crimsonace1

The IHSAA, historically, has not reclassified schools when they consolidate mid-cycle. Muncie Central competed in 3A basketball and 4A football with an enrollment north of 1600. But I see the IHSAA *has* reclassified schools for 2020. That's a change (and one I lobbied for a few years ago). My guess is, Elkhart will move to Sectional 2 & Valpo will move to Sectional 9, with SB Adams sliding over to Sectional 10.

Here's how I see the top two classes 1: Lake Central, Crown Point, Merrillville, Lafayette Jeff 2: Chesterton, Valpo, Portage, Penn 3: Warsaw, Homestead, Carroll, Noblesville 4: Westfield, Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton SE 5: Zionsville, North Central, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North 6: Avon, Brownsburg, Pike, Ben Davis 7: Southport, Perry Meridian, Tech, Warren Central 8: Franklin Central, Center Grove, Columbus North, Columbus East Big questions are where to send Jeff, which Hamilton County school to send north and what do do with 4-5-6 9: LaPorte, Michigan City, Munster, SB Adams 10: Concord, Goshen, Mishawaka, Elkhart Central, Elkhart Memorial 11: FW Dwenger, FW North, FW Northrop, FW Snider 12: Anderson, Kokomo, Harrison, McCutcheon 13: New Palestine, Decatur Central, Franklin, Whiteland 14: Bedford NL, Bloomington N., Bloomington S., Plainfield 15: Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Seymour 16: Castle, Ev. North, TH North, TH South The north bracket might be the easiest the IHSAA has ever drawn. Only major question in the south is whether to divide the regionals east/west (in which case, flip 14/15) or north/south, and which of Decatur Central, Franklin and Plainfield goes in with BNL and the Bloomington schools. Sectionals 11 & 13 will be incredible. With I-69 done, it's possible the Bloomington schools and/or BNL could be paired with the Evansville schools, but the unwillingness to split either the Bloomington or Terre Haute schools will likely leave the map like this.

From this WSBT story (and everything I've heard), the plan is to merge into one high school in 2020. https://wsbt.com/news/local/work-underway-to-improve-elkharts-memorial-and-central-high-schools

There are 33 teams in 5A because of the pending Elkhart consolidation. That was baked into the classifications because we all know it's coming (and it will be the one 5-team sectional in 5A). I believe 4A only has 63 teams.

Right on cue. Here's a map divided by class so you can begin gerrymandering (I mean, projecting the sectional fields) to your heart's content. https://drive.google.com/open?id=153gxokpw917Ny2QyJyMozaPMxkCQOyQb&usp=sharing

That's what was initially stated, but a quick check of the Executive Committee minutes showed that finalizing classes was not on the agenda last month (not sure if that's an Exec Committee thing or not - often, the sectional assignments have to be dealt with by them). Their next meeting is in mid-March. Sometimes, there are some delays in the process.

Natural enrollment classes, public schools only 1A: Pioneer (great community support, football foundation, sustained talent) / Sheridan (you don't want to be the one following the legend, but it's a football-crazy community that has long had success) 2A: Bremen (always there, has had a great football culture for generations) / Southridge (sports-crazy community, generally good). 3A: West Lafayette (probably the smallest true "college town" school in the state, but a good 3A with a generally-supportive community) / Heritage Hills (again, always there, great foundation, great community). 4A: New Palestine (suburban Indy, great admin, rapid growth, community is football-crazy, lots of recent success, will be 5A for 3rd straight cycle but is a mid-sized 4A by enrollment) / East Central (suburban Cincinnati, rapid growth, community is football-crazy, lots of historic success) / Evansville Reitz (insane community support, college-level facilities) 5A: Bloomington South (college town, football is a BIG deal there) / Columbus East (great program / pipeline / community support / open enrollment gives you access to the entire county) / FW Snider (has become the destination for public school athletes in Fort Wayne) 6A: Carmel / Warren Central / Ben Davis (gigantic enrollments, lots of athletes, chance to win a state title virtually every year) If you throw p/ps in there, Chatard, Cathedral, Dwenger, Reitz, Roncalli, Memorial, Luers would be in the mix. Those teams have a chance to win a state title virtually every year.

