Hoosier Hills Conference

[Indiana Fan]

9 minutes ago, Frozen Tundra said:

I’m hearing some interesting things about Columbus East football right now. One pertains to the head coaching job which I won’t disclose. The other pertains to their classification over the next two years. Apparently East is set to return to 4A for the first time since 2014. I guess the online schooling option the school corporation set up really did a number on East’s enrollment.

Interesting…

Ive heard that Columbus North will be dropping down to 5A. I didn’t think that East would be dropping as well.

Also, I am sure many coaches have applied and reached out about the East position correct? Any other insight on if they are big names?

[Frozen Tundra]

29 minutes ago, Indiana Fan said:

Interesting…

Ive heard that Columbus North will be dropping down to 5A. I didn’t think that East would be dropping as well.

Also, I am sure many coaches have applied and reached out about the East position correct? Any other insight on if they are big names?

I don’t know who has applied. All I know is that someone is considering applying who has the potential to be pretty good. I don’t know if he actually will though. I’ll leave it at that.

[Frozen Tundra]

45 minutes ago, Indiana Fan said:

Ive heard that Columbus North will be dropping down to 5A. 

I hadn’t heard about North but I was wondering if they were impacted enough to have to move down as well. If that truly is the case, it’s put up or shut up time for them. The claim from many of their players and fans over the years is that East was only successful because they didn’t have to play in 6A. It took East two years to reach state and three years to win state at the 5A level. They did so as a low-end 5A school population-wise. North would likely be high-end 5A if they are indeed moving down. Let’s see if 5A is as easy as they said it was.

[Fkfootball]

9 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

I don’t know who has applied. All I know is that someone is considering applying who has the potential to be pretty good. I don’t know if he actually will though. I’ll leave it at that.

Sounds like every Floyd Central basketball coaching search the past 4 years.  

[Impartial_Observer]

Potential game changer for North. 5A, c’mon man you know what I’ve been saying……

Biggest deal is not having CG in your sectional. 

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Potential game changer for North. 5A, c’mon man you know what I’ve been saying……

Biggest deal is not having CG in your sectional. 

They’ll be able to get through sectionals but do they get to state? That’ll be the question. Not trying to knock them but they have a tendency of falling off towards the end of the year.

1 hour ago, Fkfootball said:

Sounds like every Floyd Central basketball coaching search the past 4 years.  

Different scenario. Can’t explain it right now but I’m kind of hoping it happens so everyone can understand.

[Indiana Fan]

9 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Potential game changer for North. 5A, c’mon man you know what I’ve been saying……

Biggest deal is not having CG in your sectional. 

Again, not official until numbers come out. Just something that was told to me through a couple of AD friends. Sounds like some movement of students and numbers within Bartholomew county schools.

[ptr]

On 12/1/2025 at 11:43 AM, Frozen Tundra said:

I hadn’t heard about North but I was wondering if they were impacted enough to have to move down as well. If that truly is the case, it’s put up or shut up time for them. The claim from many of their players and fans over the years is that East was only successful because they didn’t have to play in 6A. It took East two years to reach state and three years to win state at the 5A level. They did so as a low-end 5A school population-wise. North would likely be high-end 5A if they are indeed moving down. Let’s see if 5A is as easy as they said it was.

I still haven't seen anything (that's been made public) on whether Col. North or Bloom. South will go independent next season or what. I saw on another thread that Col. North picked up a game with Jasper next season. I assume that Bloom. South will have games against Bloom. North, Col. North, and Martinsville next season regardless of what happens. I haven't seen anything on what Southport will be doing, and if they go independent, they will probably play Bloom. South and Col. North also, but that is my mind working overtime on the subject. It seems that there will be room in the HHC for Bloom. South and/or Col. North, but it's all been closed mouth on that subject. 

Edited December 2, 2025 by ptr

[HoopsCoach]

On 12/1/2025 at 10:55 AM, Indiana Fan said:

Interesting…

Ive heard that Columbus North will be dropping down to 5A. I didn’t think that East would be dropping as well.

Not sure where you heard about Columbus North dropping to 5A, but it is pretty unlikely.  Unless they lost around 200 students from last year to this year, they will remain in 6A.  They were the 24th largest school with 2360 students.  Merrillville was 32nd with 2109 students, which would be the smallest school for 6A by enrollment before any success factor moves.

Columbus East had 1452 students, which would have been the 29th largest school out of 32 in 5A.  Greenfield-Central was 32nd (64th overall) with 1413 students.  If Columbus East has lost students this year, a move to 4A could be a realistic possibility.

[Frozen Tundra]

13 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

Not sure where you heard about Columbus North dropping to 5A, but it is pretty unlikely.  Unless they lost around 200 students from last year to this year, they will remain in 6A.  They were the 24th largest school with 2360 students.  Merrillville was 32nd with 2109 students, which would be the smallest school for 6A by enrollment before any success factor moves.

Columbus East had 1452 students, which would have been the 29th largest school out of 32 in 5A.  Greenfield-Central was 32nd (64th overall) with 1413 students.  If Columbus East has lost students this year, a move to 4A could be a realistic possibility.

If East lost as many students as they are alleged to have lost then it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for North to also drop down a classification. I guess we’ll find out for sure in the spring.

[Frozen Tundra]

17 hours ago, ptr said:

I still haven't seen anything (that's been made public) on whether Col. North or Bloom. South will go independent next season or what. I saw on another thread that Col. North picked up a game with Jasper next season. I assume that Bloom. South will have games against Bloom. North, Col. North, and Martinsville next season regardless of what happens. I haven't seen anything on what Southport will be doing, and if they go independent, they will probably play Bloom. South and Col. North also, but that is my mind working overtime on the subject. It seems that there will be room in the HHC for Bloom. South and/or Col. North, but it's all been closed mouth on that subject. 

