Frozen Tundra

Except it wouldn’t be funded by the government. That’s the difference.

Oh I know. That’s why I said “in a perfect world.” Everything is so convoluted.

They wouldn’t pay the full amount. Whatever portion goes to public education would be carved out and they would have the ability to pay that amount to the non-public school(s) of their choice.

Who funds the education for poor kids and how would you go about it? That’s why I said “in a perfect world”. Everything is so freaking convoluted that I wouldn’t even know how you go about carving out the education dollars for taxpayers who don’t want to fund public education.

If a school is not affiliated with the state, government shouldn’t be involved with it at all. If you want to fund the non-public schools then taxation isn’t the appropriate term because it implies the government is the middleman in the transfer of that money. Therefore, funding of the non-public schools should come from something other than taxes. In a perfect world, each taxpayer would have the ability to designate whether they want to accept paying taxes to fund governmental schools, or whether they would rather decline that but pay a monetary amount of equal or greater value toward the school of their choice.

Agreed but I’m not sure I’d call it trial and error. He just seemed to be a really good fit for Columbus East and Columbus East seemed to be a really good fit for him. I’d compare it to me and my wife. We’d be terrible for anyone else and everyone else would be terrible for us. But it seems to work very well for us being with each other.

You’ll have to let me know who the Ohio residents were because that went underneath my nose.

You all know I love Coach Gaddis but I have to be honest here. New Pal coach Kyle Ralph is more like Curt Cignetti. It took Gaddis four years to find postseason success at East and 13 years to win a state title. For Kyle Ralph, he got New Pal to semistate in year 1 and won a state title in year 2. That’s akin to what Cignetti did in two years at IU. Before Gaddis came to East in 2001, he was a head coach for 21 years at five different schools. -He spent two seasons at Tri-County (1980-1981) where he was 2-18 (.100). The state tournament didn’t go to an all-in format until 1985 so no postseason appearances and no conference titles. -He spent three seasons at South Putnam (1982-1984) where he was 12-18 (.400). No postseason appearances and no conference titles. -He spent four seasons at Danville (1985-1988) where he was 28-15 (.651). He won a 2A regional title in 1986 but that’s it. Never won a conference title. -He spent two seasons at Pike (1989-1990) where he was 12-8 (.600). No postseason titles and no conference titles. -He spent ten seasons at Evansville Reitz (1991-2000) where he was 64-42 (.604). He won a 4A regional title in 1992 and a 5A sectional title in 1999 but that’s it. Never won a conference title. So in 21 years, Gaddis was 118-101 (.539) with only three seasons of postseason hardware and no conference championships. Then he goes to East and his records the first three seasons are 6-5, 5-6, and 7-5 for a cumulative total of 18-16 (.529). No postseason hardware and no conference championships. His record after 24 years is 136-117 (.538). Then, in the last 17 years of his career, he goes 194-27 (.878). He wins 17 straight conference titles (2004-2020) and only loses to two HHC teams in that timeframe (Seymour in the first round of sectionals in 2005 and BNL in the regular season finale in 2006). He wins a 4A regional title in 2004, a 4A regional title in 2006, a 4A sectional title in 2007, a 4A regional title in 2008, a 4A regional title in 2011, a 4A regional title in 2012, a 4A state title in 2013, a 4A regional title in 2014, a 5A semistate title in 2016, a 5A state title in 2017, and a 5A regional title in 2018. Long story short, Gaddis was a decent coach in the 21 years prior to East but wasn’t anything fantastic. Then he gets to East and, after three years of building up the program, he finally has a roster full of kids in 2004 who have only known him as the varsity head coach at East. The rest is history. I always wondered what it was about Columbus East that worked so well for him. Historically, Danville and Evansville Reitz have done a lot of winning but he never really took off there. East had won a state title before but that was in 1979 and they hadn’t even won a sectional title since then. Shortly before Gaddis arrived, East went 0-20 total in 1997 and 1998. So it’s not like East was a powerhouse when Gaddis got there. If I ever bump into Gaddis again, I’ll have to try and remember this time to ask him why it all worked so well at East. The only thing I can guess is that all the pieces in the puzzle fit. It was a perfect marriage for two parties that were decent, at best, without each other but perfect when put together.