The only real problem I have with the rule changes are the rules requiring contrasting numbers on jerseys will not be fully implemented until 2024. There should be NO MORE than a 2-year lead time for compliance. When the NFHS changed the rules requiring basketball teams to wear white (as opposed to gold, Carolina blue, silver) when designated the home team, it gave a 2-year time frame for compliance. Five seasons of lead time is a bit much. These should never have been allowed in the first place - the point of uniforms is so fans, media and officials clearly identify who is wearing them. Numbers that are nothing more than an outline, or even those that blend in, fly in the face of that rule. They serve a functional purpose, not to be a fashion show.

To be a legal formation and be a back, the WB has to line up at least 1 yard behind the LOS, correct? I assume you're referring to a formation like a Wing-T or a double-wing where it appears WB lines up at an angle and is almost overlapping the TE's posterior.

On behalf of broadcasters and PA announcers everywhere, THANK YOU. I've been calling for this for years in all sports. Unfortunately, I'm sure there are a few coaches out there who will try to skirt this as much as they can to make it difficult to see them on film and order uniforms with, say, navy numbers on maroon with no outline (which are almost impossible to read), but at least this gets rid of the uniforms where the numbers are nothing more than a thin outline. It's very simple. If you have a dark uniform, use white (or gold/grey if they're in your color scheme) for your home numbers. For the white jerseys, use the darkest school color you have. Gold or grey on white remain almost impossible to see (but would probably fit within the rules) without a thick black outline.

Several years ago, HSE was considering a third high school that would be an early college-only-type school with no extracurriculars, similar to Ben Davis University. However, the students would still be eligible to play sports for either Fishers or HSE based on where they lived in the district, and the enrollments of the students at the third school in each half of the district would count toward the original schools. It was a way of reducing capacity without having to build an entirely new HS campus - a building without a fieldhouse, baseball field, football stadium, et al, is a lot cheaper.

My first reporting gig out of college two decades ago, the head girls tennis coach at South Putnam was also the assistant girls basketball coach at Greencastle.

You could be one of the top 15 teams in the state and be 0-7 in the MIC. It's *that* tough. Coach Mallory has done a fantastic job at LN and his teams are competitive. And yes, LN is an athletic powerhouse in a lot of sports, most notably basketball.

Sometimes, when a school splits, the "old" school gets eclipsed by the new one athletically OR there's a perception that it dilutes the talent pool enough that it prevents a school from being as good as it once was. For many years, the newer LN was far stronger athletically than the older LC, although the Bears have had the upper hand of late, with state titles in both football and baseball this century. Growing up in the 1980s & 1990s, LN was perceived as a really strong suburban school serving the very popular, rapidly-growing Castleton area and had a similar reputation as first-ring suburban schools (say, Carmel/HSE/Fishers/Brownsburg/Zionsville) have today. With regards to Carmel, they've been stockpiling swimming state championships. Their swim team often has people who could qualify for the State Finals who can't even crack the varsity roster because they're so deep. There are a LOT of really good athletes who could compete at a varsity level virtually anywhere in the state who can't even make the team there. If Carmel were to split, the new school would likely serve the western half of the district, which is the wealthier, more suburban part of the area. Not sure if that's the source of Carmel's best athletes, but some oldtimers in town wouldn't want the old school to be eclipsed by the new one.

A few message board posters doesn't reflect economic reality, and the admins do take donations from those who wish to chip in a few bucks to keep this thing running. There is a bit of a selection bias in who's posting and who isn't. The lurkers and occasional posters - who make up the majority of the people here - aren't chiming in and most aren't paying. Increase the price to the end user from zero to *anything* and you're going to lose a substantial amount of your traffic. Lose the traffic, and you lose your reason for existing. That's the Law of Demand in action, which you learn in the first month of any first-year econ course. Unlike the Indianapolis Star or other media that charge for content, we don't have a staff producing proprietary original content. It's not even close to an apples-to-apples comparison. This is a message board, it's a community, and if people can't get that here for free (which is well-moderated and has pretty good community guidelines), they'll get it somewhere else (like Harrell's board, like Facebook, Twitter, et al, which are much less moderated and can be unreadable). That's *exactly* what happened when Hickory Husker went pay-only. It also pretty much shuts down the possibility of new traffic, because as soon as the newbies see the paywall, they're gone. They haven't had the ability to develop the value in it. There are a lot of free online message boards and social media options that people will go to. The opportunity to make this a pay site was a dozen years ago. Tim refused to do so and refused to sell out to Rivals and 247 *because* he wanted to keep it free to use.

