oldtimeqb

Surely you are not saying volleyball and basketball aren’t sports? Like Coach Nowlin said, my beef isn’t that IHSAA has a moratorium week. It’s that there is zero restrictions on summer club/AAU sports. Not sure going back to Aug 1 and 2-a-days would solve anything. I can tell you this much - every HS football coach I’ve known will follow the rules. I can’t speak to club sports.

I think it’s a ridiculous double standard imposed on IHSAA coaches and teams. I get the purpose of moratorium week. However my son who plays football isn’t allowed to use the HS weight room, workout with his coaches, or have organized team activities. Meanwhile he has friends playing club volleyball in Indianapolis and AAU basketball in Louisville. Multiple games each day. Both events have hundreds of teams in every age group, and it would be a safe bet to say some are from more than 300 miles away. I don’t have any answers, it’s just something that grinds my gears and felt this was the place to vent!

The ENTIRE success factor promotion and "stay up" factors are 100% arbitrarily set. The success factor points and 2 year count process could easily be changed a number of ways which would yield other results. @Bobref claims the system is designed for when teams 'consistently' overwhelm the competition. Really? Is TWO years consistent? Or is it the byproduct of a good class of athletes attending a school at the right (or wrong, depending on perspective) time? East Central High school from 2015-2018 is a great example. Those four years: state runner up, Regional Champ, State Champ, Sectional Champ. That's 10 points in a 4 year span. 6 points in a two year span. But because it's a two year cycle that resets, they never bumped up to 5A. Meanwhile Indianapolis Scecina has losing seasons in 2009 and 2010. Then they are state runner up in 2011 and 2012. That's 6 points in two years - the RIGHT two years by the arbitrarily set standard and they get bumped up. So which team consistently played above their class? So the system currently in place tells Scecina they've had "enough" success while East Central hasn't. Got it. Making a change like a rolling 2 year count, a 4 year cycle count, adding a bonus to a state championship - making it worth 5 points instead of 4. All of these tweaks could be made to the current system. Would we say teams that get promoted under that system would be more or less representative of consistent success? And both @BTF and @slice60 feel Snider has been competitive enough in 6A. Perhaps. I am not downplaying any team that wins a sectional, representative of a good season and lots of hard work by the teams. But my biggest beef is that sectionals are somewhat geographically constructed and teams are blindly drawn. Being best in your local area is good enough, and not when judged against the entire state. The problem is not all sectionals are created equally, and it's more noticeable in 5A and 6A when there are four teams. New Pal is currently playing in 5A. So winning Sectional 14 should be viewed the same as winning sectional 13? And both of those are the same as winning sectional 16 two years in a row? Southridge is playing up in 3A. They were put in sectional 32. Winning sectional 32 is the same as winning sectional 30? And those are both the same accomplishment as winning sectional 28 in back to back years? No, I don't think being the best around and winning your sectional in two years is "enough" success to keep you up, when you had to be one of the best in the ENTIRE state to get promoted. And as the East Central/ Scecina comparison proves, even getting bumped up is more a matter of timing than continued success.

It’s really quite genius of the IHSAA. By putting Cathedral in 4A and Snider in 5A, we are arguing the uniform application of the ‘keep up’ rule. In the meantime no one argues the stupidity of lowering it from 3 points to 2, or even the validity of a success factor rule. Genius.

Off the top of my head, SIAC schools have played non-conference games against Henderson Co, Daviess Co, Owensboro, OCath, Apollo, TH North and South, Princeton, Washington, Pike Central, Crawford Co, New Albany, Jasper, and Indian Creek in the first two weeks of the last few years. There are probably a few more. There should be plenty of schools looking for partners if the SIAC decides on a 9 gamer. I am slightly disappointed that there won’t be a crossover game, but I can see the argument against it. The ‘championship’ game only makes sense if the conference it evenly split or done geographically.

