USA-365.com Commentary:

Lake Athletic Conference to Big-6 or Deep-6?

A special USA-365 supplement by Mark Smith

3-14-2005

HAMMOND (3-14-2005) - Newspaper reports of a breakup of the Lake Athletic Conference are neither new or surprising. The 16-team concept was bad from Day One, leaving small schools with no hope of league glory and forcing match ups between schools that would not otherwise schedule each other. Efforts at conference tournaments and league championship meets were clumsy because of the amounts of kids and schools. The latest concept, reported by Brian Waddle in the Times on March 4, came from a meeting of LAC athletic directors on March 3 at Munster. One idea floated was the so-called 'Big-6', a league that would include football powers Griffith. Munster, Highland, Hobart, Andrean and Lowell. This would be a very good football, softball and baseball league, and an above average basketball league most years. I would add Kankakee Valley, Lowell's natural rival, and I would consider Bishop Noll, Andrean's arch-rival. Leagues are made on rivalries and Highland-Munster, Lowell-KV, Andrean-Noll are three of the best.

The other LAC schools might feel like George Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' which translates into "Put your kids into private school or we'll cut public education and the minimum wage so much they'll be happy to go to Iraq."

But the truth is, the rest of the LAC could be happier about the 'Big 6' leaving than the Minnesota Vikings are about Randy Moss being shipped out of town.

The biggest beneficiaries of an LAC breakup would be Whiting and Lake Station, who sometimes cannot field freshman and JV teams and are never going to be consistent league contenders under the present format.

If you let the Big-6 go, split the remaining 10 LAC teams into two divisions according to enrollment, you might have a format that benefits everyone.

Group Hammond (1,141), Morton (932), Gavit (710), Clark (826) and Noll (404) in a 'Western' Division and slot Calumet (707), Lake Station (360), Whiting (238), Wheeler (507) and KV (942) into an 'Eastern Division'. I understand that Whiting is well west of Morton. We're matching enrollments here.

The Hammond schools should all be in the same league. that would make the championship more important and could also spark a Hammond City tournament in basketball, softball and baseball.

Lake Station, which has had virtually no team success in this decade (no winning records in any team sport) and Whiting need freedom to schedule nonconference games so they can lift their athletic fortunes. The problem with the LAC now is that teams in different divisions are required to play 'crossover' games with the other divisions, games they largely do not want. Hopefully, someone is looking at the future.

A Big-6 might want to include East Chicago. EC is now smaller than Munster (they will certainly be a 4A rival of Hobart, Highland and Lowell in the next football classification) and they do not consistently field teams in several sports. But EC football and basketball are solid and that's where athletic departments make money.

EC has expressed a desire to be in the LAC and this reconstruction would be the right time. Consolidation is inevitable in Hammond where everyone needs a new school building. Combine Hammond and Gavit and they would be a better fit for the 'Big-6.' Some things cannot happen. Major League baseball players will admit they do steroids before Whiting and Clark consolidate. They are in two different school districts and, as far as I know, neither school wants to be 'one' with the other.

While Wirt is shrinking, Hanover is growing. HC is closing in on at 600 students and they are renovating the Cedar Lake school in anticipation of having 900-1,000 students by 2010. The sole Lake County member of the small school Porter County Conference, HC will not be a small school much longer. They could be not-too-distant league cousins to Hammond schools like Gavit, which already schedules Hanover is some sports.

Changes like the Big-6 or a three division LAC should be considered, but no one should think that these alignments will be permanent.
The population shift in NW Indiana is still occurring.

The Big -6
Griffith, Highland, Munster, Hobart, ANDREAN and LOWELL

The LAC
Gavit, Clark, Morton, Hammond and Bishop Noll, Whiting, Kankakee Valley, Calumet, Lake Station and Wheeler.

This new format could not occur before the 2006-2007 school year and it assumes that Hammond and Gavit are not consolidating in 2008, as has been discussed. Kankakee Valley would almost certainly campaign to join the 'Big-6' due to the natural rivalry with Lowell.

THE FUTURE?

I can't say any of the following will actually happen. But in the spirit of Dan Rather, I can sure speculate on things that probably are true even if I can't prove them. Some of these things I have spoken of before but not nearly as many times as the Chicago Sun-Times does full page stories on Baltimore Oriole Sammy Sosa. The best thing about the following is that all of it might be true and that some of it is definitely true.

That appears likely in the next football classifications. That would be a nightmare for Munster, which has struggled in the state tourney in 4A. The only bailout is that a Class 6A will be considered soon and that would ease the burden on 4As.

East Chicago can't wait to be 4A in football and they would compete with Lowell, Hobart and Highland.

It's not impossible. With the continued drop of students in Noll, they could be 1A by 2007 which would be bad for the school but great for the football program. A 1A Noll would go deep into the state tourney every year. Class 1A is a bigger bracket in basketball and baseball than it is in football (because football has 5 classes and the other sports have 4) so Noll might drop to 1A in basketball and baseball before they do in football.

No one knows if Noll's enrollment will continue to drop while the population of Hammond and East Chicago is still dropping. What could stop it? If Noll moves to the St. John or Schererville area (where a lot of Hammond and EC citizens have moved). A Bishop Noll in South Lake County would again rival Andrean in enrollment.

Gary consolidates into two schools, which join the new Big 6

Some in Gary speak of the answer to lots of empty classrooms in four old buildings being two new buildings (where's that casino money when you need it?), probably Gary West Side and Gary Roosevelt.

Those two schools would join Lowell, Highland, Munster, Hobart, Andrean and Griffith in an eight-team league. The Gary schools must do more than pay lip service to IHSAA sports like swimming, wrestling, golf, softball and tennis. But if they do, they would be size and competitive fits for the other six.

Andrean and Bishop Noll leave the LAC, join South Bend St. Joseph's and Mishawaka Marian in an agreement to meet in all sports, a de facto conference. The move would leave Noll and Andrean free to resume somewhat of an independent status, which benefited them greatly in team sports before they joined the LAC. The LAC clearly holds Andrean back in team sports by forcing them to play schools they probably wouldn't schedule otherwise.