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Sleeping Giants - Who are they and when will they break out?


Guest DT

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What is a Sleeping Giant?  In my view, its a high schol football program that chronically underperforms, due to a myriad or reasons, including any or all of the following :

* Poor numbers

* High staff turnover

* Inconsistent talent pipeline

* Poor facilities

* Lack of community support

* Low funding

* Administrative ambivalence

* Bad conference affiliation.

 

There are plenty more to be sure.  

 

We have discussed a few here in the past few weeks.

Crown Point in my view is a Sleeping Giant.  We will see if the new coaching hire can push this program up a level or two in the 6A pecking order.

Elkhart has made a big splash post consolidation and is now considered to be one of the Top 2 or 3 6A programs in the North.

Franklin Community High School is another to watch.  Chris Coll has revitalized Grizzly Cub football, and the comunity is growing and embracing the pigskin like never before.  

What other Sleeping Giants are ready to awake from their slumber and make their marks on the Indiana high school football scene?

 

 

 

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Whiting oilers

open enrollment they can draw from Hammond and EC

with clark closing down robertsdale kids could play at whiting instead of commenting to new Hammond school

gentrification could have more Illinois middle class families move in

i haven’t been in the loop the past couple years but not sure what the issue is but by watching they are lacking numbers and size. So it’s like chicken and egg question are numbers low because the coaching driving kids away or are there only a certain amount of dedicated kids that want to play?

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, DT said:

What is a Sleeping Giant?  In my view, its a high schol football program that chronically underperforms, due to a myriad or reasons, including any or all of the following :

* Poor numbers

* High staff turnover

* Inconsistent talent pipeline

* Poor facilities

* Lack of community support

* Low funding

* Administrative ambivalence

* Bad conference affiliation.

 

There are plenty more to be sure.  

 

We have discussed a few here in the past few weeks.

Crown Point in my view is a Sleeping Giant.  We will see if the new coaching hire can push this program up a level or two in the 6A pecking order.

Elkhart has made a big splash post consolidation and is now considered to be one of the Top 2 or 3 6A programs in the North.

Franklin Community High School is another to watch.  Chris Coll has revitalized Grizzly Cub football, and the comunity is growing and embracing the pigskin like never before.  

What other Sleeping Giants are ready to awake from their slumber and make their marks on the Indiana high school football scene?

 

 

 

Franklin?  that might be a reach....3-6 and pounded by 3A Danville....more like groundhog day down there.

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1 hour ago, Whiting89 said:

Whiting oilers

open enrollment they can draw from Hammond and EC

with clark closing down robertsdale kids could play at whiting instead of commenting to new Hammond school

gentrification could have more Illinois middle class families move in

i haven’t been in the loop the past couple years but not sure what the issue is but by watching they are lacking numbers and size. So it’s like chicken and egg question are numbers low because the coaching driving kids away or are there only a certain amount of dedicated kids that want to play?

 

 

 

What is the capacity of Whiting High School?

Whiting High School 140 107 114 116 477

Current enrollment is 477.  Grade 9 is significantly higher than grade 12, signaling recent enrollment growth.

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In our neck of the woods, Mt. Vernon (Posey). Have always had the socioeconomics to be successful, now that they have a head guy that "gets it" - look out. They could challenge Gibson Southern in a few years for suburbia king of SW Indiana. 

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I'll throw one out there:  Plainfield

Enrollment growing in a big way, facility upgrades, competitive SES...no reason (other than Cathedral as a sectional opponent, lol) that the Quakers should not be more competitive year in and year out.

I see improvement but not at the rate I'd expect.

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1 minute ago, temptation said:

I'll throw one out there:  Plainfield

Enrollment growing in a big way, facility upgrades, low SES...no reason (other than Cathedral as a sectional opponent, lol) that the Quakers should not be more competitive year in and year out.

I see improvement but not at the rate I'd expect.

I wonder if a coaching upgrade might move the needle at Plainfield.

Look what happened at rival Mooresville when Gillin took over.

There is a lot of parity in that conference.  The schools that have tried to do something different (Mooresville and Franklin) have made strong upward moves in recent years.  Yes, Franklin sli[pped this year, but Coll has the oprogram on track for significant sustained improvement.

 

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Just now, DT said:

I wonder if a coaching upgrade might move the needle at Plainfield.

Look what happened at rival Mooresville when Gillin took over.

There is a lot of parity in that conference.  The schools that have tried to do something different (Mooresville and Franklin) have made strong upward moves in recent years.  Yes, Franklin sli[pped this year, but Coll has the oprogram on track for significant sustained improvement.

Plainfield is a little like Crown Point.  They are a 5-5, 6-4, 4-6 type team from year to year, with a solid and steady staff.  CP is very similar, and they just decided to change staffs.  It all comes down to goals and expectations.  Do you want to compete for conference championships and sectional titles.?  Or do you want to take your team to Indy on TG weekend? 

 

 

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1 minute ago, DT said:

 

Well, to be fair as long as Cathedral is in the way, Plainfield will have to pump the brakes.  Decatur Central did climb that mountain a couple of years back despite having similar enrollment/facilities as Plainfield but over DOUBLE the free/reduced lunch rate, so it is possible.