No new coach yet. They just lost their boys basketball coach too.

They’re going the Notre Dame route. They’re independent in football but still an HHC member in every other sport.

I’m excited to see how these next couple years go for the HHC and for the former HHC members. Here’s a rundown. Current Members BNL - Had a surprisingly successful 2025 season with an 8-4 record and a sectional championship appearance despite being 2-9 in 2024 and having a new (first-year) head coach. Can Brayden Tidd build on this or will 2025 be a one-hit wonder? Also, how will the gradual drop in enrollment affect BNL longterm? Will the slide continue or has it finally bottomed out? Columbus East - The five-year Eddie Vogel era didn’t go very well but East still ended up being the second-best team in the conference overall in that span and even added an HHC championship. What does Tyler Campbell bring to the table? Can he tap into some of the success Bob Gaddis had during his 20 year tenure? Can he develop players like Gaddis did? Can he sway kids to choose East over North with Vogel and North head coach Luke Haston both out? Floyd Central - After earning their first sectional title in six years and having one of the best seasons in school history, can Floyd Central build on this and become a player in 5A? With Steve Cooley now gone from New Albany, James Bragg is now the senior head coach in the HHC and it’s not even close. Can he get his program ready to welcome the challenge Bloomington South presents when they join the HHC in 2027? Jeffersonville - Jeff is now on its eighth head coach in the last 20 seasons. Enter Doug Preston who spent the last 23 years as a head coach in Kentucky. He found success at Franklin-Simpson (a school of roughly 850 students) where he went to three straight 4A state title games (2016-2018) and won two of them (2017-2018). Will any of that success translate across the Ohio River with a 6A school? His last stop wasn’t as kind. His six years as head coach at John Hardin (a school of roughly 800 students) only resulted in a 33-33 record. New Albany - After getting to semi-state in 2021 for the first time ever, Steve Cooley was never able to build on this and followed it up with records of 2-8, 2-8, 3-7, and 0-10 (their worst season ever). In comes another coach from across the Ohio River in Marc Clark, a guy who was previously the offensive coordinator at Louisville Male. Like with Preston at Jeff, Clark’s challenge will be to get the loads of talent walking the halls to turn up for football and turn around a program that has had little to no success. Will any of his accomplishments in Kentucky translate to success at New Albany? Stay tuned. Seymour - Tyson Moore exits after a somewhat decent six-year run. Hard to believe he’s the only Owls coach with back-to-back winning seasons (2022-2023) since Joe Goodman had seven straight from 1996-2002. David Papenhaus replaces him after a seven year stint with Silver Creek where he was 17-3 in his first two years but only 24-27 in his last five. Can he revitalize a program coming off its worst season since 2014? Future Member Bloomington South - Coming off five straight sectional titles, two straight regional titles, and a Conference Indiana title, South enters their lone year of independence before joining the HHC. How will they handle independence and will they dominate the HHC right away? Ever since getting upset by New Albany in the 2021 regionals, the Panthers have won ten straight against HHC teams. The average score in those games? 41.8 to 8.4. No HHC team has scored more than 14 on them and all have given up at least 27. If anyone is going to challenge South, they’ve got 2026 to get ready. If it’s more of the same then Bloomington South will run through the HHC like East used to. Former Members Bloomington North - The Cougars leave Conference Indiana for the stability of the Mid-State Conference, one of the strongest conferences in the state. If that wasn’t tough enough, they are also on their fourth head coach in four years as they have brought in an assistant coach from a North Carolina high school who graduated from Bloomington North in 2000 (Andy Harding). Can they retain this coach for the long run? Can they compete in the Mid-State and challenge the likes of Decatur Central and Whiteland? Jennings County - We’ll see if Jennings County’s independence accomplishes what they hoped it would. They’ve got their easier schedule. Last year’s regular season opponents had a 165.44 average in Sagarin. This year’s opponents have a 185.44 average based on the same Sagarin rankings. Two of their three strongest opponents from last year are gone (Floyd Central at #60 and Beech Grove at #115). Only BNL remains on the schedule at #107 and is their toughest game based on the 2025 rankings. The hope is that an easier schedule will translate to more wins, a bigger roster/more depth, and higher home game attendance among students and others. Can they accomplish it? We’ll see. Madison - Gone is Charles Benintende after a two year stint. His 6-5 record in 2024 tied the school’s best record since 1991. How do you replace a guy like that? You bring back the other guy who also had a 6-5 season in Patric Morrison. He coached the Cubs from 2013-2018 and his first two seasons (4-6 and 6-5) were better than his last four (0-10, 2-8, 1-9, and 1-9). However, Morrison knows the roster well after being in the athletic department from 2019-2024 and an assistant football coach in 2025. And with Madison about to begin their first year in the Mid-Southern Conference, things may wind up better than they were in the HHC. They more than likely won’t be able to challenge for a Mid-Southern title, but a top half finish is a realistic goal and one they very rarely accomplished in the HHC after the mid-90s.

