Hoosier Hills Conference

[Impartial_Observer]

1 hour ago, WWFan said:

Who knows anything on what's happening with BNL search? 

Curious if they have any teaching positions available? I don’t think BNL is in a great place right now with athletics. Their Softball team should be solid this spring.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

Have heard teaching hiring is at a halt due to budget changes in Bedford. Both Head Football and Head Boys Basketball left recently, not PE, so guessing not ideal teaching roles available currently for prospective coaches. 

[Bluejacket1]

What I'm hearing on Bedford:

It's between 3 in house/local guys, and a coach from Texas. Guy from Texas is interviewing this week. It's my understanding his wife just took a job locally.

As far as teaching, the only real hope is that the strength coach retires, which gives this guy from Texas an opportunity for a teaching job. Outside of that, don't think there will be any thing open at the HS. With Jeff Hein leaving for Mitchell AD, not sure what they will do with his classes. I think he was business and maybe study hall??? Could be wrong on that, but I do know the HS lost 5 teachers last year and did not fill the positions. With the dropping enrollment numbers, I think they are trying to slowly trim down the staff at the HS. 

Should know more in a week or two. 

[Impartial_Observer]

Saw where Seymour’s Jaylon Johnson has committed to Indiana State. Fine young man, I wish him nothing but the best. 
https://www.facebook.com/SeymourHighSchool/

[btownqbcoach1]

2 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Saw where Seymour’s Jaylon Johnson has committed to Indiana State. Fine young man, I wish him nothing but the best. 
https://www.facebook.com/SeymourHighSchool/

I haven't gotten to talk to Jaylon or his mom since the season... I wish someone would look into Jaylon at safety/OLB before WR. He's a freak, but all WRs are fast... JJ is already 6'3 190 and not stiff. 

Secertly I was really hoping IU would look at him for a PWO spot, or something like that. 

[Frozen Tundra]

So I was looking at the schedules for HHC teams and I noticed a couple of oddities.

First of all, John Harrell has New Albany playing both Bloomington North at home and Silver Creek on the road on September 26th. I knew MLB did split squad games during spring training but I didn’t know IHSAA was allowing this for regular season football games!

But, in all seriousness, what I found to be more interesting is that Jennings County and New Albany are always week 3 opponents and yet they aren’t playing each other this year. Jennings County will be playing at Eastern (Pekin) while New Albany will be hosting Brownstown Central. I wondered if this was also a typo but found out from a reliable source that this is legitimate. Jennings County and New Albany won’t be playing each other. Therefore, those two will only play five conference games. How is this allowed?

 

[btownqbcoach1]

4 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

So I was looking at the schedules for HHC teams and I noticed a couple of oddities.

First of all, John Harrell has New Albany playing both Bloomington North at home and Silver Creek on the road on September 26th. I knew MLB did split squad games during spring training but I didn’t know IHSAA was allowing this for regular season football games!

But, in all seriousness, what I found to be more interesting is that Jennings County and New Albany are always week 3 opponents and yet they aren’t playing each other this year. Jennings County will be playing at Eastern (Pekin) while New Albany will be hosting Brownstown Central. I wondered if this was also a typo but found out from a reliable source that this is legitimate. Jennings County and New Albany won’t be playing each other. Therefore, those two will only play five conference games. How is this allowed?

 

Logic is what allows it. Jennings County is getting out of football contracts with conference opponents(sans BNL/Seymour)... there could still be more movement in their schedule. 

This was posted March 12th in the MSC thread

[btownqbcoach1]

Looks like NA and SC play week 6. SC must not have renewed the contract with Jeff, Jeff is looking for a week 6 opponent. 

[Frozen Tundra]

6 hours ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

Logic is what allows it. Jennings County is getting out of football contracts with conference opponents(sans BNL/Seymour)... there could still be more movement in their schedule. 

This was posted March 12th in the MSC thread

Logic? If you’re in a conference you should play every team in your conference. If you don’t want to play every team you should leave or be expelled.

[Impartial_Observer]

On 4/3/2025 at 12:54 PM, btownqbcoach1 said:

Logic is what allows it. Jennings County is getting out of football contracts with conference opponents(sans BNL/Seymour)... there could still be more movement in their schedule. 

This was posted March 12th in the MSC thread

I’m not following, so they can just not compete in the conference in Football and possibly take away other teams’ opportunity to win the conference?

