Should East Central and the EIAC consider splitting?

[footballsalads43]

Hello,

My apologies if there is a thread on this already.

Firstly, I will start by saying I am by no means close to either East Central School District or the EIAC, I am just an outsider looking in. However, looking at numbers East Central is by far the largest school in the conference and the district seems to be growing (correct me if I am wrong), but from a numbers standpoint East Central has outgrown the league. Now I only know about the football and basketball aspect of things, but it's no secret that East Central is dominant in football. Could East Central beating down on the other EIAC schools year in and year out start to raise dissatisfaction from the other league members? Could they want East Central out?

If East Central does leave the EIAC there aren't many options for them. The only ones I can think of is:

1. Independent

2. Hoosier Hills or Hoosier Heritage

3. An Ohio Conference.. maybe?

Or is the EIAC more than happy to keep East Central around? After all East Central has been in the EIAC since they became a school... thoughts?

[HoopsCoach]

1 hour ago, footballsalads43 said:

Hello,

My apologies if there is a thread on this already.

Firstly, I will start by saying I am by no means close to either East Central School District or the EIAC, I am just an outsider looking in. However, looking at numbers East Central is by far the largest school in the conference and the district seems to be growing (correct me if I am wrong), but from a numbers standpoint East Central has outgrown the league. Now I only know about the football and basketball aspect of things, but it's no secret that East Central is dominant in football. Could East Central beating down on the other EIAC schools year in and year out start to raise dissatisfaction from the other league members? Could they want East Central out?

If East Central does leave the EIAC there aren't many options for them. The only ones I can think of is:

1. Independent

2. Hoosier Hills or Hoosier Heritage

3. An Ohio Conference.. maybe?

Or is the EIAC more than happy to keep East Central around? After all East Central has been in the EIAC since they became a school... thoughts?

If East Central was about 45 minutes west of their actual location, they would be a very nice fit to replace Shelbyville in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.  They would also be a pretty good fit to replace Greenwood in the Mid-State Conference.  It’s a long haul for several schools in either of those conferences, so it is unlikely that they would get into either of them.

The best fit for East Central is probably the Southwest Ohio Conference.  It currently has just 4 members - Harrison, Talawanda, Mount Healthy, and Cincinnati Northwest.  All of those schools are less than 45 minutes from East Central and have enrollments of 850-1100 students.  Adding East Central as a 5th member helps those schools with a 4th conference football game and it leaves East Central with several weeks to schedule opponents from Indiana.

[tango]

3 hours ago, footballsalads43 said:

Hello,

My apologies if there is a thread on this already.

Firstly, I will start by saying I am by no means close to either East Central School District or the EIAC, I am just an outsider looking in. However, looking at numbers East Central is by far the largest school in the conference and the district seems to be growing (correct me if I am wrong), but from a numbers standpoint East Central has outgrown the league. Now I only know about the football and basketball aspect of things, but it's no secret that East Central is dominant in football. Could East Central beating down on the other EIAC schools year in and year out start to raise dissatisfaction from the other league members? Could they want East Central out?

If East Central does leave the EIAC there aren't many options for them. The only ones I can think of is:

1. Independent

2. Hoosier Hills or Hoosier Heritage

3. An Ohio Conference.. maybe?

Or is the EIAC more than happy to keep East Central around? After all East Central has been in the EIAC since they became a school... thoughts?

How far does EC want to travel for the "little to no revenue" sports like volleyball, baseball, soccer, softball, track, cross country, golf, etc.? Getting out of the EIAC means spending a lot on gas to drive further away with not much in return. 

Edited December 3, 2024 by tango

[Yuccaguy]

35 minutes ago, tango said:

How far does EC want to travel for the "little to no revenue" sports like volleyball, baseball, soccer, softball, track, cross country, golf, etc.? Getting out of the EIAC means spending a lot on gas to drive further away with not much in return. 

