Hoosier Hills Conference

[ptr]

Concerning expansion in the HHC. Does anyone know what the by-laws call for when voting for expansion? In other words, does it need to be unanimous among member schools or what.

[Impartial_Observer]

On 1/30/2026 at 5:51 PM, ptr said:

Concerning expansion in the HHC. Does anyone know what the by-laws call for when voting for expansion? In other words, does it need to be unanimous among member schools or what.

I’m not aware of any website or public listing of the HHC bylaws. The only place I’ve ever seen them written down was in the program at the conference banquet. I don’t think I have any of them from my coaching days. 

[TheMadness1]

Going off on a ramble, but not sure Jennings Co. would see much benefit into adding Bloomington South to the HHC.  Just one more school ahead of them in post sports.  If HHC addd BSouth could that tip the scale to JC being serious about leaving.  

 

I could see them asking that the conference try and also look for a school that they would be more competitive with in several sports.  But, I’m not sure there are too many schools looking to make that jump when they currently are likely competitive in their smaller school conference.  Silver Creek and Charlestown seems very comfortable sitting on top of the MSC.   I’m not sure they leave to deal with the large HHC schools.  Maybe the ty could be enticed to join a new conference with 4A schools and some smaller less successful 5A schools.  Could be Jennings only play in the future if South gets in and the smaller schools are against JC getting into the already crowded MId-South. 

Edited February 1 by TheMadness1

[Frozen Tundra]

6 minutes ago, TheMadness1 said:

Going off on a ramble, but not sure Jennings Co. would see much benefit into adding Bloomington South to the HHC.  Just one more school ahead of them in post sports.  If HHC addd BSouth could that tip the scale to JC being serious about leaving.  

 

I could see them asking that the conference try and also look for a school that they would be more competitive with in several sports.  But, I’m not sure there are too many schools looking to make that jump when they currently are likely competitive in their smaller school conference.  Silver Creek and Charlestown seems very comfortable sitting on top of the MSC.   I’m not sure they leave to deal with the large HHC schools.  Maybe the ty could be enticed to join a new conference with 4A schools and some smaller less successful 5A schools.  Could be Jennings only play in the future if South gets in and the smaller schools are against JC getting into the already crowded MId-South. 

The main issue for Jennings County was football. That’s the one sport where they struggled to compete with the HHC. The other sports have been able to find success, especially boys and girls basketball the last several years. Adding Bloomington South adds one more tough opponent but their inclusion doesn’t change anything for Jennings County.

[Fkfootball]

On 2/1/2026 at 11:18 AM, Frozen Tundra said:

The main issue for Jennings County was football. That’s the one sport where they struggled to compete with the HHC. The other sports have been able to find success, especially boys and girls basketball the last several years. Adding Bloomington South adds one more tough opponent but their inclusion doesn’t change anything for Jennings County.

I can make an argument that Jennings County has been better in Athletics the past 10 years than New Albany has.

[Impartial_Observer]

59 minutes ago, Fkfootball said:

I can make an argument that Jennings County has been better in Athletics the past 10 years than New Albany has.

Across the board? Or Jeff or Madison. 
Jennings County’s biggest issue is the school board runs the athletic department. 

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

10 hours ago, Fkfootball said:

I can make an argument that Jennings County has been better in Athletics the past 10 years than New Albany has.

I think Jennings County has won enough in some sports to make it appear that way, but I do not think thats the true scenario as a whole. You look across the board at all athletics, and there have been some generational-type talents come through that kept them competitive at times. Obviously their football has struggled most years within the conference. Girls basketball has had two P4 Division one players come through, but the likelihood that there's others like them coming through any time soon is minimal, yet they have only won 6 conference titles since 1970 (according to recent post by the school). Boys basketball had a great group come through 5 or 6 years back, but have quickly went back to being unable to compete with the top of the conference. Sports like VB, Softball, Baseball have had some of their best teams come through and were unable to compete with the top of the conference. Individual sports like Track, Golf, XC, Wrestling, Tennis, ect - they have some individuals that can compete, but not competitive as a team most years. I'd also argue that the amount of "better athletes" that they have lost to transfer in multiple sports the last few years will continue and make their level lower. So i guess the question is really what "been better" implies, and if their school is content with being a consistent bottom 1/3 of the conference finisher every year in most sports. if the conference expansion happens and other schools end up in, that will only hurt the JC sports more. Just my observation from looking in on the area sports the last decade. 

[Frozen Tundra]

Very good points by @Impartial_Observer and @RetiredSouthernCoach. I hate when people try to get Jennings County to leave the conference just because their football team isn’t good. Is the school shrinking? Yes. But school size doesn’t matter as much in other sports like it does with football. We’ve seen smaller schools compete with, and beat, larger schools. I’m tired of football being the lone representation of an athletic program or school. There are 18-23 other IHSAA sports (depending on if your school has gymnastics, girls wrestling, boys volleyball, unified track, and unified flag football). Is Jennings County a threat to win the HHC title in most of those sports? No. They aren’t in many of them. However, are they going to finish dead last in every sport every single year? No. They are capable of fighting their way into the upper half in most of those sports. Personally, I think that qualifies them as being competitive enough for the HHC. Making football go independent but staying in all the other sports is the right move. However, if they shrink down to Madison’s size and go under 1,000 students then that’s the time where leaving the HHC as a whole is a logical decision.

[Uncle Bubba]

Any truth to this ? Or does it have legs or just rumors?? 
 