[btownqbcoach1]

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I’m not following, so they can just not compete in the conference in Football and possibly take away other teams’ opportunity to win the conference?

Whose opportunities are they taking away? It's a great decision all around. Why should East/Floyd play Jennings? 

On 4/3/2025 at 7:30 PM, Frozen Tundra said:

Logic? If you’re in a conference you should play every team in your conference. If you don’t want to play every team you should leave or be expelled.

why? 

No. You shouldn't. Not really sure what the issue here is.... expel them? East, Floyd, and others agreed to this. 

Edited April 8, 2025 by btownqbcoach1

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

 No. You shouldn't. Not really sure what the issue here is.... expel them? East, Floyd, and others agreed to this. 

Are you saying East and Floyd have agreed to this for 2026? They’re still playing them in 2025. Only New Albany is off the schedule and I did hear it was mutual.

Even if it is mutual though, it still doesn’t make it right. Athletic conferences are mainly for scheduling purposes. You get together with other schools and you decide on a number of games that all schools within that conference will play against each other. Sometimes conferences are too big and you don’t have the ability to play every other team but the number of conference games you play is at least a number that every team within the conference plays. This number is what allows for conference champions to be crowned as there isn’t a scheduling imbalance. 

If Jennings County wants to just play BNL and Seymour then why are they allowed to play two conference games while the rest of the teams play 5-6 games? Again, even if this is mutual, what’s the point in Jennings County being in the HHC? Just go independent and you can still play Seymour and BNL.

Jennings County can’t get the EIAC or the MSC to bite on taking them in. From my perspective, the dropping of HHC teams from their schedule looks like they’re wanting to go independent but in a slow transition. Madison went independent overnight and it meant they had to play three schools from Kentucky and one from Hammond just to fill their schedule. It looks to me like Jennings County is trying to have more control by dropping New Albany this year and maybe dropping East, Floyd, and Jeff the next few years. Can’t say I fault this thinking from their perspective as it is in their best interest. However, as a fan in general, I don’t like the conference schedule imbalance this presents. It feels like they’re one foot in and one foot out. Just be all or nothing.

I will say I do believe it is in the best interest of Jennings County to leave the HHC. A rural school with a shrinking student population can’t compete with these growing city schools. The gap has really widened over the last decade. I know excitement for football is gone. Fan support and student section support isn’t what it once was. Player turnout is suffering because kids don’t want to get blown out constantly and they’re tired of coaching changes every two years. Jennings County needs to get out of the HHC and get more competitive/winnable games on the schedule.

[btownqbcoach1]

2 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Are you saying East and Floyd have agreed to this for 2026? They’re still playing them in 2025. Only New Albany is off the schedule and I did hear it was mutual.

Even if it is mutual though, it still doesn’t make it right. Athletic conferences are mainly for scheduling purposes. You get together with other schools and you decide on a number of games that all schools within that conference will play against each other. Sometimes conferences are too big and you don’t have the ability to play every other team but the number of conference games you play is at least a number that every team within the conference plays. This number is what allows for conference champions to be crowned as there isn’t a scheduling imbalance. 

If Jennings County wants to just play BNL and Seymour then why are they allowed to play two conference games while the rest of the teams play 5-6 games? Again, even if this is mutual, what’s the point in Jennings County being in the HHC? Just go independent and you can still play Seymour and BNL.

Jennings County can’t get the EIAC or the MSC to bite on taking them in. From my perspective, the dropping of HHC teams from their schedule looks like they’re wanting to go independent but in a slow transition. Madison went independent overnight and it meant they had to play three schools from Kentucky and one from Hammond just to fill their schedule. It looks to me like Jennings County is trying to have more control by dropping New Albany this year and maybe dropping East, Floyd, and Jeff the next few years. Can’t say I fault this thinking from their perspective as it is in their best interest. However, as a fan in general, I don’t like the conference schedule imbalance this presents. It feels like they’re one foot in and one foot out. Just be all or nothing.

I will say I do believe it is in the best interest of Jennings County to leave the HHC. A rural school with a shrinking student population can’t compete with these growing city schools. The gap has really widened over the last decade. I know excitement for football is gone. Fan support and student section support isn’t what it once was. Player turnout is suffering because kids don’t want to get blown out constantly and they’re tired of coaching changes every two years. Jennings County needs to get out of the HHC and get more competitive/winnable games on the schedule.

