Frozen Tundra

Columbus East - Stafford Field. Named after John Stafford who was the head coach for the first 29 years of East’s existence (1972-2000). Led the Olympians to the 3A state title in 1979 when 3A was the largest class. Columbus North - Max Andress Field. Named after the final head coach of Columbus High School before it split and became Columbus North. Coached 21 years from 1951-1971 and had the only undefeated team in school history (10-0 in 1959).

Yeah Chuck is highly revered within the community. He was a feared, yet highly respected man. I’ve never heard one bad thing said about him despite all the stories I’ve heard of him roughing up misbehaving students. Doubt that stuff would’ve flown in this day and age but rarely did anyone seem to have a problem with it back then. As for JC and the EIAC, I apologize for misunderstanding you and making my response football-centric. I don’t have a great knowledge of the EIAC outside of football and boys basketball. I’ll take your word for it, though, that it would likely be a lateral move.

Good old Chuck Hurley. Never met the guy but I’ve heard so many stories about him from my dad and my father-in-law. Just talked about him last week actually. Honestly, I do think Jennings County would fare better in the EIAC than in the HHC. Outside of East Central, Lawrenceburg, and maybe Batesville I think they would be much more competitive overall. Maybe not record-wise but I think games would be closer. They swept their three game series with Connersville from 2018-2020. The last ten years (2008-2017) of their annual week 2 game with Greensburg was tied 5-5 (JC leads 15-14 overall). I don’t think Rushville would be much competition. Franklin County and South Dearborn may get more wins on Jennings County than vice versa but I could see those games being one to two possession games on average.

Would’ve been wise 45 years ago. Small community with major politics.

There’s a split in the community about whether downgrading from an HHC schedule is the right thing to do. Some feel the HHC has passed up the rural/small town makeup it used to have and is becoming too big for a small community like Jennings County. The fear is that they won’t be able to compete and will continue to lose athletes and fan support. The other school of thought is that leaving is the easy way out and admitting failure. These folks also believe they should stay in the HHC because they helped found it. They also believe there is potential to compete in the HHC. If Jennings County were to leave the HHC, the EIAC would be the preferred destination. The communities are small and/or rural. The schools are in the 3A/4A range which is closer in size to JC. Madison would prefer to wind up there as well but there aren’t any spots available at the moment. The EIAC doesn’t have any departing members to replace and doesn’t seem to be intending to expand. Jennings County would prefer to join along with Madison as part of a package deal. The official debate of leaving or staying in the HHC took place 2-3 years ago now. My understanding is that they decided to stay because a door wasn’t open elsewhere, but that the debate could resume if a door did eventually open up. It’ll be interesting to see if the football coach and athletic director have any say in the matter. Both are newer. The football coach was raised in JC and played football there but had left for awhile for college, the military, and being an assistant coach for a few schools in the Indy area. The AD is from the Chicago area and has no ties to JC. Maybe the outside influences these two have sway the decision and maybe they don’t. Time will tell.

It’s more than a football issue. Kids have left to play basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, and wrestling at other schools. Could be more than that but those are just the ones I know about for sure.

Not sure JC will have a place in the HHC in the future. Like Madison, the student population is shrinking. Obviously they had more students to begin with so it’ll be a little while before they hit 3A levels. Nevertheless, there is concern within the school corporation about not just the general shrinking of the student population, but the reasons for why it’s happening. It is no secret that a lot of gifted athletes have taken their talents to Columbus, Westport, Greensburg, Brownstown, etc. There is an emphasis on keeping this homegrown talent, but we’ll have to see if it pays off down the road.

Yeah they opened with Batesville from 1997-2019. Last year they opened with Covenant Christian.

I agree. Not saying I want the HHC to take them right now or even in the future, but I also wouldn’t be opposed if they ever decided to. I think there’s a lot of value in that school and I believe it’ll continue to rise.

I don’t know what goes on there or what their thinking is. From my perspective, they’d be a great addition to the HHC (if the HHC decided to return to an eight school league). Why? -Already in the HHC’s geographical area -The student population seems to be growing -Sellersburg’s population seems to be growing -My understanding is that they’re wealthier and have more money to invest in education and athletics as a result -The football team is on the rise -The boys basketball team is consistently solid and has been one of the top 3A teams in the state as of late -They play six of the seven HHC schools annually already in boys basketball. They played Jennings County several years in a row before that series was dropped and one began with Floyd Central.

How could it be worse?

I was just wondering that. I forgot the Mid-Southern plays an eight game conference schedule. Not sure how Silver Creek got two non-conference games. Either Harrell has an error or the Mid-Southern is allowing teams (specifically Silver Creek) to flirt with having another non-conference opponent in the same way the HHC did with some teams back in 2018.

Based on what I’m seeing from the schedules on John Harrell’s website, it looks like the HHC has the teams reverted back to the conference schedule they used from 1997-2018. Seems everyone is playing the same teams in the same order as they did in that 22 year stretch. The only difference is the week you played Madison is now your week to pick up a non-conference game. As we learned from @boilerfan87, Jennings County (week 5), BNL (week 8), and Seymour (week 9) have to decided to keep Madison in that spot on their schedules. New Albany’s week 6 game with Madison has already been filled with Bloomington North the last three years and that will continue again next year. Floyd Central’s week 3 game with Madison has been filled with Silver Creek. That leaves Jeffersonville (week 4) and Columbus East (week 7) as the only teams that haven’t yet found a replacement for Madison. As for HHC teams with brand new non-conference opponents, @DanteEstonia pointed out that Jennings County will play at Norwell in week 1 (quite a shock). Also, it looks like Jeffersonville finally found a week 6 replacement for Cathedral (which they weren’t able to fill last year). Looks like they’ll play Silver Creek that week. And New Albany has replaced their week 2 opponent from last year (Eastern Hancock) with Gibson Southern.

Well-deserved. Really glad we kept it in-house.

Would’ve been a riot if they didn’t hire from within. I believe Vogel has spent more time with Gaddis at East than pretty much everyone. Well deserved.

Columbus East essentially did the same in 2013 in 4A. First round was at Madison and then hosted Greenwood, Shelbyville, Jasper, and New Palestine the next four rounds before the state final.

What a comeback. Thought they were dead in the water.

You won’t hear an argument from me. I thought it was lame as well.

Kick and go up 8. Otherwise you leave the door open for Pioneer to win it with a touchdown and a two point conversion.

Zionsville won 27-9

I had heard three years ago that he’s not interested. Maybe that has changed since then.

42 year career with his last 20 being at East. Career record of 330-143 and two state championships. Sixth all-time in wins in IHSAA history. Here’s the article http://www.therepublic.com/2020/11/18/gaddis-retiring-as-east-football-coach/

Bob Gaddis has announced his retirement after 20 years at East and 42 years overall. He is the sixth winningest coach in Indiana history with a record of 330-143. As East heads into its 50th season of football, it will be looking for its third head coach.

Wouldn’t matter. 1A is sitting at 62 teams so they can add a couple of schools without anyone having to bump up to 2A.

Final HHC Pick ‘Em Standings: @boilerfan87 41/52 (.788) @Frozen Tundra 39/52 (.750) @mamasa 36/51 (.706) @starbacker 33/49 (.673) @Fkfootball 25/34 (.735) @Olympian06 8/11 (.727) Congrats to @boilerfan87 on another victory. Not sure if this is the second or third year in a row but I feel like you’re undefeated at this either way. Maybe we can actually give you some competition next year.