Hey Bellmont - Whats with the schedule?

[psaboy]

5 hours ago, DannEllenwood said:

In your view, then what does that say for those 6A schools playing down TWO classes?  Why don't they go play other 6A programs?

I would think travel, distance, cost and fan following may play into this. Maybe a team would rather play another team 2-3 classes in OCC below them that is within 10-20 miles, vs travel of 60-80 miles to play same or similar class. I think in future with costs and budgets, closer travel will be preferred. 

[psaboy]

1 hour ago, psaboy said:

I would think travel, distance, cost and fan following may play into this. Maybe a team would rather play another team 2-3 classes in OCC below them that is within 10-20 miles, vs travel of 60-80 miles to play same or similar class. I think in future with costs and budgets, closer travel will be preferred. 

I will add, some 5A/6A teams that have a better/deeper program would likely travel wherever. Smaller (public) schools may want to stay within the smaller geographic area for OOC games

Edited July 16, 2020 by psaboy

[Guest DT]

8 hours ago, DannEllenwood said:

In your view, then what does that say for those 6A schools playing down TWO classes?  Why don't they go play other 6A programs?

There are only half as many 6A teams as there are in the other classes.  Non conference scheduling against same class schools is twice as difficult.

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, DT said:

There are only half as many 6A teams as there are in the other classes.  Non conference scheduling against same class schools is twice as difficult.

Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky or any other state within the 300 mile rule. 

[NE8Fan]

7 hours ago, Staxawax said:

Like picking low hanging fruit.........

Just do a mirror image:

6A schools Chesterton and Merrillville both scheduled early non-con games against 4A Hobart.

6A schools Crown Point and Portage both scheduled early non-con games against 4A Lowell.

See how that's done?  It instantly defeats your narrrative.

South Adams and Adams Central were ranked 4 & 5 in the final 1A Sagarin ratings.  AC made 2 straight semi-state appearances. Combined in the last 4 seasons Bellmont has been outscored 265 - 111.  Record- 0 - 8.

 

 

Whoa.  Back to original post.  Maybe these 1A schools should schedule someone better than Bellmont DT?   Sorry. Hard to be a fan right now especially with my son graduating. 

[NE8Fan]

Angola plays in a conference with all 1-3A schools.  They still won a tough 4A sectional in 2017 and 2018 beating Northwood and Culver both years before running into Dwenger.

[Basementbias]

10 hours ago, NE8Fan said:

Whoa.  Back to original post.  Maybe these 1A schools should schedule someone better than Bellmont DT?   Sorry. Hard to be a fan right now especially with my son graduating. 

Selfishly I like that all 3 are playing each other each year again. Also wish either SA or AC's enrollment would go up, preferably SA like it used to be that they were 2A. Then maybe if everything aligned all 3 could play the same day at Lucas Oil. I was hoping last year to help the Bellmont youth program out more but was thrust back into coaching for AC youth. We shall see if our proposed season occurs, but my time has been split with my stepson playing flag football at Crestview and also being on the board & helping the DFL for both sides. I think we can get Bellmont back to that 2008 level but it's going to take some more time.

[NE8Fan]

Agreed.  We do have good coaches at the youth and middle school levels.

[Basementbias]

1 hour ago, NE8Fan said:

Agreed.  We do have good coaches at the youth and middle school levels.

The problem that even Marty had was that the middle school coaches at that time were not running his system. I believe this has been rectified and our youth league is running the offenses of both schools. We mandate a 5-2 defense for safety and learning techniques. I will say the biggest hurdle Bellmont is facing is the culture of the athletes. I've watched some practices that past couple of years while doing sign ups for the youth. The leadership of the players was not great. You have saw the results of this not in just football but wrestling, basketball, and baseball to an extent. Seems like the wrestling program has finally fixed that and hopefully those guys can play football and pass it on.

[foxbat]

1 minute ago, Basementbias said:

The problem that even Marty had was that the middle school coaches at that time were not running his system. I believe this has been rectified and our youth league is running the offenses of both schools. We mandate a 5-2 defense for safety and learning techniques. I will say the biggest hurdle Bellmont is facing is the culture of the athletes. I've watched some practices that past couple of years while doing sign ups for the youth. The leadership of the players was not great. You have saw the results of this not in just football but wrestling, basketball, and baseball to an extent. Seems like the wrestling program has finally fixed that and hopefully those guys can play football and pass it on.

When you say youth league, are you talking about junior high / middle school or younger?  I've coached 18 seasons in the LCC youth program, 3rd-6th, and across that time, there have been six head coaches and an interim head coach.  In all that time, we never ran the offenses/defenses of the high school.

We actually would check in with the head coaches to see if there was something that they wanted us to do specific to the program and almost everyone of them wanted us to focus on the same thing ... safety, good technique, fostering the love of the game, building camaraderie and working as a team, building confidence, learning accountability, etc.  It goes to both the technique issues and also the culture that you mentioned.  The numbers, plays, schemes were all things that the coaches said were easier to do provided that the foundations/fundamentals, along with the culture buy-in were sound.

