Hoosier Hills Conference

[Frozen Tundra]

2 hours ago, Fkfootball said:

I can’t wait to get Bloomington South in this conference. For no other reason than we’ll actually have some fans in this thread. We used to have a lot of East and BNL fans on here, but besides Tundra, they’re all gone. 

The East fans were parents of players at the time or were fans that only hung around here when we were winning. I’m not going anywhere though. Not my style. I was here through all the winning and I’ll be here through the losing.

[Fkfootball]

7 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

The East fans were parents of players at the time or were fans that only hung around here when we were winning. I’m not going anywhere though. Not my style. I was here through all the winning and I’ll be here through the losing.

I consider you a loyal fan. And at some point, East will be winning again. Maybe not at the Gaddis level, but good enough to win Conference and Sectional Championships.

[Frozen Tundra]

Good interview with Coach Campbell on the Columbus East Athletic Department Facebook page. For a young guy, he’s very well spoken and seems very knowledgeable. Will it translate on the field? We’ll see. With the offense they’re running, I’m sure it’s going to take time. 

[Fkfootball]

Interesting coaching update. Former New Albany coach Steve Cooley is on Floyd Centrals staff now. Not sure what his role is but I’m sure it’s on the offensive side. That’s a pretty big move because he’s a really good offensive mind. Not sure what happened at New Albany but they’re almost Jeffersonville-lite when it comes to football culture.

[Frozen Tundra]

30 minutes ago, Fkfootball said:

Interesting coaching update. Former New Albany coach Steve Cooley is on Floyd Centrals staff now. Not sure what his role is but I’m sure it’s on the offensive side. That’s a pretty big move because he’s a really good offensive mind. Not sure what happened at New Albany but they’re almost Jeffersonville-lite when it comes to football culture.

Wow. Kind of crazy to hear that.

Speaking of former HHC head coaches becoming assistant coaches, I’ve had it confirmed from numerous sources that two-time former Jennings County head coach Rick Zimmerman is back on the Panthers’ staff. His 2015 JC team went 6-4. That’s the only time since 1997 that Jennings County has had a winning record. Since leaving after the 2016 season, Zimmerman spent three years as the head coach at South Decatur, three years at Seymour as an assistant, and was the head coach at Rushville last year.

[Fkfootball]

9 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Wow. Kind of crazy to hear that.

Speaking of former HHC head coaches becoming assistant coaches, I’ve had it confirmed from numerous sources that two-time former Jennings County head coach Rick Zimmerman is back on the Panthers’ staff. His 2015 JC team went 6-4. That’s the only time since 1997 that Jennings County has had a winning record. Since leaving after the 2016 season, Zimmerman spent three years as the head coach at South Decatur, three years at Seymour as an assistant, and was the head coach at Rushville last year.

Zimmerman is actually a good coach. That’s just a ridiculously hard job. Dropping down was a good decision. They need to rack up some wins and get some momentum going. Get some kids excited about football. There is nothing harder than recruiting kids from the hallways to play for teams that always lose.

[Impartial_Observer]

17 hours ago, Fkfootball said:

Interesting coaching update. Former New Albany coach Steve Cooley is on Floyd Centrals staff now. Not sure what his role is but I’m sure it’s on the offensive side. That’s a pretty big move because he’s a really good offensive mind. Not sure what happened at New Albany but they’re almost Jeffersonville-lite when it comes to football culture.

Not that surprising if you know Coach Cooley, I thought he might land in Seymour. 

[Fkfootball]

33 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Not that surprising if you know Coach Cooley, I thought he might land in Seymour. 

I’ve met him a few times. Really nice guy. I think him and Bragg are pretty good buddies, I saw them sitting together at a couple of basketball games in late winter so I’m not suprised. If Papenhaus hadn’t been hired at Seymour he’d be on the staff as well because I know he’s also pretty good friends with Bragg. Another good coach. Seymour will do well.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

On 8/3/2026 at 10:02 PM, Frozen Tundra said:

Wow. Kind of crazy to hear that.

Speaking of former HHC head coaches becoming assistant coaches, I’ve had it confirmed from numerous sources that two-time former Jennings County head coach Rick Zimmerman is back on the Panthers’ staff. His 2015 JC team went 6-4. That’s the only time since 1997 that Jennings County has had a winning record. Since leaving after the 2016 season, Zimmerman spent three years as the head coach at South Decatur, three years at Seymour as an assistant, and was the head coach at Rushville last year.

