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Class 2A Contraction List


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Top reasons for Contraction :

1. Chronic lack of competitiveness

2. Chronic staff turnover

3. Low numbers

4. Poor administrative support

5. Poor community support

6. Lack of coordinated feeder system

7. Strong apathetic attitude towards football

8. Competitive consolidation

9. Merger consolidation

 

60 299 Crawford County  1,2,3,4,5,6,7, -0.42 27.41 269 2.18 294 -3.39 303
                   
62 310 Hammond Noll  1,2,3,4,5,6,7, -8.60 20.69 297 -9.40 312 -9.29 310

 

 

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On 12/14/2021 at 8:36 PM, Whiting89 said:

Spot on what about bowman academy?

heard they played 2nd half vs whiting with 10 players

I excluded Bowman for two reasons

1. They have had some decent seasons in the past 5 years

2. They have coaching stability

Gary football is a moving target from year to year.  The fact that any school can field a team and complete a schedule given the challenges in Gary is astonishing to me.  Lets see if Bowman recovers in 22

Edited by HHF
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11 hours ago, XStar said:

Why would you contract anyone if there is sufficient interest to play?  

Common sense and hard reality override "sufficient interest" for schools on the contraction watch list.  Many dont have the intestinal fortitude to pull the plug and let football die.  Its the right thing to do under certain circumstances.

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32 minutes ago, HHF said:

Common sense and hard reality override "sufficient interest" for schools on the contraction watch list.  Many dont have the intestinal fortitude to pull the plug and let football die.  Its the right thing to do under certain circumstances.

Common sense says that it's an extra-curricular activity for kids and if there's enough kids wanting to play it, and the school is willing to sponsor it, who are you to suggest they shouldn't have that opportunity?

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8 minutes ago, XStar said:

Common sense says that it's an extra-curricular activity for kids and if there's enough kids wanting to play it, and the school is willing to sponsor it, who are you to suggest they shouldn't have that opportunity?

Because sometimes adults make poor uninformed decisions.  

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3 minutes ago, WCGrad92 said:

Case in point???

Allowing high school kids to engage in dangerous physical contact sports when they are at an extreme shorthanded disadvantage

 

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1 hour ago, XStar said:

Common sense says that it's an extra-curricular activity for kids and if there's enough kids wanting to play it, and the school is willing to sponsor it, who are you to suggest they shouldn't have that opportunity?

There was an article in the Indy Star on Crawford County's team back in 2019.  There's a video that's associated with it.  If you have a chance to view the video, it runs about 17 minutes, it's well worth it.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/11/07/indiana-high-school-football-crawford-county-wolfpack-team-fights-survival/4096141002/

 

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1 hour ago, foxbat said:

There was an article in the Indy Star on Crawford County's team back in 2019.  There's a video that's associated with it.  If you have a chance to view the video, it runs about 17 minutes, it's well worth it.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/11/07/indiana-high-school-football-crawford-county-wolfpack-team-fights-survival/4096141002/

 

The principal and AD shoukld be fired for allowing this travesty to occur.  This school has no business playing varsity tackle football.  If this story doesn't convince you of that, then you are unconvinceable.

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1 hour ago, HHF said:

The principal and AD shoukld be fired for allowing this travesty to occur.  This school has no business playing varsity tackle football.  If this story doesn't convince you of that, then you are unconvinceable.

Part of this, I'll agree with. In 2019, we should not have been playing a varsity schedule. I thought a JV schedule would benefit us having so many kids new to football and allow them to learn and enjoy playing. I tried to plead my case prior to the season and for financial reasons, we continued with a varsity schedule. I don't know why the principal should be fired. He does a great job at that school and they're lucky to have him. He has enough to worry about and athletics is not on his plate but the AD. Speaking of the AD, there will be a new AD starting in January. He will do a great job there. 

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18 hours ago, HHF said:

Allowing high school kids to engage in dangerous physical contact sports when they are at an extreme shorthanded disadvantage

 

Allowing high school kids to engage in a dangerous physical contact sport in any situation is a bad idea.  If that's what we're labeling football now, let's just remove it from the public schools altogether.  

