Conference Indiana Remake Should Include Expansion to Lafayette/Kokomo

[Guest DT]

I've decided to appoint myself as pseudo Commissioner of Conference Indiana.  My objective is to evaluate the current status and competitive positioning of the conference, and then make some big moves to position us for growth and athletic success in the future.

For starters, Conf Indiana just gets no respect.  The league has been home to many blueblood programs over the years, but it has also seen a number of defections that have hobbled the conference and damaged its reputation.  No one trusts CI because of the revolving door of members that has damaged it over the past decade.  Decatur Central, Lawrence Central, Pike, Franklin Central , Perry Meridian and Martinsville have all bailed on CI, leaving it a shell of its past and a virtual no mans land in terms of geographic location.

Commissioner DT intends to right those wrongs of the past, and reposition the league and give it an opportunity to step to the forefront on the statewide stage.

For starters , we have some great schools currently in the conference.  Terre Haute North and South have been pushed around and marginalized in conference alignment discussions for years.  But both schools are solid with excellent athletic programs and strong community support.  The same goes for Bloomington North and South.  Columbus North is one of the all time leaders in overall state championships won, and Southport is CIs last remaining link to the state capitol.  

Expansion is first on The Commissioners to do list.  Greater Lafayette is one of the fastest growing regions in the state, so we will invite Jefferson, Harrison and McCutcheon to join our league of 5A and 6A schools.  This is a big school conference.  5A and 6A only.  The only exception will potentially be the addition of a strong PP that is multiplied to at least 4A status , but preferably 5A.  

I've had a hunch for some time that since getting the boot from The HCC, the Lafayette schools settled for the NCC, knowing that the competition would not be quite at the level they would prefer.  Unfortunately, football in The NCC continues to decline outside of Lafayette, with the exception of Marion.  Travel is a beast, with trips to Muncie, Anderson, Marion and Richmond annually.  The Lafayette schools have been looking for a better option, and DTs expanded CI is just the ticket.

9 schools are great, but 10 are better.  Kokomo gets an invite to round out my 10 team Conference Indiana.  Kokomo has played for a state football championship recently, and they will bounce back in due time.  We will play a round robin 9 game conference schedule, giving our schools new rivals and new travel locations.  We will also play our conference games under the sun on Saturday afternoons, which will insure 100% availability of officials for our games.  We will schedule double headers on Saturday, with Bloomington, Terre Haute and Lafayette schools traveling to play back to back conference games.  We will also schedule some neutral site games in Indy,  reducing travel for our schools and giving folks an opportunity to come to the capitol for the day.

The new CI has the makings of a great new conference.  We have 10 strong schools, no weaklings.  Travel is evenly distributed.  We will be different, and the focus will be on us on Saturday afternoons.  We will aggressively seek out the best coaches to run our football programs.  And we will leverage the local news media in our great cities of Bloomington, Kokomo, Terre Haute, Columbus, Lafayette and Indianapolis to promote our schools and our league

Terre Haute South

Terre Haute North

Bloomington South

Bloomington North

Southport

Columbus North

Kokomo

McCutcheon

Lafayette Harrison

Lafayette Jefferson

Your New Conference Indiana

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by DT

[Bobref]

Man, you are a glutton for punishment.  Incoming !!!

[Guest DT]

2 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Man, you are a glutton for punishment.  Incoming !!!

Bring it on.  Id love to run this league.  

[cw13]

Harrison will probably be 6A next realignment. Conference makes sense, especially in preparation for the tournament. After the Lafayette schools were forced to leave the HCC the NCC looked pretty good. I'm guessing the NCC would love to see the bigger schools join up with another conference 

[BendNotBreak]

I believe the big 3 in Tippecanoe Co would b open to other options.... Lafayette vrs Bloomington would b an ... Excellent.... idea.... 😁

[southend]

I could also see Columbus East getting into this new conference. Saturday games, great idea, unless PU or Indiana has home games. How do we circumvent the potential conflict?

Edited October 16, 2019 by southend

[Gipper]

Having the Lafayette schools in a conference with Bloomington, Columbus could work.  The travel might even ease up a bit as Anderson, Muncie, and Richmond aren’t exactly next door...

