Frozen Tundra

Harrison is definitely a winner if they end up going south for the state tournament like I’m anticipating. If so, the road to state is much easier than having to get there from the north.

Justun Sharp was supposed to be that guy but that didn’t pan out for good reason. Nevertheless, it’s a tough job because it requires a lot of work. The program has to be built from the ground up. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of folks out there willing to put the time and effort in to build a program at Jennings County. Hopefully it changes. It’s my adopted home, the former home of my parents, and the lifelong home of my extended family as well as my wife’s family. They deserve to finally have a winning football team after all these years of suffering.

Vasilchek had already gone across the country once when he left Georgia for Washington. The guy is from Indiana and his family still lives here. The belief was that this would work as a result, especially considering he has a track record of quickly turning bad programs around. So even if he does leave them after six or seven years, they’re in a lot better position going forward because there should be more interest for the job. Also, six or seven years is longer than any tenure a coach has given them since Rick Zimmerman’s first stint with the team back in the 2000s.

Because the feeling is that if he doesn’t have the time and ability to coach at Jennings County then he shouldn’t have the time and ability to coach elsewhere. Basically, I think the real issue at the root of the problem is that people here are burnt out from having so many different football coaches. This will be the sixth different football coach in 11 seasons and the indecision of Vasilchek only exacerbated it.

And to add insult to injury, the previous head coach (Justun Sharp) took a defensive coordinator position at Guerin Catholic for next year. He’s the guy who quit coaching Jennings County after two years because of his young daughter’s health. Granted, Sharp was taking his daughter to her appointments in Indy and I believe he and his family just moved back up there. So while it makes sense for him to take the job given the circumstances, it was still seen as a slap in the face by some folks around here.

My understanding is that he doesn’t have any interest.

It’s true. It was confirmed to me yesterday. People here are irate because he put them in a bad situation.

Exactly. I knew it wasn’t going to matter for Columbus North regardless. Nobody in that sectional was stopping Center Grove. I definitely felt for Warsaw. It essentially ruined the momentum from their great regular season

Yeah I don’t think the players and coaches that had double-byes in 6A this year would like to do that again. I feel like that would be universal across the board. Two weeks off is too long, especially when everyone else is only off for one week.

The only time any class has had less than 32 teams was 6A this past fall when COVID caused a delay in reclassification but teams still moved down as a result of the success factor. That should never happen again. Every class should have at least 32. This is exactly what I came up with when I did 5A

Where did you see that?

Based on the IHSAA release, the answer is yes.

As I anticipated, the IHSAA executive committee meeting minutes were posted today. Here’s the section about enrollments and reclassification.

I noticed the minutes from last month’s meeting weren’t posted until 12 days later. Using that same timeframe, we may not see the notes from this month’s meeting until March 2nd.

I checked the IHSAA website. They usually post the meeting notes on there. Didn’t find them listed. Either they didn’t have the meeting or they’re delayed in getting the notes up.

I mean, Brett Favre was my favorite football player so I’m used to it 😂

After officially being announced as the new Jennings County head coach on January 14th, and then deciding NOT to take the job back on February 1st, Vasilchek has once again decided he will indeed coach Jennings County as of yesterday, February 10th.

Big plot twist as Nic Vasilchek has gone the route of Brett Favre with his decision-making and decided he will coach Jennings County after all. Hopefully he sticks with it this time.

Yep. I asked him about it on Twitter and he never responded. However, there’s an IHSAA executive meeting next Friday so I’d expect a decision no later than that. Then again, who really even knows?

Buening was smart to get out of there. He knew he didn’t have the support he needed. Justun Sharp was trying to build up Jennings County football at the youth level but, obviously, he didn’t last long enough to really make a difference. I know the boys basketball coach, Josh Land, has input in the youth basketball program though. Probably just need someone with tenure that is motivated to make it work with football.

Exactly. Plus, it helps to have a coach that is committed. Not just with the high school team but also with building up the youth programs so that the kids have the experience and fundamentals they need to be ready by high school. Also, politics have been an issue in the past but I think those days are over now with the new AD and superintendent.

I don’t know for sure but, the way I understand it, it probably was family-oriented.

After further consideration, Nic Vasilchek has decided not to take the coaching job at Jennings County. Back to the drawing board for the Panthers.

I think there’s a difference between a successful program and an elite program. For instance, Columbus East is a successful program but Cathedral is an elite program.