I'm saying East/Floyd can still drop them this year. (That was as of like 3/4 weeks ago)

I'm not sure why anyone would care that Jennings Co. isn't playing NA, Jeff, Floyd, or East. I see very little here to determine "right and wrong"... it's just irrelevant. It's literally better for all these programs to operate like this... East, Floyd get flexibility ..... JC gets to start laying a foundation for a program. 

Jennings County doesn't want to be independent in other sports. It seems like it affects very little. There has to be a "want" from other conferences for them to join. 

[btownqbcoach1]

This is to benefit Jeff, NA, East, Floyd just as much as Jenn Co. 

[Frozen Tundra]

29 minutes ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

I'm saying East/Floyd can still drop them this year. (That was as of like 3/4 weeks ago)

I'm not sure why anyone would care that Jennings Co. isn't playing NA, Jeff, Floyd, or East. I see very little here to determine "right and wrong"... it's just irrelevant. It's literally better for all these programs to operate like this... East, Floyd get flexibility ..... JC gets to start laying a foundation for a program. 

Jennings County doesn't want to be independent in other sports. It seems like it affects very little. There has to be a "want" from other conferences for them to join. 

I guess I’m just struggling to understand why they can’t just go independent in football only. They should remove themselves from the conference so everyone else plays five games each to determine a conference champion (no imbalanced schedule). At the same time, they can play every HHC team (sans New Albany) unless they are able to mutually agree with HHC teams to schedule new opponents, if available. If you’re not fully committed to being in the conference then why not just leave or why not have the conference remove them? I understand it’s better for Jennings County and the bigger HHC teams to end their series and move on but let’s not pretend a game with Jennings County is a conference game if this is the route we’re going.

Edited April 8, 2025 by Frozen Tundra

[Impartial_Observer]

On 4/8/2025 at 8:24 AM, btownqbcoach1 said:

Whose opportunities are they taking away? It's a great decision all around. Why should East/Floyd play Jennings? 

why? 

No. You shouldn't. Not really sure what the issue here is.... expel them? East, Floyd, and others agreed to this. 

JC is still in the HHC right?

Seymour finishes the conference 6-1, FC finishes 5-1, FC got screwed out of possible conference title. 

[btownqbcoach1]

20 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

I guess I’m just struggling to understand why they can’t just go independent in football only. They should remove themselves from the conference so everyone else plays five games each to determine a conference champion (no imbalanced schedule). At the same time, they can play every HHC team (sans New Albany) unless they are able to mutually agree with HHC teams to schedule new opponents, if available. If you’re not fully committed to being in the conference then why not just leave or why not have the conference remove them? I understand it’s better for Jennings County and the bigger HHC teams to end their series and move on but let’s not pretend a game with Jennings County is a conference game if this is the route we’re going.

I'm struggling to understand why this matters, whether they do or not (to be independent). Clearly JC doesn't care about winning a conference title.... this is just a big nothing burger to me. I doubt JC liked how Madison had to go to KY to find teams. 

They've already agreed to schedule new opponents, it's just not processed this year/East, Floyd, Jeff apparently haven't been able to find dancing partners yet. 

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

JC is still in the HHC right?

Seymour finishes the conference 6-1, FC finishes 5-1, FC got screwed out of possible conference title. 

cmon.. we can still use more logic than that. That would be a tie. (based on how conferences rules dictate winners).... But, these conferences, at least the MSC, don't go with HTH tiebreakers.... they just go with two champions, which is preposterous. 

Who would have won the FC/Seymour matchup should be the conference winner at that point, with your example.... and I still don't see the issue. 

 

 

 

Sidenote-- I feel like Floyd, other than looking at KY teams, will have to go to Indy to find a game.... All Evansville teams are locked in their schedules, unless Vinncennes is able to get away soon, there are no other schools of their size around... so Indy or maybe you get lucky with one of the Bloomington schools/Columbus North...

[Frozen Tundra]

11 minutes ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

cmon.. we can still use more logic than that. That would be a tie. (based on how conferences rules dictate winners).... But, these conferences, at least the MSC, don't go with HTH tiebreakers.... they just go with two champions, which is preposterous. 

Who would have won the FC/Seymour matchup should be the conference winner at that point, with your example.... and I still don't see the issue. 