I don't know much about SE Indiana, but this sure seems like an issue that one school (4A) has here in NE Indiana - IMO- that is EXACTLY what the NE8 would avail to them and they'd fit comfortably in that conference.  Yet, they are a 'bit' outside of the conference's travel area and also border the Michigan State line. 

Unlike East Central, they need to get the competition that the NE8 could provide.  East Central should stay where they are, and unless and until the other conference rivals say different.... they are fine.  

[crimsonace1]

4 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

If East Central was about 45 minutes west of their actual location, they would be a very nice fit to replace Shelbyville in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.  They would also be a pretty good fit to replace Greenwood in the Mid-State Conference.  It’s a long haul for several schools in either of those conferences, so it is unlikely that they would get into either of them.

The best fit for East Central is probably the Southwest Ohio Conference.  It currently has just 4 members - Harrison, Talawanda, Mount Healthy, and Cincinnati Northwest.  All of those schools are less than 45 minutes from East Central and have enrollments of 850-1100 students.  Adding East Central as a 5th member helps those schools with a 4th conference football game and it leaves East Central with several weeks to schedule opponents from Indiana.

They'd be a good fit competitively and school profile-wise in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, but the drive from St. Leon to Yorktown and Pendleton is a bit of a bear. It would make more sense if Shelbyville was still in the league because they'd have an I-74 neighbor. 

The SWOC would really work if they'd be willing. Harrison is their next-door neighbor and they play each other every year as it is. However, because Ohio flips the golf/tennis seasons from Indiana (boys golf/girls tennis are in the fall, boys tennis/girls golf are in the spring, opposite of Indiana), they would not have a conference in those sports. Mt. Carmel dealt with the same thing when they were in the Big Eight. 

[footballsalads43]

5 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

If East Central was about 45 minutes west of their actual location, they would be a very nice fit to replace Shelbyville in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.  They would also be a pretty good fit to replace Greenwood in the Mid-State Conference.  It’s a long haul for several schools in either of those conferences, so it is unlikely that they would get into either of them.

The best fit for East Central is probably the Southwest Ohio Conference.  It currently has just 4 members - Harrison, Talawanda, Mount Healthy, and Cincinnati Northwest.  All of those schools are less than 45 minutes from East Central and have enrollments of 850-1100 students.  Adding East Central as a 5th member helps those schools with a 4th conference football game and it leaves East Central with several weeks to schedule opponents from Indiana.

The SWOC is losing Talawanda to the SWBL. But an idea could be bringing Harrison to the EIAC maybe?  Putting them in a division with EC, Lawrenceburg and maybe Connersville?

Edited December 3, 2024 by footballsalads43

[Impartial_Observer]

As far as the Hoosier Hills, not sure who’s happy about making that trip from Floyd Central or BNL to St Leon on a Tuesday night in the middle of winter. 

[Lysander]

They should join the Circle City Conference.  Its only a 1-1.5 hour drive and they only have to play 4 games a year to meet conference obligations.  In football, they have already played 1 or 2 of those conference members for the last 10-20 plus years (Chatard or Roncalli).  Add that they would be playing other non-football State Championship level teams during the regular season.

As strange as it sounds, they would fit nicely (assuming the CCC sees it the same way) and it would HUGELY upgrade the bar for them vs. the EIAC.....and I say that as an old EIAC guy who won some championships and some All-Conference nods back in the day.

[The Beagle]

Go independent in football.....continue to play Lawrenceburg, Batesville and maybe Franklin County in football.....stay in EIAC for all other sports.  Problem solved.  

[Cousin Sal]

17 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

If East Central was about 45 minutes west of their actual location, they would be a very nice fit to replace Shelbyville in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.  They would also be a pretty good fit to replace Greenwood in the Mid-State Conference.  It’s a long haul for several schools in either of those conferences, so it is unlikely that they would get into either of them.

The best fit for East Central is probably the Southwest Ohio Conference.  It currently has just 4 members - Harrison, Talawanda, Mount Healthy, and Cincinnati Northwest.  All of those schools are less than 45 minutes from East Central and have enrollments of 850-1100 students.  Adding East Central as a 5th member helps those schools with a 4th conference football game and it leaves East Central with several weeks to schedule opponents from Indiana.

