Footballking16

Irony here? Why do you bitch about half the things you do on the GID, most that have nothing to do with high school football?

Actions speak a ton louder than words. I understand where he is coming from perfectly.

I don't understand his innocuous comment in regards to the discrepancy in enrollment in 6A. It's never affected one of his Columbus North teams as he can't ever beat the like-sized public school 20 miles up the road. Hell, he can't beat Franklin Central or Jeffersonville for that matter. It reeks of sour grapes. No coach who has willingly scheduled Carmel and continually schedules schools that are 3x smaller really has a leg to stand on in regards to player safety if we're simply talking raw numbers. It would be hypocritical in nature.

And yet continues to schedule schools that are 3x smaller than Columbus North's enrollment?

That doesn't answer any of my questions/issues with what Coach Bless said. In your interview, Coach Bless specifically said, "The enrollment discrepancy from the top of 6A to the bottom is ridiculous and in some cases, borderline unsafe". Carmel (being at the very top of 6A) and Columbus North (bottom of 6A) scheduled games in back to back years in 2013 and 2014. If Coach Bless truly believed that was "borderline unsafe" why schedule those games in the first place? Would that be negligence on his part if he truly believed that statement to be true? (I personally don't believe he thinks that). I get why a school like GS is wanting to play up in competition, it happens every year, but if safety is the primary concern as Coach Bless states in your interview, isn't a school with 2100 kids playing a school with 700 kids unsafe? The enrollment disparity between Columbus North and Gibson Southern is greater than the enrollment disparity between Columbus North and Carmel. It's very hypocritical if you ask me.

He’s virtue signaling. Clearly. Had no problems scheduling Carmel in 2013 and 2014, in a non-elimination game, and routinely schedules schools with nearly 3x smaller enrollment. It has nothing to do with safety. It’d be more honorable if he just came out and said, “We need to do something about 6A, I’m tired of losing to Center Grove”, although that wouldn’t gain any attraction. But drum up a non-issue that doesn’t affect the CN program and through safety issues in there, will definitely turn heads. Do you agree with his comments?

Oh. So he voluntarily scheduled Carmel despite the fact that it is “borderline unsafe”? Seems logical. This reeks of sour grapes, similar to Jon Broughton and the multiplier campaign despite losing to a p/p twice in 30+ years. If the like-sized public that knocks his team out every year wasn’t the face of 6A, he might have a leg to stand on.

Serious question, has Columbus North ever played Ben Davis, Carmel, or Warren Central in their mega-enrollment days? I find his comments extremely hypocritical if not flat out embarrassing as he has no problem scheduling schools like Gibson Southern and Guerin Catholic who have 700-800 kids compared to his 2100 students. Let's not throw stones here. I have no problem calling him out.

It makes sense for Carmel. Center Grove it doesn't. I get that the average HCC team travels better than the average MIC team, but a lot of that has to do with the proximity of the schools. Most HCC schools are centrally located whereas the MIC is represented well throughout all corners of the city. It's an hour drive from Noblesville/Westfield/Zionsville to Center Grove without traffic. At 5pm on a Friday night? Look out.

Definitely fair, respect is earned. Still not buying a move to the HCC is an upgrade for Carmel and Center Grove in terms of competitiveness from a football standpoint.

Totally get that. That has a chance to backfire as well. With a landlocked 9 game HCC schedule, there's going to be years where CG only gets 4 home games and they have no control as to who that opponent is. I'm guessing the CG athletic department is going to be disappointed when opponents like Noblesville, Franklin Central, HSE, and Fishers come to town. Those schools don't travel like you think especially down to Johnson County.

Assuming he stays healthy, O'Neil has a very good chance at being a complete three year starter at QB which is very rare at Cathedral. Believe he already holds a few MAC offers despite never starting a game. That is saying something.

I think Lawrence North has a good staff in place. I think they will only continue to get better especially as the talent in Lawrence Township continues to sway towards Hague Rd. As far as North Central goes, if Coach O'Shea stays to see things through I believe they are the sleeping giant in 6A.

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Carmel will go north in the next classification cycle and there's a chance they stay north for good if Zionsville reaches the 6A threshold which seems imminent. Would mean the only chance Carmel has at playing BD or Warren is in the state finals and there's a zero percent chance in that scenario they play both teams in any given year. That would be a travesty for Indiana High School football. I disagree. Warren and Ben Davis are still better than any two other teams the HCC has to offer on a consistent basis and Center Grove would lose its game to Cathedral at the end of the year which has quietly become one the better "friendly" rivalries in the state. It's a barn burner every year. North Central is proving to be a worth opponent and is a natural rivalry with Carmel (or at least used to be) and Lawrence North is definitely on the upswing. I don't think any team is going to rattle off 4 in a row at the 6A level nor win 6 in 10 years with or without conference realignment. Is that in the current climate or dependent on Carmel and/or Center Grove making the move?

Doesn't make much sense from a visibility standpoint. I get Carmel and CG to the HCC makes sense if you're talking about competitiveness in all sports, but football and basketball will always be king in Indiana. Center Grove and Carmel landlocking themselves to a 9 games HCC only schedule, really hurts their visibility at the regional and national level.

Brownsburg and Avon?

That's the unintended consequences of NIL. With State and potentially Federal Law stating that the NCAA can't regulate players profiting off their image and likeness, what purpose does the NCAA stand to serve anymore? As you proposed, you'll likely see anywhere from 3-5 super conferences all collude and then collectively form their own league in basketball and football and negotiate their own TV deals and cutting off the heads of the rest of the remaining NCAA member schools. The NCAA as it stands today makes billions of dollars off TV deals for March Madness and the CFB Playoff that they redistribute back to the member schools to fund scholarship programs. Unless you're in one of those super conferences I don't know how you survive? I think you'll start to see many schools go the club model route. In general its bad if you ask me.

They went 8-5 two years ago and 6-2 last year and are now starting to see the dividends on the recruiting front. Two best winning % seasons IU’s had in 3 decades, not sure what you mean that it hasn’t shown on the field yet?

With college athletics essentially becoming de facto semi-pro leagues in the revenue generating sports, should academic accreditation really be gauged? OU and UT happened for one reason: $$$. The term student-athlete really doesn’t apply anymore. Kansas and Iowa really do nothing for the B10 if you look at the bigger picture. Neither of those schools football programs are going to move the needle in media re-negotiations and they’re simple going to cut into the existing members revenue share. There’s 3-4 schools from a financial standpoint that make sense; Notre Dame, Clemson, UCLA and USC. If you can’t get any of them, don’t bother. Sometimes less is more

Just landed 4* RB G'Bran Payne from Cincinnati LaSalle. Chose IU over Florida, Alabama, and Northwestern.

He has another 4-8, 5-7 type season he most certainly should/will be on the hot seat. You don’t pay a coach $6mil/yr to go sub .500 three consecutive years. Don’t care what the circumstances are.

He might do well on the west coast given none of his competition out there plays defense either, but if Chip Kelly can't hack it at UCLA I struggle seeing Brohm doing it.

This hurts Ohio State in my opinion. Ohio State has done a phenomenal job recruiting Texas the last decade pulling top recruits away from both Texas and Oklahoma many a times. Would have to think OU and Texas joining a big boy conference entices those recruits to stick around. Texas A&M jumping to the SEC a few years back lead to an uptick in recruiting really quick.

Because momentum in both recruiting and progress in each program is going in opposite directions and losing a top flight in-state recruit with Purdue ties to a rival school who historically hasn't recruited all that way would not have been a good look. As an IU fan I can get on board with this and hope it plays out this way.