3 minutes ago, southend said:

I could also see Columbus East getting into this new conference. Saturday games, great idea, unless PU or Indiana has home games. How do we circumvent the potential conflict?

I went to mapquest: Lafayette to both Bloomington and Columbus is a little over 100 miles.  Muncie is also a little over the century mark, while Richmond is 135.  I kind of like this idea...

[Guest DT]

6 minutes ago, southend said:

I could also see Columbus East getting into this new conference.

East will not be invited.  Commissioner DT makes the call on all invites.  

The CN-CE rivalry ends with this conf realignment.  

[Gipper]

8 minutes ago, southend said:

I could also see Columbus East getting into this new conference. Saturday games, great idea, unless PU or Indiana has home games. How do we circumvent the potential conflict?

Conflict is constant...

1 minute ago, DT said:

East will not be invited.  Commissioner DT makes the call on all invites.  

The CN-CE rivalry ends with this conf realignment.  

Impeach!!!

[Guest DT]

1 minute ago, Gipper said:

Having the Lafayette schools in a conference with Bloomington, Columbus could work.  The travel might even ease up a bit as Anderson, Muncie, and Richmond aren’t exactly next door...

I went to mapquest: Lafayette to both Bloomington and Columbus is a little over 100 miles.  Muncie is also a little over the century mark, while Richmond is 135.  I kind of like this idea...

Lafayette and Columbus schools can meet and play at Carmel on Saturday afternoon.  

1 minute ago, Gipper said:

Conflict is constant...

Impeach!!!

East has not looked out for North's interest over the years.  It's payback time.  

[Gipper]

Kokomo may be a bit too far, remaining with Logansport, Marion, Anderson, Muncie, and Richmond could be in their best interest.

[Gipper]

I stand corrected, same distance.

[Guest DT]

24 minutes ago, southend said:

I could also see Columbus East getting into this new conference. Saturday games, great idea, unless PU or Indiana has home games. How do we circumvent the potential conflict?

Families will always choose to go see their sons over their favorite state university.  

Creative scheduling will be a hallmark of the new CI.  

Note that Michigan City High School rented out its facility for a neutral site game earlier this year between Cleveland St Ignatius and Chicago Loyola Academy.  This is progressive thinking in terms of scheduling and marketing.  CI will do the same.  Here are some potential, matchups :

Columbus North vs Kokomo at Carmel

BN/BS vs THN/THS at ISU

Laf Jeff vs Col North at Marian University

 

 

6 minutes ago, Gipper said:

Kokomo may be a bit too far, remaining with Logansport, Marion, Anderson, Muncie, and Richmond could be in their best interest.

That would be living in the past for Kokomo.  They need to take advantage of their prime geographic location just north of Indy, and go after some stiffer competition.

[Gipper]

1 hour ago, cw13 said:

Harrison will probably be 6A next realignment. Conference makes sense, especially in preparation for the tournament. After the Lafayette schools were forced to leave the HCC the NCC looked pretty good. I'm guessing the NCC would love to see the bigger schools join up with another conference 

 

This is all GM’s fault...

[Guest DT]

Kokomo vs TH North  and McCutcheon vs TH South at Center Grove on Saturday afternoon.

[Stoner]

26 minutes ago, DT said:

Kokomo vs TH North  and McCutcheon vs TH South at Center Grove on Saturday afternoon.

Exchanging a Friday night home gate for paying rent on a neutral facility so your handful of parents can travel 200 miles roundtrip to watch a game dwarfed by College Football Saturday.

Columbus East says thanks for the snub.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Stoner

[Boilernation]

I really like this idea, except for the Saturday games. It seems like an attendance nightmare, a.k.a, revenue killer. Long term, I cannot imagine the Lafayette schools are thrilled to be in the NCC. I would limit the Saturday idea to a once a season extravaganza that can push the needle. 

[Gipper]

I don’t like the neutral site idea, attendance would suffer.

[Gipper]

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

Man, you are a glutton for punishment.  Incoming !!!

Actually, I kind of like this idea...

Sure, a few points were raised that I would be remiss if I didn’t call bs on...

