crimsonace1

What Connor Simmons has done at Cascade is phenomenal. He's a former student of mine, so I've followed his career since he was in college. He's built his program around the weight room and sound fundamentals. That has staying power.

The Komets were at a lower level than both the Racers (1974-79) and Checkers (1979-84). The latter won two championships and had multiple future NHLers.

Nearly all of NP's players are home-grown. They've had a couple of move-ins - the QB being one, as his dad got a job transfer to the Indy area from Ohio - but just about every kid playing on Friday night was a name I saw on a jersey in the New Pal Cadet Football League when my son was playing in it nine years ago. The youth league is phenomenal, and has been for a long time. There are hundreds of kids playing tackle football from first grade on, learning proper fundamentals from an early age, and getting very good coaching. A lot of the youth coaches are former players in the program. NP is 4-1 all-time vs. 6A programs. 2018: New Pal 31, Center Grove 9 2019: New Pal 28, Center Grove 9 2022: New Pal 42, Westfield 28 2023: Westfield 34, New Pal 14 2025: New Pal 28, Decatur Central 6 (*6A due to success factor)

As we've pointed out ad nauseum, schedule doesn't win you games in November, players do. And NP's players are really good. Every year, people talk about how bad NP's schedule is (yet, EVERY SINGLE non-conference opponent NP has played - except one - in the Kyle Ralph era has been to a semistate, and I believe they have all been to Lucas Oil, in the last decade ... it's not a bad schedule), and yet, they have 4 state titles, 5 semistate titles and 6 regional titles. The path to Lucas Oil going to be difficult - three Top-4 teams in the same sectional, a Top-5 team potentially in the regional and then No. 2 Bloomington South in the semistate, and a lot of things can happen. I'm not going to count any chickens before they hatch, but this is the best NP defense I've ever seen. 5A is as deep as it has been in years. I'd be hesitant to list any team as a "lock." Especially because there's a lot of season and injuries, et al, can play a role.

Yes, but they have more depth, so they have fewer full 2-way players than they have in the past. A lot of 1.5s - guys who start on one side of the ball and split on the other. Josh Ranes, who was an All-State RB last year, has barely touched the ball this year because he's splitting time at RB and is spending most of his time at LB.

A good chunk of Warren Township borders the New Pal district (including most of Cumberland), and there are already a lot of kids who live in Warren who attend New Pal schools. I'm also watching to see when the Franklin Township spillover begins to head into New Pal, especially since Shelby County won't allow residential development in the Triton Central district (gotta make sure nobody threatens the county seat as the biggest community in the county). That coach was wrong. The SF is a rolling 2-year cycle. A school needs 6 points in a class to move up in two years. Because NP is in year 1, the max points it can receive is 4, so NP will be in 5A next year regardless of what happens this year.

New Castle is also leaving the Hoosier Heritage to go independent, so it will be at six. Southport would be a fit, but their lack of competitiveness in football and the fact that their crowds don't travel will make it a bit of a challenge (also, a lot of travel for Delta & Yorktown).

Generally, all contracts are for two years (other than the very rare and occasional one-year deal to fill a schedule hole). I remember one year, when I was coaching girls basketball about two decades ago, we had an AD who would hire officials years in advance and thus had the schedule chiseled in stone. There was one opponent we wanted to drop - because their school size had doubled and we weren't competitive with them, our schedule was already loaded as it was and there were some other issues - and I happened to notice that *two weeks* after we asked our AD to drop them, he renewed the contract for four years. Needless to say, we were livid. But four-year contracts are generally the exception and not the rule.

There is absolutely zero chance those schools would join the Hoosier Crossroads, at least right now. They're all big 4A/small 5A schools, and the HCC is a 6A league. They'd have to grow by at least 500-1000 students to even think about it. Mt. Vernon *may* within the decade. With eight schools, the Hoosier Crossroads is also full. I really don't see a lot of options for them right now. Possibly grabbing a couple of the Conference Indiana refugees, but Southport isn't really competitive in football right now (nor does it bring much of a crowd) and the Delta-to-Columbus drive would be a bear.

One way schools often get around the "undue influence" rule is having the *parents* of current players contact the families of prospective student athletes they want to bring in. The coaching staff didn't do the recruiting, it was just casual conversation among "parents." Same thing with players - if Bishop Sycamore's star tight end Jimmy Snatches talks to his buddy, who's currently a backup quarterback at Central City High and says "hey, we need a QB next year. Why don't you check us out?," that's not undue influence. But if Bishop Sycamore's *coach* does so, that's a different story. Getting your coaches embedded with travel programs or "skills academies" seems to be another way of recruiting without actually recruiting.

https://www.thecouriertimes.com/sports/new-castle-high-school-announces-departure-from-hoosier-heritage-conference/article_f39cca5f-fe71-5c05-b2cc-d3ec9417b8da.html This has been in the pipeline for a long time. New Castle will, for now, be an independent (for those asking, I've heard they have no interest in going back to the NCC). They've been in discussions with some 2A/3A schools in East Central Indiana about forming a conference, but nothing has come of it. "According to Principal Kirk Amman, the move reflects the district's desire to address challenges related to enrollment disparities, ensure athlete safety, and align with evolving athletic goals." Basically, what that says is "New Pal, Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central have gotten too big for us, and we're not competitive with them in football (or many other sports)." Coupled with Shelbyville also leaving, the HHC will, for now, be a 6-team league starting in 2026-27.

