Sparty Posted February 3 Posted February 3 1 hour ago, Gipper said: I would love to see the Bombers schedule a Region team or two. My off the cuff picks are Lowell and Andrean, but matchups against schools such as Hammond Central, Illiana Christian, and New Prairie could be something. They already have 3 region teams. And if you count NP as “region”, then they have 4 (KV). Quote
Gipper Posted February 3 Posted February 3 36 minutes ago, Sparty said: They already have 3 region teams. And if you count NP as “region”, then they have 4 (KV). Noted. Quote
Coach Nowlin Posted February 3 Author Posted February 3 16 hours ago, HoopsCoach said: Another game that should be on a Saturday is North Knox. I hope the folks at Rensselaer who scheduled that game know it is North Knox, not North OF Knox. Starting at 6pm (Central) after a 3+ hour bus ride on a Friday evening does not seem like a good idea. Maybe 6 pm on Saturday would make more sense. Not our 1st time playing NK, hence why they were very interested in playing as well, (see 2020). And both schools agreed that it would be great to play on Friday and make a day of it, just like we did when we had to got to Champaign to play in Illinois when Delphi bounced, and same reason we were up at WOODSTOCK IL, 2 years ago before Glenn contract started. We will have a great day, Load a charter bus and have a full on Bomber Travel brigade down, then guess what, the next year, NK will come on up, gasps..... ON A FRIDAY. Parents already talking about getting their own travel. bus as well. FUN. 16 hours ago, HoopsCoach said: Knox appears to need a week 9 game. I am sure contracts are already in place for next year, but a shuffle that could make sense in the future is to move Whiting to week 4 (the Oilers could drop Calumet Christian) and plug Knox into week 9 with Rensselaer Central. Knox will be in our sectional coming up this cycle is my guess. I love playing Whiting bc I"ve always wanted to play at their place selfishly You do realize RCHS has lost 120+ student population since we won state in 2014. Same reason why schools like NORTHWESTERN for instance and their SUPER bounced unannounced and paid whatever penalty they negotiated to RUN FAST from Hoosier to 3 Rivers. Things change, demographics and total bodies have changed, so yes, KNOX is a fine program, but just bc certain schools open doesn't make it a great choice/fit for various reasons. I am very comfortable with Coach Meeks and his choices on how to build his schedule, I think its a homerun, Wish, Lapel stayed in week 5, but they jumped in their conference now and Frontier wanted to schedule and all that, so just jumped on that it seems. 2 hours ago, Gipper said: I would love to see the Bombers schedule a Region team or two. My off the cuff picks are Lowell and Andrean, but matchups against schools such as Hammond Central, Illiana Christian, and New Prairie could be something. See above: Why Should be purposefully schedule 4a School like Lowell, or Private powerhouse who if they do what their talent usually dictate should not be back in 2a anytime soon, but we shall see. We will have: KV/NN/Griffith/River Forest and Whiting. That is over half our current schedule in the CENTRAL time zone, which for ALL our coaches was one of the major factors of looking to leave/ go independent and ANY future conference discussions (ZERO RIGHT NOW FYI) will center around that aspect Quote
HoopsCoach Posted February 4 Posted February 4 (edited) 7 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said: Not our 1st time playing NK, hence why they were very interested in playing as well, (see 2020). And both schools agreed that it would be great to play on Friday and make a day of it, just like we did when we had to got to Champaign to play in Illinois when Delphi bounced, and same reason we were up at WOODSTOCK IL, 2 years ago before Glenn contract started. We will have a great day, Load a charter bus and have a full on Bomber Travel brigade down, then guess what, the next year, NK will come on up, gasps..... ON A FRIDAY. Parents already talking about getting their own travel. bus as well. FUN. Knox will be in our sectional coming up this cycle is my guess. I love playing Whiting bc I"ve always wanted to play at their place selfishly You do realize RCHS has lost 120+ student population since we won state in 2014. Same reason why schools like NORTHWESTERN for instance and their SUPER bounced unannounced and paid whatever penalty they negotiated to RUN FAST from Hoosier to 3 Rivers. Things change, demographics and total bodies have changed, so yes, KNOX is a fine program, but just bc certain schools open doesn't make it a great choice/fit for various reasons. I am very comfortable with Coach Meeks and his choices on how to build his schedule, I think its a homerun, Wish, Lapel stayed in week 5, but they jumped in their conference now and Frontier wanted to schedule and all that, so just jumped on that it seems. If the administration of RCHS supports the football team taking a day off from school (education-based athletics) to make a 6+ hour round trip for a football game, so be it. The team and fans could still make a day of it…on Saturday. It just seems that other alternatives, including some that may be more economically