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That article doesn't make me upset that those kids, coaches, and administrators gutted out a rough year.  Football can take a lot... but it also gives a lot.  Those players are among a select group of people with the guts and will power to overcome rough circumstances.

I did enjoy how they used Mater Dei as the bar for participation.  They dressed about 100 players against us with only 1 freshman (kicker).  Linton has great numbers for a public school... we usually have between 45-55 players.  CC is just a few students above the 1A/2A line.  Their unique situation with distance and poverty probably makes it even tougher to keep kids involved.  

Lets break down some things on this "list".  This is from someone with almost no direct knowledge of Crawford County... so take it for what it is worth.  It is probably fair to make comparisons to similar programs.  Eastern Greene and Forest Park both started their programs around the same time.  Enrollments are close, but Eastern probably compares better in regards to lacking a good size town... I'm also guessing their poverty rate is higher than FP.  

In the first 10 seasons... CC had 11 wins; Eastern had 21 wins; FP had 35 wins...  Coaching seemed to be the biggest factor.  CC had a revolving door... Eastern finally got their feet on solid ground by year 7 or 8... FP came out with a good coach (they have only had two in 14 seasons).

  • 1. Chronic lack of competitiveness- I'm not sure this should be addressed specifically... all the other things directly impact this.  
     

2. Chronic staff turnover-  Forest Park had 2 experienced coaches for the first 14 years of their program... there is consistency.  They also were able to grab an experienced coach in the beginning to help establish the program.  Eastern has had 8 coaches in 19 years (Coach Lorig got the program on its feet, but didn't coach in its 1st varsity season).  It wasn't until Luke Dean took over that progress was made.  He was a young energetic... almost an arrogant coach, but exactly what the program needed.  He seemed to focus on a feeder program and his teams competed.  Paridean comes in and reaps the benefits of a strong Junior/Senior class to guide them to a couple really good years.  Good coach + a few good classes = success.  It didn't hurt that they were one of the biggest 1A teams during their deep tournament runs.  Since then, they have struggled.  Crawford County has had 6 coaches in 15 years... I didn't recognize all the names, but I wonder if they were young, energetic, experienced, etc...  Or were they stop gap coaches.  Hard to gain credibility with your players and the community/school that way.  

3. Low numbers-  This could be a couple problems.  How does distance effect participation numbers for their teams at all levels?  What does feeder program look like?  Are they losing good athletes to other schools?  Is the coach good at recruiting athletes?  I'm guessing their feeder program is attached to another league, which means they may only be fielding 1 team.  Are players being developed?  In an area that may not have many former football players, what kind of coaches do they have in place at the youth level?  Is there conformity in what they do on offense and defense?  So many questions

4. Poor administrative support-  It sounds like there is at least a base level of support, but most of us know fielding a team is not the same supporting the team.  What does the field and practice facilities look like.  What about the weight room?  Do they have a weight lifting class? If not... they should.  Is there work to tie the program together from top to bottom (elementary)?

5. Poor community support-  This is a tiered issue.  Showing up is a part of that.. but not always the most important.  Does the community support kids playing all sports?  Are there qualified coaches to fill out the varsity staff, JH staff, and youth league?  Is there an effort by the school to make football a community unifying event?  Is the community open to the vision of the coach in terms of plays/strategy?

6. Lack of coordinated feeder system-  A coach having to go over plays over and over until their whole team is there is hard to read.  Maybe they need to start their offense at the youth league level and build on it every year.  Of course, that would require a coach to stick around for awhile.  Being small... I'm guessing they feed into a bigger league or travel around and play other small schools.  Do they participate in a few school affiliated tournaments at the end of the youth season?

7. Strong apathetic attitude towards football-  It isn't just losing that creates this... it is all of this stuff wrapped up into one.  We now have COVID to deal with on top of the general apathy some kids have.  

8. Competitive consolidation-  Who could they possibly merge with.  It is a rural school.  Any kid that would have the means to travel to a better program... probably already has... or they just didn't buy a house in CC school district.  I would look to play as many 1A or struggling programs as possible.  A few wins could help if other things are in place.

9. Merger consolidation

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