Great to hear Rick Zimmerman is back at Jennings! I remember some of his earlier 2000's teams that were competitive. Maybe he will get another shot there or atleast help their staff get it going. 

[Fkfootball]

3 hours ago, RetiredSouthernCoach said:

Great to hear Rick Zimmerman is back at Jennings! I remember some of his earlier 2000's teams that were competitive. Maybe he will get another shot there or atleast help their staff get it going. 

That was my era. They had a QB named Danny Capes. They could throw it a little bit. BNL had some good guys. The Spreen guys. I think that was early Brett Szabo days. Joe Goodman at Seymour. Early Bob Gaddis. The good ole days!

Edited August 5 by Fkfootball

[mamasa]

2 weeks! Excited for the season!

[Fkfootball]

9 hours ago, mamasa said:

2 weeks! Excited for the season!

Same here! We open with 3A #1 Gibson Southern on the road. Should be a great litmus test right off the bat.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

Heard Jennings County was reaching out to schools on schedule about JV games later in the season. Was told the Coach told schools the plan was to play a full JV season but their numbers aren't very good and wanted to be up front. Know they still play East, Bedford and Seymour in HHC. 

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, RetiredSouthernCoach said:

Heard Jennings County was reaching out to schools on schedule about JV games later in the season. Was told the Coach told schools the plan was to play a full JV season but their numbers aren't very good and wanted to be up front. Know they still play East, Bedford and Seymour in HHC. 

Crazy to me how much numbers have fallen over the last 10 to 20 years. Every school in the conference had JV and freshman teams back then. I think only two had a freshman team last year.

[Fkfootball]

12 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Crazy to me how much numbers have fallen over the last 10 to 20 years. Every school in the conference had JV and freshman teams back then. I think only two had a freshman team last year.

Are the school populations declining? We aren’t having that problem down here. Floyd Central has more kids playing football than we’ve ever had. Especially in the youth system. I’ve heard New Albanys #s are way down. The new coach is recruiting the hallways pretty hard.

[Frozen Tundra]

3 hours ago, Fkfootball said:

Are the school populations declining? We aren’t having that problem down here. Floyd Central has more kids playing football than we’ve ever had. Especially in the youth system. I’ve heard New Albanys #s are way down. The new coach is recruiting the hallways pretty hard.

School populations are declining but they’re still big enough where this shouldn’t be an issue. In my opinion, there are several issues causing roster decline:

1. Year-round travel sports. Kids are playing baseball and basketball throughout the summer and sometimes into the fall on travel teams. There’s either no availability for football or they’re just looking for a break.

2. Parents/kids are turned off by the violent nature of football with CTE getting a lot of attention over the last 10-15 years. It’s a risk some aren’t willing to take.

3. Kids don’t care about sports as much today as they did in previous generations. I may be completely wrong here but, based on what I’ve observed, it seems to me that there was a higher percentage of the male student population that participated in sports (including football) in previous generations than there are today. I think too many kids get distracted by video games, streaming, and other screens. They’d rather sit on their butts and get fat/unhealthy staring at screens all day rather than breaking a sweat. Football used to have this aura where you were somebody if you were on the football team. It was like a right of passage to manhood. Nowadays, I don’t think this is true aside from the schools that have a tradition of success.

[Fkfootball]

3 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

School populations are declining but they’re still big enough where this shouldn’t be an issue. In my opinion, there are several issues causing roster decline:

1. Year-round travel sports. Kids are playing baseball and basketball throughout the summer and sometimes into the fall on travel teams. There’s either no availability for football or they’re just looking for a break.

2. Parents/kids are turned off by the violent nature of football with CTE getting a lot of attention over the last 10-15 years. It’s a risk some aren’t willing to take.

3. Kids don’t care about sports as much today as they did in previous generations. I may be completely wrong here but, based on what I’ve observed, it seems to me that there was a higher percentage of the male student population that participated in sports (including football) in previous generations than there are today. I think too many kids get distracted by video games, streaming, and other screens. They’d rather sit on their butts and get fat/unhealthy staring at screens all day rather than breaking a sweat. Football used to have this aura where you were somebody if you were on the football team. It was like a right of passage to manhood. Nowadays, I don’t think this is true aside from the schools that have a tradition of success.

CorporateTraining

 

I think everything you just said is accurate. It’s a shame. Too many kids would rather stay home and play Madden, then play the real thing. I know the kids in Floyd County are still heavy involved in sports. The New Albany kids are all about basketball. It’s a religion down there.

Edited 52 minutes ago by Fkfootball