friendly for a school losing so many students ($), may have been available. If your head coach and stakeholders are happy with playing North Knox instead of Knox, then enjoy the game and good luck. I do realize how many students RCHS has lost. You know I post, frequently, about school enrollments and demographics. No doubt Rensselaer has lost a significant number of students in recent years. Many small communities have experienced the same trend. Knox is one of them. Here is the enrollment trend for both schools over the last 15 years. Rensselaer Central 2011 - 570 2021 - 494 2025 - 428 2026 - 407 Those numbers indicate a 1-year decrease of 5.16%, 5-year decrease of 21.38%, and 15-year decrease of 40.05%. Knox 2011 - 620 2021 - 583 2025 - 498 2026 - 474 This shows a 1-year decrease of 5.06%, 5-year decrease of 23.00%, and 15-year decrease of 30.80% at Knox Community High School. In 15 years, Rensselaer has lost 163 students, and Knox has lost 146. Even though Knox had 64 more students than RCHS on count day this year, I think they are relatively similar schools experiencing a decline in their enrollment. Both have had solid seasons in football (and other sports) despite the enrollment trend. Next season, RCHS will drive past Knox to play John Glenn, a 3A school with 606 students, drive a similar distance as they would travel to Knox to instead go to Griffith and play another 3A school with 643 students, and drive a little further southeast of Knox to play Culver Academies, a non-public 4A school with over 800 students. If the opportunity is available in the future, is there a reason RCHS would not want to play Knox? Could you spell it out and help me solve that puzzle?😉 Edited February 4 by HoopsCoach Quote
Coach Nowlin Posted February 4 Author Posted February 4 1 hour ago, HoopsCoach said: If the administration of RCHS supports the football team taking a day off from school (education-based athletics) to make a 6+ hour round trip for a football game, so be it. The team and fans could still make a day of it…on Saturday. It just seems that other alternatives, including some that may be more economically friendly for a school losing so many students ($), may have been available. If your head coach and stakeholders are happy with playing North Knox instead of Knox, then enjoy the game and good luck. I do realize how many students RCHS has lost. You know I post, frequently, about school enrollments and demographics. No doubt Rensselaer has lost a significant number of students in recent years. Many small communities have experienced the same trend. Knox is one of them. Here is the enrollment trend for both schools over the last 15 years. Rensselaer Central 2011 - 570 2021 - 494 2025 - 428 2026 - 407 Those numbers indicate a 1-year decrease of 5.16%, 5-year decrease of 21.38%, and 15-year decrease of 40.05%. Knox 2011 - 620 2021 - 583 2025 - 498 2026 - 474 This shows a 1-year decrease of 5.06%, 5-year decrease of 23.00%, and 15-year decrease of 30.80% at Knox Community High School. In 15 years, Rensselaer has lost 163 students, and Knox has lost 146. Even though Knox had 64 more students than RCHS on count day this year, I think they are relatively similar schools experiencing a decline in their enrollment. Both have had solid seasons in football (and other sports) despite the enrollment trend. Next season, RCHS will drive past Knox to play John Glenn, a 3A school with 606 students, drive a similar distance as they would travel to Knox to instead go to Griffith and play another 3A school with 643 students, and drive a little further southeast of Knox to play Culver Academies, a non-public 4A school with over 800 students. If the opportunity is available in the future, is there a reason RCHS would not want to play Knox? Could you spell it out and help me solve that puzzle?😉 Cool 1 Quote
Coach Nowlin Posted February 4 Author Posted February 4 Quote Could you spell it out and help me solve that puzzle? You created your own puzzle with your own bias in your own world it seems. So I do not feel like I have to spell out anything to solve YOUR "puzzle". Quote
Muda69 Posted February 4 Posted February 4 10 hours ago, HoopsCoach said: If the administration of RCHS supports the football team taking a day off from school (education-based athletics) to make a 6+ hour round trip for a football game, so be it. The team and fans could still make a day of it…on Saturday. It just seems that other alternatives, including some that may be more economically friendly for a school losing so many students ($), may have been available. If your head coach and stakeholders are happy with playing North Knox instead of Knox, then enjoy the game and good luck. I do realize how many students RCHS has lost. You know I post, frequently, about school enrollments and demographics. No doubt Rensselaer has lost a significant number of students in recent years. Many small communities have experienced the same trend. Knox is one of them. Here is the enrollment trend for both schools over the last 15 years. Rensselaer Central 2011 - 570 2021 - 494 2025 - 428 2026 - 407 Those numbers indicate a 1-year decrease of 5.16%, 5-year decrease of 21.38%, and 15-year decrease of 40.05%. Knox 2011 - 620 2021 - 583 2025 - 498 2026 - 474 