I just presented evidence that going paywall would kill our membership citing another board that is paywall-only and down to just a scant few posters. Going paywall, we would lose 90-95% of our members. DK & Jimmie have a pretty good model carrying on what TA started and keeping the community together, which is our strength, but a big part of that community is people can access it for nothing. I understand media economics pretty well. If you can't get people to spend $10 a month for their local newspaper, they're not going to do so for a stand-alone paywalled forum would become a ghost town. There are too many free alternatives - the Harrell board being one. Even without the "conference" threads, there would be places for discussio. The system of voluntary contributions makes people feel like they're a part of something and wanting to contribute to something, rather than the paywall (which is creating a barrier). Most won't contribute. I know your repeated attempts to compete with the GID and try to take this place over have failed and you keep on trying (and appointing yourself and your buddy who went to your failed alternate site Muda "the content leaders" here), but our strength is our community. When Tim spoke of the "power of The Gridiron Digest," it wasn't him he was referring to, it was the community that was created here. TA knew what he was doing and worked hard to keep this forum free. DK & Jimmie know what they're doing and are carrying this on as a trust.

That's what happened when Hickory Husker went pay-only. Everyone went to Harrell's board, which is a bit of a cesspool with no moderation, but that's what happened, and what would almost assuredly happen here.

If the way the IHSAA has done things in the past holds, the combined school would remain in 5A for 2020 and then move up and be reclassified for 2021-22. After absorbing Muncie South mid-cycle, Muncie Central competed in 4A (football) and 3A (basketball) with 1,600 students for one year. I believe a bylaw change would have to take place for that to change, so keep an eye on the IHSAA board meeting. I wrote a proposal and submitted it to my principal to be considered (that a school that consolidates mid-cycle would be reclassified with its new enrollment), but I'm not sure if it was ever submitted to the IHSAA.

TA's vision was always to keep this a free forum and an open community and that will always be the case. This was, is and always will be his. Voluntary contributions are always better than mandatory contributions. In hoops, after Hickory Husker went pay-only for the forums, most have migrated to Harrell's free boards for basketball discussion. Likely would happen here, too. If you feel like you can do things better, start your own competing site. Wait, you tried that. It failed. You then came crawling back here and have repeatedly tried to take over this one.

This is the shortest retirement in history. DT tells us he's leaving and "passing a baton" he only held in his own mind, and now is back trying to appoint himself the content curator of the GID.

We've broadcast every NP game - audio only - for the last six years. They're also the best six years of attendance we've ever had. Every broadcast is a three-hour commercial for the school and the program and allows you to connect with those who otherwise might not be able to stay in contact with the program (those out of town, out of state, people thinking of moving into the community, et al).

My 6th-grader has the body, the athleticism and the aggressiveness to be a decent football player. But he has never enjoyed playing football in any organized manner (although my yard is the neighborhood football field and he organizes a pickup game almost every day during the summer/fall). I've always encouraged him to follow his passion - and he really enjoys playing soccer (which he plays like a football player) and hoops. He's tried football, soccer, tennis, basketball, hockey, pretty much anything with a ball. I'll keep encouraging him in whatever he chooses. Let the kids do and be what they want to be and encourage them regardless.

I have discussed it with ADs. On the other hand, live video is a two-hour commercial for your school and the game experience and allows people who are out of town to connect. Our biggest-attended games have also been the ones that are live-video streamed (we had IHSAAtv in for two games this year and Center Grove's video for one ... those were also our three biggest gates).

Live video has minimal impact on attendance.

They did not go through the process with the IHSAA for permission for a tournament game (which includes permission and a rights fee), which they obviously did not do because they were not listed as being an approved broadcaster. A lot of school-based broadcasters just set up and assume everything is OK because they never pay attention to the IHSAA's media rules (which are significant and get stricter by the day). That's a big, big no-no and can land the broadcaster in hot water with the IHSAA. We all have to pay significant rights fees to broadcast a tournament game.