The rumors I heard suggested the SIAC was going to split east-west down 41 (roughly). Boonville, Jasper, Castle, Harrison, Bosse, and Memorial to the east. Vincennes, Gibson Southern, North, Reitz, Central, and Mater Dei to the west. That’s fairly balanced in terms of school size, if you consider Memorial is 3A by enrollment. It’s all a moot point now.

Seems about right if you saw last year’s sectional. The best Boonville team in a generation needed to score a last minute touchdown to beat Bosse - who went 1-6 in the SIAC. That result probably scared them from joining. Edit: I guess if I read the article first, I would have seen that probably was true! My bad.

I hope they leave week 9 intact. Check out the matchups: Mater Dei - Reitz at the Bowl Central - North Memorial - Castle Harrison - Bosse Jasper - Lincoln That would be a great slate of games with conference titles/shares on the line.

I wonder if it will be a 9 game schedule for football? Heritage Hills and Southridge would end up being big losers in that case. I'm sure that was a nice gate every other year. Scheduling would be easier for the current SIAC schools. No more Terre Haute, Kentucky, Indy, or New Albany area road trips. Memorial can just dust off its schedule from the late 90's when they had Jasper week 1 and Lincoln week 2.

Freudian slip? Or are you finally ready to admit what we’ve known all along?

No offense to our EIAC folks, but the whole ‘big school/small school’ division idea would be pretty dumb, IMO. Castle, North, Reitz, Central, Harrison are all bigger than Jasper. So that puts Jasper as the smallest in that group. And Bosse, MD, and MEM both all shown they have no problems competing with city schools too. I would propose a geographic split East/West with US 41 as the dividing line. (Mostly) East - Jasper, Boonville, Castle, Harrison, Memorial, Bosse West- North, Central, Gibson, Reitz, Mater Dei, Mt Vernon (or Lincoln?) The SIAC could add an 8th or 9 game to the schedule fairly easy.

But... it was on Facebook! Correct me if I'm wrong. But the Total (90) hours for renewal did not change, just the content coverage of some of them? The bill doesn't require an externship, which has seemed to get all the publicity. It was stated as an option, along with the professional development options you highlighted. And 15 hours of PD, does that amount to 3 per year? I think they are 5-year renewals? If given the choice between a continuing education seminar titled "Creating Effective Rubrics", "Learner Outcomes for the 21st Century", or "Job Skills needed for a Global Workforce" - I would choose the last one every time. I think all 3 would be important, but adding the 3rd doesn't take away from 1 and 2. I think it's fair to criticize the manner in which the bill was written and passed. It's also fair to discuss whether work readiness/career preparation is the job of a public HS. Should they instead be focused on a broader understanding of the world and educating future citizens in civic engagement? Those are all good questions. That's my take as an outsider, but someone who does have to get continuing education hours for a professional license. That's less than your 2 cents!

I always felt the 5 quarter rule needed a little leeway anyway. Most of the time at a smaller school JV Joe is the backup RB and backup LB. 2nd Quarter of the varsity game, he plays 3 downs at LB because the starter’s helmet strap broke (Those SpeedFlex snaps can be a bear.) Then he plays the last offensive series at RB to help run out the clock. I always felt playing him only 3 quarters in JV was unnecessarily punitive and not really in the spirit of the rule. The new rule makes that scenario OK

While I agree with some sentiments, I would honestly like someone to find a game where a team trailing by 35 points in the second half came back to win. There might be one or two, but they are far from the norm. And if your argument is that it prevents a "chance" at a comeback, I have to ask, what about the 8 - 10 chances you had in the first half to either 1) Stop your opponent or 2) Score yourself. We claim it's a 48 minute game, so what makes 1-2 extra possessions in the 4th quarter more valuable than the ones in the first half? I could be talked into a 42 point/35 point running clock for 3rd and 4th quarters. If a team trails 35-0 at half and receives the kickoff, I would like to see them get one more bona fide chance to score. And once it starts running - let it run with the exceptions given - score, timeout, injury. Team A is up 41-0 with 6 minutes to go in the game. Do you really want to see them throw in their starting defense for a goal-line stand against Team B to protect the running clock? That's just ridiculous, IMO.