[Lysander]

25 minutes ago, Basementbias said:

The problem that even Marty had was that the middle school coaches at that time were not running his system. I believe this has been rectified and our youth league is running the offenses of both schools. We mandate a 5-2 defense for safety and learning techniques. I will say the biggest hurdle Bellmont is facing is the culture of the athletes. I've watched some practices that past couple of years while doing sign ups for the youth. The leadership of the players was not great. You have saw the results of this not in just football but wrestling, basketball, and baseball to an extent. Seems like the wrestling program has finally fixed that and hopefully those guys can play football and pass it on.

Going to be honest - I’ve never thought that having elementary and middle schools “run” the varsity offense was that important.  I know that schools like Center Grove (whose success is indisputable) swear by it but I’m just not convinced.  Everyone cites consistency of system as some sort of cure all but it’s certainly not what my kids experienced in CYO and even in Freshman football.

At least on the Northeast side of Indy, the CYO programs have no ties at all to running Chatard or Cathedral’s schemes.  Heck, not so many years ago  (can’t speak for now) Chatard’s Freshmen didn’t even run the varsity system.

Rather, it’s a lot more about teaching skills and technique...and making it fun (retention and making it fun where huge for Chatard Freshmen teams).   I honestly felt like my kids in Jr. High received better instruction on skills and technique than I ever did In HS.

Even so, what happens when there is a head coaching change and the new coach scraps the old system.  Bear in mind, there is a 6 year “tail” (Grades 3-8) on teaching kids these “systems” - does the average head coach even stay at a school 6 years?  Let’s say it’s 10 years and then he leaves....then was the 6 years for those incoming Freshmen wasted?  

I realize kids have to play “some” sort of system in Grades 3-8 but wouldn’t it just be better to worry less about whatever the HS is doing and focus a lot more on skill and technique....and keeping it fun?

Edited July 16, 2020 by Lysander

[Basementbias]

4 minutes ago, foxbat said:

When you say youth league, are you talking about junior high / middle school or younger?  I've coached 18 seasons in the LCC youth program, 3rd-6th, and across that time, there have been six head coaches and an interim head coach.  In all that time, we never ran the offenses/defenses of the high school.

We actually would check in with the head coaches to see if there was something that they wanted us to do specific to the program and almost everyone of them wanted us to focus on the same thing ... safety, good technique, fostering the love of the game, building camaraderie and working as a team, building confidence, learning accountability, etc.  It goes to both the technique issues and also the culture that you mentioned.  The numbers, plays, schemes were all things that the coaches said were easier to do provided that the foundations/fundamentals, along with the culture buy-in were sound.

5th & 6th grade but the middle school 7th & 8th has always ran the offense of the varsity at AC. We do not have enough help to start back up the 3rd & 4th league that was on an old Bellmont play book with limited plays. AC's middle school coaches have noted the improvement with our change and the benefits they have saw. The first group is now Freshmen this season. The biggest difference between AC & Bellmont has been the stability of coaching staffs. AC had Coach Minnich for numerous years and Coach Mosser in about 10 or 11 seasons now. There have been many Bellmont coaches in that span. The culture is always changing and for Bellmont it's always been about making sure wrestling, then baseball were taken care of before football, basketball, and etc.

[Basementbias]

30 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Going to be honest - I’ve never thought that having elementary and middle schools “run” the varsity offense was that important.  I know that schools like Center Grove (whose success is indisputable) swear by it but I’m just not convinced.  Everyone cites consistency of system as some sort of cure all but it’s certainly not what my kids experienced in CYO and even in Freshman football.

At least on the Northeast side of Indy, the CYO programs have no ties at all to running Chatard or Cathedral’s schemes.  Heck, not so many years ago  (can’t speak for now) Chatard’s Freshmen didn’t even run the varsity system.

Rather, it’s a lot more about teaching skills and technique. I honestly felt like my kids in Jr. High received better instruction on skills and technique than I ever did In HS.

Even so, what happens when there is a head coaching change and the new coach scraps the old system.  Bear in mind, there is a 6 year “tail” (Grades 3-8) on teaching kids these “systems” - does the average head coach even stay at a school 6 years?  Let’s say it’s 10 years and then he leaves....then was the 6 years for those incoming Freshmen wasted?  

I realize kids have to play “some” sort of system in Grades 3-8 but wouldn’t it just be better to worry less about whatever the HS is doing and focus a lot more on skill and technique?

Agree with the technique and skill instruction. I think that is another part where AC has been blessed and SA too compared to Bellmont. In youth league games, it has been difficult to determine if the kids aren't physically mature or mentally/emotionally mature for some or if the technique isn't taught right. My belief is that it is more mental/emotional maturity as Bellmont has some really athletic and fundamentally sound kids, just not as many as the AC youth programs most years. Why I'm hoping to do more league involvement than coaching. We've had some cases of Bellmont stacking one of the 2 teams and switching which team it is (THE BIGGEST PROBLEM). Since the change the 3 years, Bellmont has made the playoff finals in 2 of the 3 and actually won the regular season last year. My biggest concern with them is keeping the good numbers up (COVID is going to challenge both sides this year if we play!). As for middle school I don't get to see either school play 7th & 8th having to be a step parent supporting my kids in Ohio.