If a 3-2 record against East in the last five years is passing them up then those are low standards. I want to see some consistency first. I think East has a higher ceiling but, like I said, that’s contingent on what the new coach does. Vogel had his shot and, despite not doing well, still managed an HHC championship and two wins against Floyd Central. Imagine what a decent coach could do. Nevertheless, this isn’t a you-know-what measuring contest. I have no problem stating Floyd Central has passed up Columbus East if the facts present themselves. I would agree Floyd Central has had the edge these last five years but I wouldn’t necessarily say they’ve passed them up. Let’s see how these next 2-3 years go with East having a new coach at the helm.

They would have to take the spot Madison was in because BNL, Columbus East, and Seymour still have Jennings County on their schedules in the same weeks they played them when JC was an HHC football member.

The only team that stands a chance against them is Columbus East and that’s contingent on how the new head coach does. Jeff and New Albany just don’t take football seriously enough despite having a wealth of talent walking the halls. Floyd Central is solid but still lightyears behind where they need to be in order to compete in the upper echelon of 5A. But, as of right now, Bloomington South should run away in football. Everyone has next year to prepare before South joins in 2027.

Jennings County - 1,159 BNL - 1,185 Columbus East - 1,278 So there are actually two schools within 400 students from Jennings County. Nevertheless, your point still stands. Corydon Central has no business being in the HHC. Even if they do somehow have one miracle season, it won’t be the norm for them. They need to try winning the Mid-Southern first before even considering stepping up to the HHC.

Yeah I feel like this was a typo

Thought the snippet below from the article was pretty interesting. I figured they’d just plug Bloomington South in Madison’s old slot on everyone’s schedules. If they were to do that, this is what South’s schedule would look like: Week 1: Bloomington North Week 2: Martinsville Week 3: Floyd Central Week 4: Jeffersonville Week 5: Open Week 6: New Albany Week 7: Columbus East Week 8: BNL Week 9: Seymour If they did that then the other six HHC football members would be giving up the following non-conference games: Week 3 - Floyd Central: Silver Creek Week 4 - Jeffersonville: Kokomo Week 6 - New Albany: Silver Creek Week 7 - Columbus East: Chatard Week 8 - BNL: Scottsburg Week 9 - Seymour: Crispus Attucks Lastly, the article got it wrong. Unless something changes after this year, Floyd Central and Providence no longer have an annual rivalry game. That ran from 1969-1994 and from 1998-2020.

Prior to COVID, that’s what I told Jay Bilas would happen but he wanted to argue with me on Twitter and tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Despite having a law degree from Duke, the guy isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.

Yeah I’m glad all the Louisville schools are off their schedule and not coming back. Whiteland, Gibson Southern, and Evansville Memorial provide solid challenges. The Louisville schools were overboard and they never even stood a chance.