The EIAC already has schools somewhat similar in size to the SWOC. Size doesn't really matter to us as long as the football team has a quality program. 

The only thing other I'll say is that we want to stay in a conference for other sports. I'm not sure if the by-laws of the EIAC will let us in JUST for football. If it were just football related, we would've already made a change. 

Edited December 3, 2024 by Cousin Sal

[footballsalads43]

1 hour ago, The Beagle said:

Go independent in football.....continue to play Lawrenceburg, Batesville and maybe Franklin County in football.....stay in EIAC for all other sports.  Problem solved.  

1 hour ago, Lysander said:

They should join the Circle City Conference.  Its only a 1-1.5 hour drive and they only have to play 4 games a year to meet conference obligations.  In football, they have already played 1 or 2 of those conference members for the last 10-20 plus years (Chatard or Roncalli).  Add that they would be playing other non-football State Championship level teams during the regular season.

As strange as it sounds, they would fit nicely (assuming the CCC sees it the same way) and it would HUGELY upgrade the bar for them vs. the EIAC.....and I say that as an old EIAC guy who won some championships and some All-Conference nods back in the day.

I think some sort of medium between these two would work great. Maybe go independent, and have an agreement with the CCC to play a few games every year. Then from the EIAC play some of your old time foes, and also Harrison. That will get EC to close to 9 games. The CCC idea is pretty interesting and overall I think EC and the CCC wouldn't mind at all. 

[footballsalads43]

38 minutes ago, Cousin Sal said:

The EIAC already has schools somewhat similar in size to the SWOC. Size doesn't really matter to us as long as the football team has a quality program. 

The only thing other I'll say is that we want to stay in a conference for other sports. I'm not sure if the by-laws of the EIAC will let us in JUST for football. If it were just football related, we would've already made a change. 

It seems like from what I gather EC is a good fit in other sports. Isn't the EIAC technically 2 divisions? Could EC just play their required divisional opponents (3 games)? Then play out of conference the other 6?

Edited December 3, 2024 by footballsalads43

[Lysander]

1 hour ago, Lysander said:

They should join the Circle City Conference.  Its only a 1-1.5 hour drive and they only have to play 4 games a year to meet conference obligations.  In football, they have already played 1 or 2 of those conference members for the last 10-20 plus years (Chatard or Roncalli).  Add that they would be playing other non-football State Championship level teams during the regular season.

As strange as it sounds, they would fit nicely (assuming the CCC sees it the same way) and it would HUGELY upgrade the bar for them vs. the EIAC.....and I say that as an old EIAC guy who won some championships and some All-Conference nods back in the day.

Frankly, East Central's "drive" would only be an another 30-45 minutes as opposed to the normal "internal" Circle City Conference drive (if your going to a Roncalli/Chatard game on Friday you'd best leave Thursday).

 I'd also add that East Central (in my opinion) would be a great "add" to the CCC (for the record, I'm just a dude on the interweb....who might know a couple of people). 

A dominate 3A/4A school from SE Indiana with a great tradition joining a conference composed of multiple State Championship level 3A/4A teams in both Boys and Girls sports kind of sounds...well................PERFECT.

[Lysander]

31 minutes ago, footballsalads43 said:

I think some sort of medium between these two would work great. Maybe go independent, and have an agreement with the CCC to play a few games every year. Then from the EIAC play some of your old time foes, and also Harrison. That will get EC to close to 9 games. The CCC idea is pretty interesting and overall I think EC and the CCC wouldn't mind at all. 

Being obligated to only 4 Circle City Conference games per year provides this flexibility....in EVERY sport.

Quite literally, its the best of both worlds.  

Perhaps a scheduling nightmare for your AD, though....but that's why they're paid the big bucks.