This shows a 1-year decrease of 5.06%, 5-year decrease of 23.00%, and 15-year decrease of 30.80% at Knox Community High School. In 15 years, Rensselaer has lost 163 students, and Knox has lost 146. Even though Knox had 64 more students than RCHS on count day this year, I think they are relatively similar schools experiencing a decline in their enrollment. Both have had solid seasons in football (and other sports) despite the enrollment trend. Next season, RCHS will drive past Knox to play John Glenn, a 3A school with 606 students, drive a similar distance as they would travel to Knox to instead go to Griffith and play another 3A school with 643 students, and drive a little further southeast of Knox to play Culver Academies, a non-public 4A school with over 800 students. If the opportunity is available in the future, is there a reason RCHS would not want to play Knox? Could you spell it out and help me solve that puzzle?😉 Sounds like some government school consolidation is in order for Jasper and Starke counties. There are eight school corporations between the two counties, more efficiency is needed. 1 Quote
First_Backer_Inside Posted February 4 Posted February 4 4 hours ago, Muda69 said: Sounds like some government school consolidation is in order for Jasper and Starke counties. There are eight school corporations between the two counties, more efficiency is needed. I don't think any of the schools in these counties have problems fielding teams. Most schools in this area, no matter how many students in the school, have enough of a football history for kids to get excited and come out for the team. I think this is the case for most athletics at these schools. What I fear for the state of Indiana, again I think these schools have great, full coaching staffs, is that schools will consolidate or lose sporting teams due to the lack of people wanting to coach high school football. The amount of jobs out there and still opening up is alarming to me. Maybe I haven't been coaching long enough and this happens quite often, but the closer and closer we get to the season and these positions not getting filled is alarming to me. I feel like I don't have enough time right now before August 21st gets here to get where we need to be. The rumors from schools I've heard is they don't have anyone applying for head coaching openings at schools. How are teams going to get a new offensive and defensive system in place in time for week 1 if they are still looking for people to apply in February. If you can't get a head coach at a school, how are you going to get assistants to help you at a school. Could this lead to consolidation between schools if there is a lack of coaches for multiple sports at a couple schools in the same area? I don't know, but it could be an option. Quote
Muda69 Posted February 4 Posted February 4 37 minutes ago, First_Backer_Inside said: Could this lead to consolidation between schools if there is a lack of coaches for multiple sports at a couple schools in the same area? I don't know, but it could be an option. That or the IHSAA needs to approve a co-op system. Quote
Coach Nowlin Posted February 4 Author Posted February 4 I know the baseball/softball was trying a pilot co op programming , but not sure where it went or if it got off the ground Quote
HoopsCoach Posted February 4 Posted February 4 17 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said: You created your own puzzle with your own bias in your own world it seems. So I do not feel like I have to spell out anything to solve YOUR "puzzle". I think you took my original post about the schedule as a criticism, which was not my intention. I clapped back a little bit when I read your reply, and finished my follow up with the comment about spelling it out to solve the puzzle as a Wheel of Fortune joke. It obviously did not land, so that’s my bad. 18 hours ago, Sparty said: Why do so many others care what RCHS is doing? It’s the offseason. Coaching changes, schedules for next season, rule changes, and player recognition are common topics of discussion during this time of the year. It also isn’t unique to Rensselaer. There are other ongoing topics on this forum related to schedules (SAC non-conference games). This thread just focused on Rensselaer’s schedule because of the original message about the Bombers leaving the Hoosier Conference. 1 Quote
Sparty Posted February 5 Posted February 5 2 hours ago, HoopsCoach said: I think you took my original post about the schedule as a criticism, which was not my intention. I clapped back a little bit when I read your reply, and finished my follow up with the comment about spelling it out to solve the puzzle as a Wheel of Fortune joke. It obviously did not land, so that’s my bad. It’s the offseason. Coaching changes, schedules for next season, rule changes, and player recognition are common topics of discussion during this time of the year. It also isn’t unique to Rensselaer. There are other ongoing topics on this forum related to schedules (SAC non-conference games). This thread just focused on Rensselaer’s schedule because of the original message about the Bombers leaving the Hoosier Conference. In regards to your 2nd paragraph, I completely understand. I’m saying it is of no concern to anyone not involved with RCHS schools and their program. Hypotheticals are awesome and fun banter, that I agree. But when anyone says RCHS (or any other school) needs to do this or that, and are not directly involved with said program, is not hypothetical and to me, serves zero purpose. Quote