My argument would be that if you can win a sectional in a higher classification then you’re good enough to stay up at that level for two years. Winning a sectional is literally half of the tournament. The “great class” idea only works when a school gets bumped up from obtaining six points in a two year span. If you’re bumped up AND you win a sectional on top of that then that’s more than just one great class. Generally, a great class is an experienced team full of juniors and seniors. If they’re winning three sectionals in four years (including one in a higher classification) then that’s a sign of a good program (whether longterm or short term).

Since all six of the current HHC football members’ schedules are filled, I figured I’d list all their non-conference games below. What do you think? Do you like the schedules? BNL Week 1: Martinsville (9th straight year of the series) Week 2: Bloomington North (9th straight year of the series) Week 6: at Jennings County (8th straight year of the series, 1st game in the series since JC went independent) Week 8: at Scottsburg (replaces one-off game with Monrovia) Columbus East Week 1: at Mooresville (replaces 3 year series with Bloomington South) Week 2: at Columbus North (archrival; 55th straight year of the series) Week 4: Jennings County (6th straight year of the series, 1st game in the series since JC went independent) Week 7: Indianapolis Chatard (replaces 4 year series with Bloomington North) Floyd Central Week 1: at Gibson Southern (replaces one-off game with Warren East (KY)) Week 2: Whiteland (2nd straight year of the series) Week 3: at Silver Creek (6th straight year of the series) Week 8: Evansville Memorial (replaces former HHC opponent Jennings County) Jeffersonville Week 1: at Lawrence Central (replaces one-off game with Cincinnati Taft) Week 4: Kokomo (2nd straight year of the series) Week 6: Mount Clemens (MI) (replaces one-off game with Bloomington North) Week 9: at Indianapolis Lutheran (replaces former HHC opponent Jennings County) New Albany Week 1: Providence (2nd straight year of the series) Week 2: at Indianapolis Lutheran (2nd straight year of the series) Week 3: at Brownstown Central (2nd straight year of the series) Week 6: Silver Creek (2nd straight year of the series) Seymour Week 1: at Greenwood (5th straight year of the series) Week 6: at Brownstown Central (archrival; 20th straight year of the series) Week 7: Jennings County (59th straight year of the series, 1st game in the series since JC went independent) Week 9: Indianapolis Attucks (2nd straight year of the series)

Should’ve stayed at two points and I think you can make an argument it should be one point.

You are correct. They need three points to stay in 5A and that would mean a state championship appearance. Of course, their biggest challenge to that will be in sectionals as they share one with New Palestine. The Dragons will need to advance to semi-state if they want to give 6A a shot in 2027 and 2028. Something has to give.

I agree with a lot of what you said but Center Grove was a sleeping giant. All it needed was an Eric Moore and a John Zwitt to come in and wake it up. The potential was there being so close to Indy. As for as playing better competition goes, I never thought the SAC had weak competition to begin with. When the current iteration formed, I thought it was the second-best conference in the state and I heard many people say the same. The HCC has since passed it up but the SAC is still a tremendous conference with some really good teams. By no means am I implying it’s weak. It does indeed have some weak teams at the bottom but the divisional format resolves that a bit by not having to play all of them. I personally believe you shouldn’t get rid of all these games. Not every game needs to be against MIC/HCC level competition. It’s ok to have a weaker opponent now and then to break up the grind. Get a little rest and protect yourself from injury.

I pretty much align with you here. Going to divisions and playing two non-conference games should’ve been enough. You need to play those tough non-conference games (preferably against the big Indy-area schools) so that you can be exposed and figure out where you measure up and what you need to improve on. However, dropping half of your conference and playing multiple tough games in their place isn’t going to do what people think. You need the talent (not just those starting but also those on the bench). Unfortunately, most of the talent in this state resides within Indy and the donut counties. Teams like New Palestine, East Central, and Columbus East have shown they can win multiple state titles despite playing bad schedules and being a part of weak conferences. They were loaded with talent though.