Future of the SAC

[23andCounting]

20 minutes ago, jakone said:

Homestead is ineligible for the sac title. 

Correct.

[jakone]

2 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

Correct.

Should have never let Homestead and Carroll in the SAC. Now they are trying to destroy the conference that invited them in when they had nowhere else to go. 

[PDB26]

6 hours ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

I wish Penn would do this.

I don't know, with so many options they could get overwhelmed by choosing which two to drop.

[23andCounting]

53 minutes ago, jakone said:

Should have never let Homestead and Carroll in the SAC. Now they are trying to destroy the conference that invited them in when they had nowhere else to go. 

I really don't have any inside information on this, just speculation. I certainly don't have a problem with things they way they are in it's current form. Maybe it's the smaller schools wanting to push them out rather than vise versa? I like the South Side/Carroll game. It pushes South to be their best and it gives Carroll an opportunity to give second stringers valuable playing time. It's a win/win if you ask me. And if South Side continues their upward trajectory under the guidance of Andre Goodwell, then the game against Carroll becomes even more important as South prepares for deep 4A runs. 

[psaboy]

On 5/12/2026 at 8:03 PM, 23andCounting said:

Congrats to Homestead for picking up Warren Central in Week 9. That gives the Spartans three Indy 6A teams. Go big or go home.....love it!

Why is Sparty only playing 6 conference games?

[Komets2727]

Teams are making the decision that beating inferior teams means nothing are deciding to challenge themselves. Good decision.

[23andCounting]

15 hours ago, psaboy said:

Why is Sparty only playing 6 conference games?

Because South Side dropped them. South also dropped Carroll. 

37 minutes ago, Komets2727 said:

Teams are making the decision that beating inferior teams means nothing are deciding to challenge themselves. Good decision.

It's hard not to respect Carroll and Homestead for after the state's best. 

[jakone]

19 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

Because South Side dropped them. South also dropped Carroll. 

It's hard not to respect Carroll and Homestead for after the state's best. 

They should join a conference in Indianapolis if they are too good for the conference that took them in. 

Edited May 16 by jakone

[23andCounting]

3 minutes ago, jakone said:

They should join a conference in Indianapolis if they are too good for the conference that took them in. 

I need to fix my typo. I keep referencing South Side, when it was Concordia who dropped Carroll and Homestead. 

And as far as those to programs thinking they are "too good" for the SAC, are we even sure it was they who initiated the cancellations? How do we know it wasn't Concordia who initiated it? I think you're speculating with the "too good" comment. 

Personally, I thought the SAC was just fine the way it was. So what if Concordia has to play Homestead and Carroll some years. They still play their four division rivals of similar size, and they still get to schedule two out of conference games against opponents who are similar to them. Before speculating any further, it would be nice to know which schools initiated this and why. 

If you ask @Komets2727, he'll probably tell you that Homestead and Carroll have no business playing any program smaller than 5A. And quite frankly, I think a lot of posters on here would agree with him. I've already expressed my opinion. Carroll and Homestead give Concordia a benchmark to get better. Concordia gives those two an opportunity to rest some players and experiment. A win/win if you ask me. 

[jakone]

46 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

I need to fix my typo. I keep referencing South Side, when it was Concordia who dropped Carroll and Homestead. 

And as far as those to programs thinking they are "too good" for the SAC, are we even sure it was they who initiated the cancellations? How do we know it wasn't Concordia who initiated it? I think you're speculating with the "too good" comment. 

Personally, I thought the SAC was just fine the way it was. So what if Concordia has to play Homestead and Carroll some years. They still play their four division rivals of similar size, and they still get to schedule two out of conference games against opponents who are similar to them. Before speculating any further, it would be nice to know which schools initiated this and why. 

If you ask @Komets2727, he'll probably tell you that Homestead and Carroll have no business playing any program smaller than 5A. And quite frankly, I think a lot of posters on here would agree with him. I've already expressed my opinion. Carroll and Homestead give Concordia a benchmark to get better. Concordia gives those two an opportunity to rest some players and experiment. A win/win if you ask me. 

If homestead and carroll are to good for lesser teams they shouldn't have joined the SAC instead of coming in and destroying it. 

[23andCounting]

13 minutes ago, jakone said:

If homestead and carroll are to good for lesser teams they shouldn't have joined the SAC instead of coming in and destroying it. 

Again, do we know it was they who initiated it and not the smaller schools? Need more facts. 

[Mebuck]

On 5/7/2026 at 9:16 PM, Komets2727 said:

Northrop sucks. 23, you are basing this off one year. They need to put together 5 years of good play to even be mentioned

Agree, they lost their coach.  They key part of that team were all transfers from good programs.

[Mebuck]

4 hours ago, jakone said:

If homestead and carroll are to good for lesser teams they shouldn't have joined the SAC instead of coming in and destroying it. 

Looking back when they came into the SAC they were mid pack teams. They got better playing the tougher schedule.