[Guest DT]

27 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Exchanging a Friday night home gate for paying rent on a neutral facility so your handful of parents can travel 200 miles roundtrip to watch a game dwarfed by College Football Saturday.

Columbus East says thanks for the snub.

Revenue is already a major problem for these schools, as they are used to traveling long distances for road games.  

Neutral site games would be limited to mitigate the longest trale issues in the conference.  

As for Saturdays, they will be utilized, but strategically placed throughout the calendar to create more of an event type atmosphere.  

Columbus East has blocked CN from entry into the HHC for decades.  CN owes its sister school no favors.  

[Stoner]

9 minutes ago, DT said:

Revenue is already a major problem for these schools

Playing Mr. Obvious here---losing a home gate doesn't seem to help

[Lysander]

Insofar as football, what is the problem with the CI/CCC cross-conference games being played now?

The current scenario offers much more proximate schools.  From a competitive perspective, the CCC schools offer tougher competition overall  in football than what you are proposing (even though they are only 3A and 4A schools) - raising the bar for the CI.  

Competitively what you propose is a lateral move at best as regards competition.   If the current CI schools are going to be competitive with Central Indiana schools (which is what they must face as they move forward in playoffs) why downgrade their regular season competition (and double their travel times)?

Add that they aren’t locked entirely into a 9 game regular season conference schedule.

[Guest DT]

2 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Insofar as football, what is the problem with the CI/CCC cross-conference games being played now?

The current scenario offers much more proximate schools.  From a competitive perspective, the CCC schools offer tougher competition overall  in football than what you are proposing (even though they are only 3A and 4A schools) - raising the bar for the CI.  

Competitively what you propose is a lateral move at best as regards competition.   If the current CI schools are going to be competitive with Central Indiana schools (which is what they must face as they move forward in playoffs) why downgrade their regular season competition (and double their travel times)?

Add that they aren’t locked entirely into a 9 game regular season conference schedule.

Good points.  Many have asked when/if CI and CCC will merge.  

Perhaps the potential threat of the Laf and Kok schools approaching CI about expansion might push the CCC to seek the merger.

CI reminds me a little of the Big 12.  Always unstable.  Always concerned about defections.  Always marginalized by other big conferences.  I would think that CI might seek long term stability by expanding to these new markets.  It would certainly be a blow to the CCC schools in terms of scheduling.  

I am a fan of dual public/private conferences.  The SAC/NIC/SIAC are the best examples.  No doubt a CI/CC merged league would be very solid.  

 

[HoosierFB_JG]

Attendance certainly already struggles, but I don’t see neutral sites being a viable option, because keep in mind, Saturday games at places such as Carmel aren’t going to be an option.  JV/Freshman games, then our marching band always uses this as a rehearsal facility for a few hours as well.  If you’re going to tell the current 3-time National Champions they can’t use their football stadium for a neutral site game between Lafayette Jeff and Bloomington South, yikes I can’t imagine the war.

Edited October 16, 2019 by HoosierFB_JG

[Lysander]

17 minutes ago, DT said:

Good points.  Many have asked when/if CI and CCC will merge.  

Perhaps the potential threat of the Laf and Kok schools approaching CI about expansion might push the CCC to seek the merger.

CI reminds me a little of the Big 12.  Always unstable.  Always concerned about defections.  Always marginalized by other big conferences.  I would think that CI might seek long term stability by expanding to these new markets.  It would certainly be a blow to the CCC schools in terms of scheduling.  

I am a fan of dual public/private conferences.  The SAC/NIC/SIAC are the best examples.  No doubt a CI/CC merged league would be very solid.  

 

Aside from the obvious reality that Heritage Christian and Covenant Christian are in the CCC and such a merger would leave them out in the cold, a CCC/CI merger would force a 9 game conference season.  

I think a 9 game conference season is problematic.  I can’t imagine a Chatard season without a Cathedral game just as CN people can’t imagine not playing CE.  

I admit, it appeals to me personally but right now the CCC and the CI have the best of both worlds.  The irony is that Chatard, this year, plays as many games against CI teams as against CCC teams.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Lysander