Edited December 3, 2024 by Lysander

[Trojan12]

I don't believe EC is able to leave for just football. I think their only hope is schools like Greensburg, South Dearborn and others come to a mutual agreement to not schedule games against EC anymore. 

[temptation]

Don't understand the reasoning behind this question but maybe I am naive.  East Central has been a powerhouse at the 4A level and was likely a top 10 team regardless of class last year.  They graduated Ringer and a host of others (unless I am mistaken), moved up to 5A and played the eventual 5A state champions closer than anyone in the tournament.  What am I missing here?

Sounds a lot like New Pal honestly.

[footballsalads43]

2 hours ago, Trojan12 said:

I don't believe EC is able to leave for just football. I think their only hope is schools like Greensburg, South Dearborn and others come to a mutual agreement to not schedule games against EC anymore. 

This is honestly their best option IMO. Leaving the EIAC for all sports just to get a better schedule for football would be not the best choice. If they can agree with everyone in the EIAC to just play their 3 'division' opponents and leave the rest open, that could be a great option for them. Then they can play more CCC schools, and even schedule an ongoing series with another GCL Cincinnati School (La Salle or Elder would be the best options). Unrelated but, I would like to see Harrison sort of join the EIAC as a football 'affiliate'. They could use the games with their conference falling apart fast. 

2 hours ago, temptation said:

Don't understand the reasoning behind this question but maybe I am naive.  East Central has been a powerhouse at the 4A level and was likely a top 10 team regardless of class last year.  They graduated Ringer and a host of others (unless I am mistaken), moved up to 5A and played the eventual 5A state champions closer than anyone in the tournament.  What am I missing here?

Sounds a lot like New Pal honestly.

Nothing, I was just trying to think of ways East Central can get a tougher schedule, IF they want one. 

[adambetz]

East Central joining the Circle City conference makes a disgusting amount of sense for as long as their football team is going to be good.

I love I-74. Blink your eyes and you're in Ohio.

I highly doubt EC leaves but I also know nothing!

[Lurker]

EC has schedule changes in the works.  This

[Lurker]

Can't edit....

EC has schedule changes in the works.  This was the last year playing Moeller.  Next year they'll play Lawrence Central and then Elder the following 2 years. 

 

[jets]

On 12/3/2024 at 2:30 PM, temptation said:

Don't understand the reasoning behind this question but maybe I am naive.  East Central has been a powerhouse at the 4A level and was likely a top 10 team regardless of class last year.  They graduated Ringer and a host of others (unless I am mistaken), moved up to 5A and played the eventual 5A state champions closer than anyone in the tournament.  What am I missing here?

Sounds a lot like New Pal honestly.

I'm not from anywhere remotely close to the area ...but I've asked this question as well - and the common response I've gotten is their proximity to Cincinnati is very helpful to their roster??  

[StinkTownClown]

Stinky, Stink, Stink 1.2..3...

Not too many reason for EC to leave the EIAC.

They did win back to back STATE Championships I believe.

and they had a chance this year to beat 5A Champ DC.........

So with that being said, stay in the EIAC, win your games

stay healthy, then come tournament time, go compete!

 

*Side note from STC - the other sports in the EIAC, EC is just as normal as you and me!!!! 

 

[Frozen Tundra]

I feel like the only way East Central leaves the EIAC is if the conference gives them the boot. Why would they want to leave? Seems like they have the perfect situation.

1. Football is the only dominant sport. The rest of the athletic program is on par with the EIAC.

2. The division format the EIAC went to in football years back allowed for East Central to open up their schedule and play more challenging teams. 

3. They’ve made it to state four times in the last ten years and won three times. I don’t think being in the EIAC is keeping them from being successful.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

I think its more likely that the EIAC grows, adding teams, that more align with East Central's wants, rather than them leaving. 

[Frozen Tundra]

4 hours ago, RetiredSouthernCoach said:

I think its more likely that the EIAC grows, adding teams, that more align with East Central's wants, rather than them leaving. 

If they grow then I have two really good candidates in mind. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.