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HNAC Expansion Talk


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16 hours ago, FarmerFran said:

Completely agree from a football standpoint. When you factor in all of the other sports being played I don't see the small schools wanting them to join.

I was just talking about this with someone that football overshadows all other sports it feels like when talking about a restructure in conferences. Allowed myself to be blinded by the same thing. You bring up an excellent point there with the other sports.

16 hours ago, FinePrint said:

In order to build a sustained football program that can compete with the best in the class, the first thing you need is a winning culture.  When you consistently get beat up by larger programs, you won't build a winning culture.  I've seen it first hand.  My oldest son played football at Triton in the NSC.  They had some decent athletes but consistently lost by 40-50 points to the larger schools.  (New Prairie was ahead 63-0 at halftime one year.)  While they gave it their best efforts, they couldn't compete and never gained the confidence needed to be successful, even when playing other 1A schools.

I then had 2 sons play in the HNAC.  And even though they lost huge to Pioneer every year, they gained great confidence by competing with and beating teams from similar sized schools.  They played for 2 sectional titles and won in a year that had 4 HNAC teams likely among the top 10 teams in all of 1A.  (2018 - Pioneer, LaVille, North Judson, Triton)

Yes, the competition you play matters.  But it has to be balanced.  Playing bigger schools doesn't automatically result in a more competitive team.

And you think by adding two middle of their class schools will tip that balance too much for the 1A teams to handle? Glenn is a lot larger in enrollment than I thought and could cause problems down the road and with other sports. But Bremen is a large 2a/small 3a maybe eventually. The only problem I see with Bremen is location. Just my opinion. Become a better coach. Become a better player and rise up to your competition. The hoosier conference is a prime example with teams like LCC, Cass, and Tipton trying to compete with the juggernaut that is West Lafayette. It can be done. Maybe won't happen every year but can be done.

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Did a little map search on the IHSAA website,  I could see a conference form with the following school:

Glenn, Jimtown, Knox, Culver Academy, Bremen, Rochester, Laville, and Winamac.  Gives you 7 conference games and 2 for rivalries.  1A schools could form a similar conference.

 

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33 minutes ago, Julio said:

Did a little map search on the IHSAA website,  I could see a conference form with the following school:

Glenn, Jimtown, Knox, Culver Academy, Bremen, Rochester, Laville, and Winamac.  Gives you 7 conference games and 2 for rivalries.  1A schools could form a similar conference.

 

Culver Academy will never join a conference so throw them out of any talk!!

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2 hours ago, First_Backer_Inside said:

I was just talking about this with someone that football overshadows all other sports it feels like when talking about a restructure in conferences. Allowed myself to be blinded by the same thing. You bring up an excellent point there with the other sports.

And you think by adding two middle of their class schools will tip that balance too much for the 1A teams to handle? Glenn is a lot larger in enrollment than I thought and could cause problems down the road and with other sports. But Bremen is a large 2a/small 3a maybe eventually. The only problem I see with Bremen is location. Just my opinion. Become a better coach. Become a better player and rise up to your competition. The hoosier conference is a prime example with teams like LCC, Cass, and Tipton trying to compete with the juggernaut that is West Lafayette. It can be done. Maybe won't happen every year but can be done.

And West Lafayette wasn't always the juggernaut.

Toss in RCHS in that mix, and Sheridan who departed when LCC entered, and in the last 15 seasons, the HC has sent five different programs, across three classes, to LOS to represent the conference in 14 finals and brought home 11 blue rings.  And four of those five programs were 1A/2A.

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40 minutes ago, foxbat said:

And West Lafayette wasn't always the juggernaut.

Toss in RCHS in that mix, and Sheridan who departed when LCC entered, and in the last 15 seasons, the HC has sent five different programs, across three classes, to LOS to represent the conference in 14 finals and brought home 11 blue rings.  And four of those five programs were 1A/2A.

Unfortunately some programs aren't thriving to succeed. Attitude reflects leadership, and I question the leadership of my alma mater. 

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4 hours ago, Football Guru 25 said:

Culver Academy will never join a conference so throw them out of any talk!!

I don't think you would ever see Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley in different conferences, so you could replace CA with Valley.  Long drive from Winamac to Jimtown.  Probably a deal breaker there.