Donnie Baker Posted February 5 Posted February 5 4 hours ago, HoopsCoach said: I think you took my original post about the schedule as a criticism, which was not my intention. I clapped back a little bit when I read your reply, and finished my follow up with the comment about spelling it out to solve the puzzle as a Wheel of Fortune joke. It obviously did not land, so that’s my bad. It’s the offseason. Coaching changes, schedules for next season, rule changes, and player recognition are common topics of discussion during this time of the year. It also isn’t unique to Rensselaer. There are other ongoing topics on this forum related to schedules (SAC non-conference games). This thread just focused on Rensselaer’s schedule because of the original message about the Bombers leaving the Hoosier Conference. He got his ass kicked by a fire ass hot teacher. I swear to God he did! 1 Quote
Sparty Posted February 5 Posted February 5 9 hours ago, Donnie Baker said: He got his ass kicked by a fire ass hot teacher. I swear to God he did! @Coach Nowlin too lol “Multiple state law!” What a cool and fun experience. I remember watching that ring SHINE on television. 1 Quote
littledog Posted February 5 Posted February 5 On 1/30/2026 at 2:52 PM, Coach Nowlin said: http://scoreboard.homestead.com/football/logsRensselaerCentral.htm#load Official Independent Schedule RENSSELAER CENTRAL BOMBERS Coach: Chris Meeks, 204-115 in 28th year at school DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 0.0, DA 0.0 Aug. 21 at Kankakee Valley 4A 7:00 pm Aug. 28 North Newton 1A 7:00 pm Sep. 4 at John Glenn 3A 6:30 pm Sep. 11 at North Knox 1A 6:00 pm Sep. 18 Frontier 1A 7:00 pm Sep. 25 Griffith 3A 7:00 pm Oct. 3 at Culver Academy 4A 12:00 pm Oct. 9 River Forest 3A 7:00 pm Oct. 16 at Whiting 2A 7:00 pm Would love to see the old NJSP/RCHS rivalry restored. Quote
Coach Nowlin Posted February 5 Author Posted February 5 13 hours ago, Donnie Baker said: He got his ass kicked by a fire ass hot teacher. I swear to God he did! I was set up from the beginning, I swear to God !!! 2 hours ago, littledog said: Would love to see the old NJSP/RCHS rivalry restored. YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE TOO !!! 😀 Fingers Crossed one day!!! 3 hours ago, Sparty said: @Coach Nowlin too lol “Multiple state law!” What a cool and fun experience. I remember watching that ring SHINE on television. As my guy Pat McAfee proudly states all the time: What a dumb lucky life I've lived so far. The fact I got on the show in the manner I did defeats all reasonable explanations Quote
CoachSnyder Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Bring back the Northwest Hoosier Conference and you would have some great games including Rensselaer vs. North Judson. 1 Quote
Gipper Posted February 7 Posted February 7 As Tony Micelli would say, “A O, O A!!!” I just wanted the Bombers not to travel so damn much and doesn’t playing good teams make you play better? On 2/3/2026 at 12:52 PM, Coach Nowlin said: Not our 1st time playing NK, hence why they were very interested in playing as well, (see 2020). And both schools agreed that it would be great to play on Friday and make a day of it, just like we did when we had to got to Champaign to play in Illinois when Delphi bounced, and same reason we were up at WOODSTOCK IL, 2 years ago before Glenn contract started. We will have a great day, Load a charter bus and have a full on Bomber Travel brigade down, then guess what, the next year, NK will come on up, gasps..... ON A FRIDAY. Parents already talking about getting their own travel. bus as well. FUN. Knox will be in our sectional coming up this cycle is my guess. I love playing Whiting bc I"ve always wanted to play at their place selfishly You do realize RCHS has lost 120+ student population since we won state in 2014. Same reason why schools like NORTHWESTERN for instance and their SUPER bounced unannounced and paid whatever penalty they negotiated to RUN FAST from Hoosier to 3 Rivers. Things change, demographics and total bodies have changed, so yes, KNOX is a fine program, but just bc certain schools open doesn't make it a great choice/fit for various reasons. I am very comfortable with Coach Meeks and his choices on how to build his schedule, I think its a homerun, Wish, Lapel stayed in week 5, but they jumped in their conference now and Frontier wanted to schedule and all that, so just jumped on that it seems. See above: Why Should be purposefully schedule 4a School like Lowell, or Private powerhouse who if they do what their talent usually dictate should not be back in 2a anytime soon, but we shall see. We will have: KV/NN/Griffith/River Forest and Whiting. That is over half our current schedule in the CENTRAL time zone, which for ALL our coaches was one of the major factors of looking to leave/ go independent and ANY future conference discussions (ZERO RIGHT NOW FYI) will center around that aspect Quote
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