You’d have to think an announcement will be made soon if they are joining another conference. If not, it seems like independence will be the route they go even if it’s just for one year.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

There was an article in the Columbus Newspaper that discussed the ADM numbers for the schools. I believe this has made some start the conversations of schools potentially going up or down a class. I am unsure if this data results in those changes, but here is the chart they had in the paper. 

[HoopsCoach]

5 hours ago, RetiredSouthernCoach said:

There was an article in the Columbus Newspaper that discussed the ADM numbers for the schools. I believe this has made some start the conversations of schools potentially going up or down a class. I am unsure if this data results in those changes, but here is the chart they had in the paper. 

The 1193 for East and 2075 for North from October 2024 on that chart does not match the data they reported to the DOE (1452 for East and 2360 for North) in October 2024.  The number reported to the DOE must include high school students in their other programs.

[crimsonace1]

On 12/2/2025 at 8:13 PM, HoopsCoach said:

Not sure where you heard about Columbus North dropping to 5A, but it is pretty unlikely.  Unless they lost around 200 students from last year to this year, they will remain in 6A.  They were the 24th largest school with 2360 students.  Merrillville was 32nd with 2109 students, which would be the smallest school for 6A by enrollment before any success factor moves.

Columbus East had 1452 students, which would have been the 29th largest school out of 32 in 5A.  Greenfield-Central was 32nd (64th overall) with 1413 students.  If Columbus East has lost students this year, a move to 4A could be a realistic possibility.

Greenfield-Central's enrollment has been steady/shrinking in the last few years (about 20% of the kids who live in G-C's district go elsewhere - half to Eastern Hancock), but Mt. Vernon is likely to move up from 4A to 5A this cycle. 

[Frozen Tundra]

It’s official. Jennings County will continue playing Columbus East at least for one more year. Aside from the Olympians, BNL and Seymour are the only other HHC teams staying on the schedule. Since BNL is shrinking like Jennings County and since Seymour is a rival, I can’t imagine the Panthers will be willing to drop either of them from their schedule like they intend to do with Columbus East.

[ptr]

On 12/3/2025 at 10:05 AM, Frozen Tundra said:

If East lost as many students as they are alleged to have lost then it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for North to also drop down a classification. I guess we’ll find out for sure in the spring.

I was wondering if private and/or charter schools have impacted the enrollment of schools in the Bartholomew school system. I know it has had some impact on the Monroe County Community Schools and then you have part of the Edgewood school system (Bean Blossom schools) that abut part of the northwest side of Bloomington, so there is that. Enrollments at MCCSC schools have been down somewhat this year. 

[Frozen Tundra]

6 hours ago, ptr said:

I was wondering if private and/or charter schools have impacted the enrollment of schools in the Bartholomew school system. I know it has had some impact on the Monroe County Community Schools and then you have part of the Edgewood school system (Bean Blossom schools) that abut part of the northwest side of Bloomington, so there is that. Enrollments at MCCSC schools have been down somewhat this year. 

We don’t really have any private or charter schools in the area that could impact our enrollment. What we’ve allegedly been impacted by is the fact the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation implemented an online schooling option for those who didn’t want to attend a physical school and for parents who didn’t want to send their kids to a physical school. The rumor is Columbus East took a big hit from this enrollment-wise. I don’t know about Columbus North but I would have to think they took at least some sort of hit as well. With East and North in the bottom seven of their respective classes as of 2025 based on the 2024 IHSAA enrollment numbers, you can obviously see there’s not a lot of wiggle room for them to lose 100-200 students and not fall down a classification. And if the info I’ve been told by multiple sources is correct, East lost way more than 200 students.

[Impartial_Observer]

Assuming the current push to round up illegals has had some impact but Seymour’s enrollment system wide dropped about 200 IIRC. Seymour has had a pretty consistent enrollment until the immigration deal happened and were well on our way to being 6A within the next two counts. 

[Frozen Tundra]

4 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Assuming the current push to round up illegals has had some impact but Seymour’s enrollment system wide dropped about 200 IIRC. Seymour has had a pretty consistent enrollment until the immigration deal happened and were well on our way to being 6A within the next two counts. 

One of the least enjoyable things in my life is having to go through Seymour on U.S. 50. Have you noticed a decrease in travel time or is it still a nightmare?

[Impartial_Observer]

It’s still a nightmare with no signs of changing. Between INDOT and the braintrust at city hall, no one in this town understands how traffic should flow. 

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

https://tribtown.com/2025/12/10/moore-steps-away-from-seymour-football-sidelines-after-six-seasons-as-head-coach/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook 

[Frozen Tundra]

2 hours ago, RetiredSouthernCoach said:

https://tribtown.com/2025/12/10/moore-steps-away-from-seymour-football-sidelines-after-six-seasons-as-head-coach/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook 

Sheesh. So Columbus East, Jeffersonville, New Albany, and now Seymour are all looking for new head coaches. And with Jennings County going independent, Brayden Tidd is now the second longest tenured football coach in the HHC. 😂

[Fkfootball]

Coach Bragg is officially the Dean of this conference. Lol. We may have our best team in school history next season and every other team is rebuilding.

[HHCFinebaum]

14 hours ago, Fkfootball said:

Coach Bragg is officially the Dean of this conference. Lol. We may have our best team in school history next season and every other team is rebuilding.

Thought you guys just had your best team in school history?

and in what way is BNL rebuilding? 

[gonzoron]

37 minutes ago, HHCFinebaum said:

Thought you guys just had your best team in school history?

There is no statute of limitations on History. It can happen 2 years in a row.