Plainfield needs to break through the DC barrier before even thinking about LOS.

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1 minute ago, temptation said:

Well, to be fair as long as Cathedral is in the way, Plainfield will have to pump the brakes.  Decatur Central did climb that mountain a couple of years back despite having similar enrollment/facilities as Plainfield but over DOUBLE the free/reduced lunch rate, so it is possible.

Plainfield needs to break through the DC barrier before even thinking about LOS.

What specifically does PF need to do in your view to catch and pass DC?

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1 minute ago, DT said:

What specifically does PF need to do in your view to catch and pass DC?

I don't really have specifics.  I can tell you that they have become more competitive with DC in recent years which is a step in the right direction.

I could be stepping out of bounds here, but it has always seemed to me that Plainfield uses an "old school" approach when it comes to athletics.  

They take volunteers as opposed to seeking out the best if that makes sense.  Let's take teachers in the building and gauge their interest in coaching (which there is absolutely nothing wrong with as the Quakers have a solid academic rotation).  Problem is, that approach won't allow you to play with the big boys in today's climate.

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9 minutes ago, temptation said:

I don't really have specifics.  I can tell you that they have become more competitive with DC in recent years which is a step in the right direction.

I could be stepping out of bounds here, but it has always seemed to me that Plainfield uses an "old school" approach when it comes to athletics.  

They take volunteers as opposed to seeking out the best if that makes sense.  Let's take teachers in the building and gauge their interest in coaching (which there is absolutely nothing wrong with as the Quakers have a solid academic rotation).  Problem is, that approach won't allow you to play with the big boys in today's climate.

Interesting    A comparison can be made to the challenge of Center Grove overcoming BD and WC, and using that template to come up with a plan for PF to overcome DC and Cathedral.

For most of the past two decades, both CG and PF have generally had less overall talent than their two top adversaries.  CG overcame that challenge through unique system implementation (wing t) and flawless, error free execution.  The Trojans have built an identity that follows them everywhere, and their success is clearly defined and understood.

PF really has no specific identity that I can think of.  Therein potentially lies the primary challenge.  They need to figure out what they do very well, and then do it better than anyone else.  Mooresville was never a passing school until Gillin arrived.  Now they are one of the elite passing offenses in the state, and it happened overnite.  And the Pioneers are state championship contenders in their class.

PF can do the same.  Question is do they have the drive to upset the apple cart.  

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On 1/26/2021 at 9:28 AM, Indiana Fan said:

Noblesville. Big school, great facilities, good kids. I never understand why they can’t compete at a high level in football.

Noblesville has always been inexplicable to me.  It’s the only Hamilton County program that seems to consistently be poor or mediocre, at best.  

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30 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Noblesville has always been inexplicable to me.  It’s the only Hamilton County program that seems to consistently be poor or mediocre, at best.  

Since I have kid that played against Noblesville a few months ago I am confident saying without question the worst offensive system I have seen since the 80's...not sure if the coach is as horrible as I think or they simply don't have the athletes, but the majority of the game they lined up with zero wide receivers and on occasion split one kid out and actually tried to throw to him.  I think one big poster here has honked the Noblesville coach and a big turnaround but sorry he needs to hire a new O coordinator or get out of the passing happy HCC......they were down 28 and still ground and pound....horrible!!!

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5 hours ago, BigBH said:

Since I have kid that played against Noblesville a few months ago I am confident saying without question the worst offensive system I have seen since the 80's...not sure if the coach is as horrible as I think or they simply don't have the athletes, but the majority of the game they lined up with zero wide receivers and on occasion split one kid out and actually tried to throw to him.  I think one big poster here has honked the Noblesville coach and a big turnaround but sorry he needs to hire a new O coordinator or get out of the passing happy HCC......they were down 28 and still ground and pound....horrible!!!

Any chance Dave Sharpe comes back to LaPorte?

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20 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

His motivation was to move closer to Indy for him and his wife to continue with their great work through Riley's Children Hospital.  

https://jacobsharpefoundation.org/

Aware of that.  On the other hand, the expetrience at Noblesville and the HCC may not be quite what he was looking for.  Laporte was one of the most fun and dangerous teams to watch under his leadership.  

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9 minutes ago, DT said:

Aware of that.  On the other hand, the expetrience at Noblesville and the HCC may not be quite what he was looking for.  Laporte was one of the most fun and dangerous teams to watch under his leadership.  

The fun is gone.....I looked up the season passing stats from this past season....23/52, 353 yards and 2 TD................I know the Brownsburg QB transferred from Noblesville a few years ago, but to compete in the HCC he needs to assemble a much better air attack.  Again when you line up with no receiver sets its pretty obvious what they are doing.

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14 minutes ago, BigBH said:

The fun is gone.....I looked up the season passing stats from this past season....23/52, 353 yards and 2 TD................I know the Brownsburg QB transferred from Noblesville a few years ago, but to compete in the HCC he needs to assemble a much better air attack.  Again when you line up with no receiver sets its pretty obvious what they are doing.

And then HITS ya w/ the fb trap for 80.  Where'd he go?

Many ways to skin a cat.

Best wishes to you.

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