 

 

[Irishman]

On 5/15/2026 at 11:49 AM, Komets2727 said:

Teams are making the decision that beating inferior teams means nothing are deciding to challenge themselves. Good decision.

Don't forget too that the SAC splits the gate. That has been an issue for some time as well. 

[jakone]

46 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Don't forget too that the SAC splits the gate. That has been an issue for some time as well. 

Yeah I can imagine Homestead and Carroll could use the extra money. 

[23andCounting]

4 hours ago, Irishman said:

Don't forget too that the SAC splits the gate. That has been an issue for some time as well. 

Is that uncommon? Presuming most other conferences don't?

[Irishman]

17 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

Is that uncommon? Presuming most other conferences don't?

The SAC is the only one I know of that does that. The NHC did not, and the NE 8 does not. 

[23andCounting]

4 minutes ago, Irishman said:

The SAC is the only one I know of that does that. The NHC did not, and the NE 8 does not. 

I can't say I blame FWCS for doing it that way. I can also see where Carroll and Homestead wouldn't want any part of that. 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

On 5/14/2026 at 2:16 PM, PDB26 said:

I don't know, with so many options they could get overwhelmed by choosing which two to drop.

Rotate the south bend schools and drop Marian, I think Marian is better competition than the south bend schools, but we shouldn't be playing a 3A school. 

We would be better off playing Concord each year, if we cannot get consistent FW or Indy competition. 

[Robert]

On 5/16/2026 at 5:36 PM, jakone said:

Yeah I can imagine Homestead and Carroll could use the extra money. 

On 5/16/2026 at 5:36 PM, jakone said:

Yeah I can imagine Homestead and Carroll could use the extra money. 

Rim shot.

[Mebuck]

Had a thought,  now we know Concordia is out starting next year. 

The SAC should drop them out now for football. Leave the schedule as is but make it a non conference game for the rest so Carroll and Homestead can play for the title. Make sense to me.

[Frozen Tundra]

https://outsidethehuddle.net/2026/07/21/homestead-girls-basketball-drops-four-sac-teams-from-2026-27-schedule/?fbclid=IwdGRleATNrmlwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5xXhsCRgZjePyhpPCyMG0EQMixEP61-8APWcPxt5A9PUg5aDe07sjDw-FPdw_aem_NKaGXWtVL2EcevjewYDSUw
 

I know this is basketball but what’s going on here? Is the SAC about to implode? We’ve seen games get dropped in football and now we’re seeing it in basketball. If you’re not going to play games against teams in your conference then that should get you kicked out of your conference.

[23andCounting]

5 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

https://outsidethehuddle.net/2026/07/21/homestead-girls-basketball-drops-four-sac-teams-from-2026-27-schedule/?fbclid=IwdGRleATNrmlwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5xXhsCRgZjePyhpPCyMG0EQMixEP61-8APWcPxt5A9PUg5aDe07sjDw-FPdw_aem_NKaGXWtVL2EcevjewYDSUw
 

I know this is basketball but what’s going on here? Is the SAC about to implode? We’ve seen games get dropped in football and now we’re seeing it in basketball. If you’re not going to play games against teams in your conference then that should get you kicked out of your conference.

Someone can fact check me on this, but if memory serves me correctly, Homestead and Carroll were admitted into the SAC only to play football and basketball. The SAC member teams felt comfortable competing with those two programs ONLY in those two sports. And even that was just considered an experiment. So none of this is surprise. Homestead and Carroll outgrew what is now called the Northeast 8. Now they've outgrown the SAC. It's really as simple as that.

Unfortunately, there's nowhere for either of them to go in football. There's a lack of similar sized schools in NE Indiana. The best they could hope for would be to form a super conference for football only and pray that programs Snider, Dwenger, and Northrop will join them. There's just not much to choose from up here. Warsaw is almost an hour away. Schools with 1800+ are few and far between, as is the case with any area outside of the Indy Metro. 

[HoopsCoach]

A lot of teams do not value conference championships, especially really good teams like Homestead girls basketball that are focused on winning state championships.  Winning your conference is important if your team knows they are unlikely to win anything in the state tournament.  A conference championship is a chance to accomplish something and celebrate it.  Many schools with swimming and diving know their swimmers will not win a sectional event and advance to state, so winning a conference championship is their goal.  Some larger schools, like Homestead and Carroll, don’t face the level of competition in their conference that they will see in the state tournament, and it does not feel like an accomplishment to beat inferior teams and win the conference.

When Carroll and Homestead joined the SAC for basketball and football, it was done for scheduling purposes, primarily in football.  The SAC schools were willing to take them as long as they agreed to the gate splitting because Carroll and Homestead would bring big gates to the two revenue sports.  Most of the SAC schools didn’t expect to win very often against Carroll and Homestead, but playing them would increase their much needed revenue.  It appears to have cost the conference Concordia, and now Homestead and Carroll are not going to play several of the schools in certain sports anyway.