Coach_K

I used to coach track at one high school and football at a different high school. The schools were both ok with it because the school where I was employed and coached track did not have football.

I have seen the highlights but admittedly do not know much about the kid. Does he play other sports?

The real question you should ask yourself is do you want continue watching high school sports? There is a shortage of officials everywhere and if you think that nothing needs to change then continue to yell and scream at the officials. Games are being cancelled and rescheduled because of the shortage of officials. Here is a FB post from one of my friends who officiates a few different sports: "There has been lot’s of talk about officiating the last few weeks and how some people believe officials are “out to get their team”. While some officials are better than others and most officials are better than me, I can tell you with 100% certainty that I have never heard an official talk about or engage any behavior to cheat a team or players. In 2018 I traveled over 7500 miles to officiate contests. No way I would do that just to stick it to a team." The fact is YOU personally might not need to change, but other coaches and fans might need to change their behavior.

I think another issue facing coaching turnover is the coach's family. Coaching any sport nowadays requires the whole family to be on board. I am a young(ish) coach with 2 children under the age of two. When looking for a coaching job, I immediately ask my wife what she thinks about the possibility of moving to the community. My wife has some flexibility with her job, but we can't just pick up and move. My wife is very supportive and wants me to advance in coaching, but she understands how political some school corporations can be. Everything Driven T brings up is valid. I have been a part of a coaching staff where there has been poor admin support. This has affected coaches drive to coach, wanting to stay in the profession and time which some coaches put in. Currently I work in a school which does not have football (so I coach at another school), but every time the administration hires a new teacher, coaching any sport is not a conversation to be had. Some schools are simply devaluing the importance of extra-curricular activities. It is a sad state of affairs for some schools in Indiana.

Putting in turf at a parochial school would most likely mean it would be used for other sports as well. Without knowing much of anything about Luers (except football is pretty good) I would imagine it would be a major investment from alumni, boosters and sponsors, with a less money coming from the school/athletic dept. The turf would have to be used by soccer and lacrosse (if applicable) and possibly track, softball, baseball, cross country for conditioning purposes.

It's tough to say without having the sectionals set yet, but the 3A sectional in southwestern part of the state has been pretty dominant lately. Gibson Southern, Evansville Memorial (now 4A success factor), Vincennes Lincoln and Heritage Hills all have been very good in recent seasons. Southridge possibly joining that bunch (due to success factor alone). That could be an area of the state to watch for 3A.

With the way the Big 8 has performed in the playoffs in the past number of seasons, maybe a smaller conference is a good thing. This allows the schools to add another team who they are not familiar with and push them come playoff time. Washington and Mt. Vernon are currently down in football but competitive in other sports, but Princeton and Booneville have both surged in the conference, with Booneville winning the conference this past season. However this success has not brought any deep postseason runs. Jasper, Vincennes Lincoln and Booneville could add a 4A or 5A school to their schedule.