarten because of the community and the quality of the schools (and the fact that I work here). The fact that the school had a pretty strong athletic program didn't factor as much into our decision, but it certainly didn't hurt. For you to claim you know all about a family's reason for moving - *ESPECIALLY* when it has been reported pretty widely in the press (especially in Muncie) from people who actually have talked to them - is a bit concerning.

It's the exact same offense and defense they have run for eight seasons. The basic concepts have never changed. You might throw it more when you have a QB and a bunch of receivers, or might rely more heavily on the run when you have a 10,000-yard back, but the structure of the offense has not changed and is run at every level down to middle school.

"Uneducated and frankly stupid" is par for the course. New Palestine DOES NOT RECRUIT. Nobody "poached" anyone from any school. The east suburbs of Indianapolis (especially the MV/NP areas) are rapidly-growing suburbs, and in the case of the player being referred to, it was an opportunity to move the family business closer to Indianapolis (and closer to home). That was very well-documented in the Muncie paper. Nobody from New Palestine even knew they were thinking of coming until they moved and enrolled.

As soon as I saw this thread topic, I knew our forum's "let's take today's ridiculous hot take that has no basis in fact and throw it against the wall" poster had started it. New Palestine was a historically good team the last two years. Last year's team also had 20+ seniors and graduated the state's career rushing and scoring leader, three of their top four receivers, an OL/DL who is now playing in the Big Ten, and their *entire* secondary. It's a mid-4A-sized public school that is 4-1. It was pretty widely known they'd be rebuilding a bit after graduating that much last year. Add to that, they've dealt with a number of injuries that has decimated their depth. Despite that, they're 4-1 (and they held a 3:1 yardage advantage in last week's game, but the opponent is much improved and they were very opportunistic). The JV is 5-0 and has won its games by a combined score of 152-20, both junior high teams were very successful and NP has one of the largest elementary leagues in the state. One three-game stretch is not enough to start claiming the program is "in decline" when it's not.

Every student's choice and decision is different. I'm sure nobody's going "darn, I really want to go to a large school and have an opportunity to practice every day on a Big Ten program and suit up every Saturday for a Big Ten school. I may not play a lot, but I want to give myself an opportunity at a world-class education at a school that has my major, but some noisy throw-crap-against-the-wall-and-see-what-bad-opinions-stick message board troll thinks I'm hurting Marian's program by doing so, so I had better not go to IU." Thinking about walk-ons, understand that in-state tuition at IU, PU & BSU is significantly less than in-state tuition at most smaller (private) colleges, EVEN WITH financial aid. I'm a big supporter of small-college football, but also an IU alum. Success at all is not mutually exclusive. IU bringing in a few more PWOs *does not* have that much of a ripple effect on the D2/D3/NAIA schools in-state, as some of those would likely walk on at FCS Indiana State (which has 60 scholarships, not 85 as a D1 school would) or Butler (non-scholarship, but more flexibile with financial aid than a D3). St. Francis & Marian are *often* in the NAIA title game. UIndy has made runs in the D2 tourney. Franklin was in the final eight of the NCAA tourney a decade or so ago and has made a couple of trips to the final 16.

Indiana small-college football is doing pretty well even though IU, PU and BSU all receive walk-ons. Marian & St. Francis are NAIA national powerhouses and IWU's program is growing, mostly with Indiana kids. Wabash is often in the running for the NCAC title & is often in the D3 Top 25. DePauw has been at that level in the past and I anticipate will be there again. Franklin has turned itself into a national player at the D3 level under Mike Leonard's tutelage (and I expect that to continue with Alan Hensell, who has hit the ground running this winter at FC). UIndy is often in the D2 national tournament.

Northwestern isn't a public school, therefore it cannot be a "public" ivy.

Johnny Football will have a degree from a world-class university that's the only Public Ivy in Indiana, while also having had the opportunity to be part of a Big Ten football team? There's a lot more to college football than the 11 guys on the field at any given time. IU's PWO program is opening up opportunities for student-athletes, and while many PWOs never see the field, some become scholarship players, team captains and more, but all have the opportunity to pursue a degree from a world-class university. I'm proud of my IU degree and the places where it has led me.

And ticket/concession sales. Those are the lifeblood of an athletic department.

That's likely for a 260-day contract (as opposed to 183 for teachers) and a LOT of night-weekend hours. You're putting in 60-80 hours/week pretty consistently from August to May. For teachers with more than a few years' experience, that would likely be a pay cut (especially once hours are factored in).

Most schools require an admin license - and at the very least, a teaching license, extensive HS coaching experience and working on admin license - to even be considered as an AD.

As someone whose job it is to come up with words to describe what he does on the football field each week, i've run out of superlatives to describe his play. Speed and power. Humble. Hard working. Strong. As an IU grad, I'm very excited to see what Charlie is going to do for the Hoosiers in the next four years. His records: 10,867 yards, 175 touchdowns, 1,054 points - are mind-boggling. When Brett Law set the scoring record 30 years ago, they were such crazy numbers, nobody thought they'd be touched. Seeing him do what he did is just incredible. He's the only RB in state history to rush for 3,000+ yards twice. And one of his teammates, Kyle King, got 21 votes, as well. Charlie's a great kid. Very humble. Just works hard, lets his play do the talking, keeps working, asks questions, wants to get better. He ran for 3,300+ yards last year while learning a new offense and getting in sync with a new line,. I'm very happy for him.

5A: New Pal, Valpo, Cathedral, Dwenger would almost undoubtedly have been the top 4. NP-Cathedral met in the regional, Valpo-Dwenger in the semistate, NP-Valpo in the State Finals.

There are no good reasons to remove opportunities from student-athletes for the sake of a dumb talking point. Only 12 can be on a basketball team. Football has 11 on the field at any given time.