 

3 hours ago, foxbat said:

And West Lafayette wasn't always the juggernaut.

Toss in RCHS in that mix, and Sheridan who departed when LCC entered, and in the last 15 seasons, the HC has sent five different programs, across three classes, to LOS to represent the conference in 14 finals and brought home 11 blue rings.  And four of those five programs were 1A/2A.

Why did Sheridan leave?

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1 hour ago, FinePrint said:

I don't think you would ever see Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley in different conferences, so you could replace CA with Valley.  Long drive from Winamac to Jimtown.  Probably a deal breaker there.

 

Why did Sheridan leave?

With LCC kind of being pushed out of the HHC and being invited in to the HC, it left a natural void in the HCC.  The HHC has also since expanded by picking up folks like Eastern, Taylor, and Delphi.  Delphi also used to be in the Hoosier too, but left around 2016 I think.  The travel aspect, when you factor in Tipton and RCHS, just had to be a pain for a 1A school that far south ... at least that's what I thought.

There was rumor that Sheridan didn't want the prospect of playing LCC in the regular season or that Sheridan wanted an easier schedule, but I have a hard time believing that Sheridan would leave just to make things easier on themselves on the field.  I never got that impression from Coach Wright or any of Sheridan's players.  Matter of fact, I always got the opposite feeling.  They'd take on all comers and didn't shy away from tough.  Kind of team you liked being on the field with even if they were wearing opposing colors as they brought out the best in themselves and their opponents.

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Sheridan may have moved on in order to be more competitive in other sports besides football.

Besides football, I doubt any of the other sports were very competitive in Hoosier.

The boys basketball team was 15-62 in conference play during their time in the Hoosier the girls 9-64.

 

 

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21 hours ago, FinePrint said:

I don't think you would ever see Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley in different conferences, so you could replace CA with Valley.  Long drive from Winamac to Jimtown.  Probably a deal breaker there.

 

Why did Sheridan leave?

Because Nick Zachery graduated?

They left because all of the other sports struggled in the Hoosier.  They joined the Hoosier because Coach Wright wanted to strengthen the football schedule, and the other sports suffered amongst the mostly 3A Hoosier teams.

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On 3/1/2023 at 9:16 AM, Julio said:

Did a little map search on the IHSAA website,  I could see a conference form with the following school:

Glenn, Jimtown, Knox, Culver Academy, Bremen, Rochester, Laville, and Winamac.  Gives you 7 conference games and 2 for rivalries.  1A schools could form a similar conference.

 

It would be a tough sell trying to convince Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley to leave the Three Rivers Conference.  The enrollment gap between the largest schools and smallest schools in the TRC seems to be increasing, but the top 7 schools (including Rochester and Valley) would have basically the same enrollments as the 7 schools that would form a new conference with them (not including Winamac).  The average travel time for Rochester in the TRC is 28.5 miles, and Valley’s average is 27 miles.  In the resurrected Northern State Conference, Rochester’s average travel distance would be 33 miles and Valley would be 32 miles.  And that’s if Winamac is included since they are not far from Rochester.  Here’s the enrollment comparison:

TRC  
Peru 608
Maconaquah 594
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Rochester 485
Wabash 478
Manchester 463
Whitko 382
North Miami 278
Northfield 266
Southwood 253

 

New NSC  
Glenn 625
Knox 570
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Jimtown 541
Rochester 485
Bremen 472
LaVille 387
Winamac 374
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14 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

It would be a tough sell trying to convince Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley to leave the Three Rivers Conference.  The enrollment gap between the largest schools and smallest schools in the TRC seems to be increasing, but the top 7 schools (including Rochester and Valley) would have basically the same enrollments as the 7 schools that would form a new conference with them (not including Winamac).  The average travel time for Rochester in the TRC is 28.5 miles, and Valley’s average is 27 miles.  In the resurrected Northern State Conference, Rochester’s average travel distance would be 33 miles and Valley would be 32 miles.  And that’s if Winamac is included since they are not far from Rochester.  Here’s the enrollment comparison:

TRC  
Peru 608
Maconaquah 594
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Rochester 485
Wabash 478
Manchester 463
Whitko 382
North Miami 278
Northfield 266
Southwood 253

 

New NSC  
Glenn 625
Knox 570
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Jimtown 541
Rochester 485
Bremen 472
LaVille 387
Winamac 374

While from a competition standpoint it would be great for both teams, I don't see it happening either. Valley enjoys beating up on the conference way too much in football. The deal breaker for Rochester would be travel time. The traveling for the TRC for Rochester is already bad enough, adding on even more in a tougher conference. Not gonna happen. 