While I agree with your sentiment, I don't think it applies in this case. The sectional lines are clearly hand-drawn, subject to interpretation and manipulation. It's 2019 - the technology exists that would allow you input school locations and minimize travel distances, removing all question and doubt about the process. Then, your statement applies.

Perhaps it's all in the IHSAA's grand plan to make people BEG for a qualifying system, where half of those teams wouldn't even qualify. 😏

Yorktown to West Lafayette. That's quite a haul for a 1st round game possibility And Sectionals 30, 31, 32 are shall we say... interesting. Sectional 24 gets the bye, as I expected. Poor BYE team - they have yet to advance to Round 2. Maybe one of these years!

Have you played on a winless team? I have. Have you played in a game where you lost by 60+ points? I did. 5 times. You probably would not have enjoyed many of my varsity football games. But I did. Every. Single. One. So forgive me if I get tired of your act.

Their next school board meeting is April 8th, FWLIW http://www.egreene.k12.in.us/our_district/board_of_education

I had GS/NP as the protected rivalry for Watermelon Bowl purposes, but then changed it. A lot would depend on the dividing line. If MtV played in the smaller division, then that's exactly what I would suggest. Large - JAS, BV, WAS, VL, GS, PT, HH Small - MTV, PC, SR, FP, SS, NP, TC That would produce the ability to have JAS/SR, GS/NP, and HH/SS as neighbor school-district rivalries. The other 8 could be matched up on a rotating basis. Hopefully a competitive slate of games would result in some new rivalries and larger ticket gates for schools that traditionally haven't had success.

If the divisions ended up 7 and 7 (leaving out Tecumseh), then there would still be 3 games for non-conference play. Perhaps the setup would provide for a "cross-over" week and give schools the option of playing a natural rival or a rotating opponent. For example - HH/SS, Jasper/SR, and NP/MtV would allow for natural rivalries. (Like PU/IU football is a protected rivalry.) If a school didn't have traditional rivalry, then there would be a rotation of other division opponent for that spot. I think I would prefer that as a player/coach/AD - knowing who that opponent would be rather than waiting until week 8 to see who the opponent is based on record like the WIC and EIAC currently do.

Every Class got 10 votes for a total of 60. 12 votes went to other players and 1 coach did not vote. Did we ever hear who got the other 12? I would assume Lindauer got some, especially from that 3A/4A mix, but that is just a hunch. If we want to mention voting advantages, 32 teams in 6A have 10 votes, while 64 teams in 1A get 10 (same for classes 2-4A). The largest class already has over-representation in voting. It does bother me that Mr. Football played 58/60 HS games against 1A and 2A competition. I would have enjoyed watching him play bigger schools, but it's nothing to hold against him. To echo Lysander, I don't much sleep over the Mr. Football "Thing."

No doubt the bye is going to be in 4A Sectional 24. The 4 Evansville schools, Jasper, Boonville, and either Silver Creek (2 hours east) or Northview (2 hours north). I don't see how BOTH could be added, as they are 3 hours apart from each other via bus - and would be have to drive through Indianapolis for the southernmost sectional.

8 man football is better than no football, IMO. However, I think you would see many more 11 man teams dropping to 8, rather than starting teams. In fact that option might save a team like Wood Memorial. I think about the US 50 corridor in SW Indiana. Shoals, Loogootee, Barr Reeve, Washington Catholic, South Knox, and Vincennes Rivet. I just don’t see them adding 8 man. It would be more likely that A schools like Wood Memorial drop.

I have heard Princeton is trying to pick up another SIAC school for week 2 instead of TH North. Not sure if a PAC/B8 merger would affect that. I hope not. Playing non-conference in Weeks 1 and 2 just makes so much sense.