I believe they were for a few years in the early 1980s (in-between stints in the Sagamore & Olympic Conferences). When they left, Brownsburg replaced them.

It has its roots in the old Central Suburban Athletic Conference (which was, at one time, a mix of Marion County township schools Pike, FC, LN, LC & DC, as well as some suburban schools like Greenfield-Central, Brownsburg and Center Grove ... and then Southport/Perry replaced the suburban schools that left) and the South Central Conference. When the MIC formed, LN left the CSAC and Center Grove left the South Central. Meanwhile, Shelbyville left the SCC for the Hoosier Heritage & Seymour for the Hoosier Hills, and they were left with four teams. So, the two leagues merged. CI, in the early days, was the best basketball conference in Indiana. It was an incredible league. Pike won three state titles, Bloomington North won one with Sean May, Bloomington South then followed with a good run, LC made a run to the final four in 1998, FC had some good years with JaJuan Johnson. Then, they basically traded Pike & LC to the MIC for THN/THS, Decatur & Martinsville left for the Mid-State, Perry Meridian followed a few years later, and it became a bit of a league of survivors. Feels like THN/THS are leaving one "marriage of convenience" league for another, as the Sagamore was left with four teams and needed to get to six just to stay alive as a conference. But this one might last, at least for a little bit, until Danville & Lebanon can find another home (or a league that will take them). Northview is kind of in a weird spot. They'd be the smallest school in the Sagamore, but they're the largest in the WIC, a league with quite a few 2A schools.

New Pal & Greenfield-Central aren't going anywhere without Pendleton Heights and Mt. Vernon joining them.

It went through the middle of Carmel - and nearly hit the City Center - so there would've been some property damage there anyway. The path through Brownsburg actually ran about a half-mile north of the house I grew up in. Its path would've been largely rural in the 1980s through Brownsburg to Eagle Creek Park.

New Pal returns eight offensive and 10 defensive starters (although the one graduated defensive player is Michael Thacker, who might have been the best DL in the state), so I'm not sure last year was a one-off. They'll have a tougher go of it in 5A, though, with Cathedral likely in the same sectional. East Central won a sectional in 5A last year and played the eventual champs to a five-point game in the regional after basically graduating everyone from a team that won back-to-back 4A titles. They have a really good program. I'd put them on equal footing.

Population may drop by that much, but I don't know if that will lead to an overall reduction in schools. A lot of smaller schools are already as consolidated as they're going to get. I could see financial pressures causing a consolidation like Parke Heritage's in some places where you might have two schools in shrinking communities close to each other like you might find in Wayne or Randolph Counties, but I don't see too many of them. What it *may* do, especially without co-ops, is shrink the number of schools playing 11-man football. A much bigger issue is if this hypothetical goes through (and it likely won't) is that Illinois allows co-ops - and had a long, long-standing tradition of co-op programs (especially in football). Indiana does not. That could lead to some issues.

Kurt Tippmann can, but the list is small.

He is currently the Warren Township "director of youth sports" and Derek Moyers is the interim AD.

I know he was the fastest coach in Indiana history to 100 wins. I'll have to start looking up the fastest to 150 here soon.

Even if it passes, the counties would have to agree to join Indiana (rather than form their own state) AND Congress would have to approve (which it likely wouldn't).

With social media, website, graphics, et al, and with the number of media members who cover our school's teams on a regular basis, having someone to do athletics communications is pretty important. Our school just happens to have a veteran of the media on its teaching staff to do that work. Believe me, it's a very, very, very part-time job.

One, I was hired by the athletic director to do it. Two, 28 years in professional media covering high school, college and professional sports in Indiana, 9 at newspapers, 19 in broadcasting. Former Indiana Sportscaster of the Year, Indiana Media Relations Director of the year, multi-time AP & Hoosier State Press Association award winner, former president of the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association ... need any more qualifications? I have a pretty good handle on the media landscape in our state.

Good luck to Coach Coffer. NC is a very difficult job ... you're a 6A school with some talent in the halls playing in one of the toughest conferences in the state, where a lot of the talent in Washington Township is playing for Brebeuf, Chatard, Heritage Christian and Cathedral ... all of which are located in or just across the line from the district. Finding a way to build a program and keep some of that talent "home" at NC has been a challenge for coaches for the last 30 years, since Derrick Mayes and Eric Allen graduated.

I will get asked if a media member contacting the coaching staff is legit, and will say "yeah, this guy is worth your time" or "no, don't bother."