Dead serious question. Let’s say Jennings County plays two or three conference games and goes undefeated (i.e. BNL, Seymour, and potentially Jeff). Let’s also say Columbus East, New Albany, and Floyd Central go 4-1 as they end up going 1-1 against each other and 3-0 against BNL, Seymour, and Jeff. In this scenario, does Jennings County get to be conference champs? If so, do Columbus East, New Albany, and Floyd Central also get to be conference champs? I’m completely aware this isn’t a likely scenario but I’m curious as to how it would work given the scheduling imbalance?

[btownqbcoach1]

12 minutes ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Dead serious question. Let’s say Jennings County plays two or three conference games and goes undefeated (i.e. BNL, Seymour, and potentially Jeff). Let’s also say Columbus East, New Albany, and Floyd Central go 4-1 as they end up going 1-1 against each other and 3-0 against BNL, Seymour, and Jeff. In this scenario, does Jennings County get to be conference champs? If so, do Columbus East, New Albany, and Floyd Central also get to be conference champs? I’m completely aware this isn’t a likely scenario but I’m curious as to how it would work given the scheduling imbalance?

I can't believe you're asking that lol I'm certain it's a given JC can't be awarded a HHC title in football with the setup they're asking for to begin with..... I just spoke with Burton, JC is not able to compete for a conference title in football... your guys don't need to worry about anything. 

It's possible JC is able to drop Jeff, Floyd, East and pickup Greensburg, Connersville, Rushville, Batesville, Greensburg, Springs Valley or a combo of a couple of teams. All these moves are doing.. 

Floyd Central... lets say is able to drop JC and pick up someone like..... Bloomington South/New Pal/East Central. Win win

[Frozen Tundra]

12 minutes ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

I can't believe you're asking that lol I'm certain it's a given JC can't be awarded a HHC title in football with the setup they're asking for to begin with..... I just spoke with Burton, JC is not able to compete for a conference title in football... your guys don't need to worry about anything. 

It's possible JC is able to drop Jeff, Floyd, East and pickup Greensburg, Connersville, Rushville, Batesville, Greensburg, Springs Valley or a combo of a couple of teams. All these moves are doing.. 

Floyd Central... lets say is able to drop JC and pick up someone like..... Bloomington South/New Pal/East Central. Win win

I’ve got nothing against Jennings County. I have so many connections to the area that it’s hard not to root for them. However, the whole dynamic of this situation is just weird. Unless I’m oblivious to it, I’ve never seen a previous situation with which I can use as a precedent. To me, if you’re not willing to play a full conference schedule then you should be out of the conference (at least just in football). Honor your current schedules with HHC teams while also allowing both sides the ability to find replacements and then get out of the agreement if both sides find replacements. That’s just how I feel personally but I don’t make the rules so it is what it is. I’ve said my peace.

[Impartial_Observer]

I guess I’m not hip to the al a carte conference scheduling. What’s the point of being in a conference? 

[qbcoach13]

With Conference Indiana collapsing Hoosier Hills needs to make a strong push to add Bloomington South and Columbus North. JC moves to Independent and then maybe to the EIAC.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

With the news of Conference Indiana falling apart, Terre Haute schools announced departure for 2026, Hoosier Hills should just let Bloomington South in. Let Bloomington South replace Jennings County Football scheduling for the HHC teams. Let Jennings do what they are trying to do outside of the HHC. Other sports can do what they want, but Bloomington South fits in most sports and isnt terrible Geographically 

[Bluejacket1]

BNL Update: The coach from Texas (Steven Stanley from Liberty Christian HS) has officially turned it down. BNL offered, he said he needed more money, BNL got it to his asking price, but then he ended up turning it down after all. Disappointing.

The rumor is that it is down to two local candidates, and at least one of the two has been brought back in for a 2nd interview this week.  I know girls basketball interviews are taking place this week as well, so not sure on the timetable. I do not envy first year AD Adam Yates this week. A lot on his plate to say the least! 

[Frozen Tundra]

11 minutes ago, Bluejacket1 said:

BNL Update: The coach from Texas (Steven Stanley from Liberty Christian HS) has officially turned it down. BNL offered, he said he needed more money, BNL got it to his asking price, but then he ended up turning it down after all. Disappointing.

The rumor is that it is down to two local candidates, and at least one of the two has been brought back in for a 2nd interview this week.  I know girls basketball interviews are taking place this week as well, so not sure on the timetable. I do not envy first year AD Adam Yates this week. A lot on his plate to say the least! 

Sucks they couldn’t land the guy from Texas.