Let Rochester play every conference game at home and they are in! 

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16 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

It would be a tough sell trying to convince Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley to leave the Three Rivers Conference.  The enrollment gap between the largest schools and smallest schools in the TRC seems to be increasing, but the top 7 schools (including Rochester and Valley) would have basically the same enrollments as the 7 schools that would form a new conference with them (not including Winamac).  The average travel time for Rochester in the TRC is 28.5 miles, and Valley’s average is 27 miles.  In the resurrected Northern State Conference, Rochester’s average travel distance would be 33 miles and Valley would be 32 miles.  And that’s if Winamac is included since they are not far from Rochester.  Here’s the enrollment comparison:

TRC  
Peru 608
Maconaquah 594
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Rochester 485
Wabash 478
Manchester 463
Whitko 382
North Miami 278
Northfield 266
Southwood 253

 

Go Braves.

 

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On 3/5/2023 at 5:17 PM, HoopsCoach said:

It would be a tough sell trying to convince Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley to leave the Three Rivers Conference.  The enrollment gap between the largest schools and smallest schools in the TRC seems to be increasing, but the top 7 schools (including Rochester and Valley) would have basically the same enrollments as the 7 schools that would form a new conference with them (not including Winamac).  The average travel time for Rochester in the TRC is 28.5 miles, and Valley’s average is 27 miles.  In the resurrected Northern State Conference, Rochester’s average travel distance would be 33 miles and Valley would be 32 miles.  And that’s if Winamac is included since they are not far from Rochester.  Here’s the enrollment comparison:

TRC  
Peru 608
Maconaquah 594
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Rochester 485
Wabash 478
Manchester 463
Whitko 382
North Miami 278
Northfield 266
Southwood 253

 

New NSC  
Glenn 625
Knox 570
Tippecanoe Valley 545
Jimtown 541
Rochester 485
Bremen 472
LaVille 387
Winamac 374

Whatcha gonna do when Northfield and Southwood ultimately HAVE to merge?  Of course some numbers will go elsewhere, but the majority would be within the same building.....and it wouldn't be called "Northwood"....  perhaps...Southfield? 

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14 hours ago, Yuccaguy said:

Whatcha gonna do when Northfield and Southwood ultimately HAVE to merge?  Of course some numbers will go elsewhere, but the majority would be within the same building.....and it wouldn't be called "Northwood"....  perhaps...Southfield? 

The merge was voted down again.  I'm not sure what is going to happen there.  If they ever happened to get this merge done, I see a team like Lewis Cass being an option to jump to the TRC.  

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On 3/7/2023 at 12:04 PM, Punttheball said:

The merge was voted down again.  I'm not sure what is going to happen there.  If they ever happened to get this merge done, I see a team like Lewis Cass being an option to jump to the TRC.  

A Wabash County High School, combing the city of Wabash, Southwood, and part of the Northfield school district.  North Manchester takes the other part of the Northfield school district.

 

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7 minutes ago, Gap Down Backer said:

Don't see this happening- big question will be what is Knox and Laville going to do when HNAC doesn't let Glenn and Bremen in- will they split from HNAC and form own conference? Going to be interesting to what those 2 do

I am intrigued either way. I don't know if I have a strong opinion either way. Bremen and Glenn have every right to pursue every option they feel right for them, and the individual schools have every right to vote in their best interest. If they are accepted so be it, hope they make the best of it. If the the HNAC schools vote it down, that is their right and I respect it.   Its not that I don't care either way, its just the way it is.  Find what works for you and go do it. I can see both sides of the argument. If I'm a Culver or Caston, I see their perspective. If I'm Knox or LaVille, I can see them wanting to pursue a possible different direction if they have post season success as the end goal.

 

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 I agree- schools need to do what they think is best for their situation- and for all sports- be interesting to see if Knox and Laville break off who will still play them from the HNAC or if they'll just wash their hands of them.  Finding football games is a nightmare when you have open dates that need filled.  

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