 

[Frozen Tundra]

37 minutes ago, Uncle Bubba said:

Any truth to this ? Or does it have legs or just rumors?? 
 

 

It’s true

[Frozen Tundra]

Apparently Greensburg has agreed to change the site of their game against Jennings County from home to away. Now the Panthers will have four home games instead of three. However, the Pirates will now have three home games instead of four. I’m really confused as to why they would do this.

[Impartial_Observer]

Losing 25% of your nut is HUGE!

[Fkfootball]

On 2/5/2026 at 10:56 PM, Impartial_Observer said:

Across the board? Or Jeff or Madison. 
Jennings County’s biggest issue is the school board runs the athletic department. 

I'm saying that they are more competitive in HHC athletics than New Albany is and New Albany is every bit as well funded as Floyd Central is considering the school board is very pro-New Albany. It's actually been an argument here I.O. They give New Albany half of the football revenue even though Floyd Central accounts for like 70-75% of it. 

[Fkfootball]

On 2/6/2026 at 11:43 AM, Frozen Tundra said:

Very good points by @Impartial_Observer and @RetiredSouthernCoach. I hate when people try to get Jennings County to leave the conference just because their football team isn’t good. Is the school shrinking? Yes. But school size doesn’t matter as much in other sports like it does with football. We’ve seen smaller schools compete with, and beat, larger schools. I’m tired of football being the lone representation of an athletic program or school. There are 18-23 other IHSAA sports (depending on if your school has gymnastics, girls wrestling, boys volleyball, unified track, and unified flag football). Is Jennings County a threat to win the HHC title in most of those sports? No. They aren’t in many of them. However, are they going to finish dead last in every sport every single year? No. They are capable of fighting their way into the upper half in most of those sports. Personally, I think that qualifies them as being competitive enough for the HHC. Making football go independent but staying in all the other sports is the right move. However, if they shrink down to Madison’s size and go under 1,000 students then that’s the time where leaving the HHC as a whole is a logical decision.

I'm actually impressed by Jennings County. Until this season they had beaten us in Girls basketball like 5 years in a row. Their men's basketball probably splits with us over a 10 year period. Their baseball and softball teams have played competitively. I think Jennings County does very well for the resources they have. 

[Impartial_Observer]

Seymour named Dave Papenhaus their new HC tonight. I think it’s a good hire for the Owls. 

[Impartial_Observer]

 

[Fkfootball]

19 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Seymour named Dave Papenhaus their new HC tonight. I think it’s a good hire for the Owls. 

Interesting hire. Coach Bragg and him are really good friends. He had some really good success when he took over for John Dablow but they fell off a bit. I imagine his talent will be a little better than what it was at Creek.

[Fkfootball]

New Albany hired Marc Clark. He was the OC at Louisville Male last year. Has been the HC at Hopkinsville HS and Mccracken County, Ky with mixed results. It seems like the HHC has had some coaching upgrades and with Bloomington South joining, hopefully the conference will improve. 5A football in Indiana might be the worst class right now.

[Impartial_Observer]

1 hour ago, Fkfootball said:

Interesting hire. Coach Bragg and him are really good friends. He had some really good success when he took over for John Dablow but they fell off a bit. I imagine his talent will be a little better than what it was at Creek.

I would not want to be the coach of a sport not called baseball or basketball at SC right now.

[Impartial_Observer]

1 hour ago, Fkfootball said:

New Albany hired Marc Clark. He was the OC at Louisville Male last year. Has been the HC at Hopkinsville HS and Mccracken County, Ky with mixed results. It seems like the HHC has had some coaching upgrades and with Bloomington South joining, hopefully the conference will improve. 5A football in Indiana might be the worst class right now.

I’ll believe BHSS is joining the HHC when they start showing up at the conference banquet. 

[Fkfootball]

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I’ll believe BHSS is joining the HHC when they start showing up at the conference banquet. 

Yeah that's a fair point. I hope it happens. But I know it's not a done deal yet.

[Fkfootball]

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I would not want to be the coach of a sport not called baseball or basketball at SC right now.

Their basketball talent falls off after next season. Although I'm sure some kids will transfer over there. I can't say anything negative about that or it would be the pot calling the kettle black.

[ptr]

3 hours ago, Fkfootball said:

Their basketball talent falls off after next season. Although I'm sure some kids will transfer over there. I can't say anything negative about that or it would be the pot calling the kettle black.

For the record, South hasn't had a boys basketball player transfer in since their semi-state team back in 2021 and he was Trevor Taylor who transferred in from county rival Edgewood. All of their players on this year's squad all came up through the middle school feeders to South. I just can't recall another one since Taylor. The football team had four transfers from North this past season and have had a couple of BNL players transfer in over the past year or two.

[Frozen Tundra]

10 hours ago, ptr said:

For the record, South hasn't had a boys basketball player transfer in since their semi-state team back in 2021 and he was Trevor Taylor who transferred in from county rival Edgewood. All of their players on this year's squad all came up through the middle school feeders to South. I just can't recall another one since Taylor. The football team had four transfers from North this past season and have had a couple of BNL players transfer in over the past year or two.

He was referring to Silver Creek, not Bloomington South.

[ptr]

6 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

He was referring to Silver Creek, not Bloomington South.

Thanks. There were posts involving both South and SC and I guess I got it that they referring to South on the transfer issue. I know there has been a lot of back and forth down along the river over transfers over the years, to include back and forth over the river.