Conference choice

Two conferences have invited the Patriots to join. Tim Long is ready to make his recommendation.
Long, the Jay Schools superintendent, said this morning he will recommend at Monday’s school board meeting that Jay County High School accept its invitation to join the Allen County Athletic Conference.
The ACAC invited the Patriots to become a member of the league March 21 after a meeting with several JCHS administrators. The North Central Conference had invited Jay County in February.
“Both are great organizations, but when the sum total came down for me in terms of having to make a recommendation weighing all things, I just feel that’s a better fit for Jay Schools,” said Long of the ACAC, which is made up of South Adams, Southern Wells, Adams Central, Bluffton, Heritage, Woodlan, Leo and Garrett. “I don’t know that there’s one thing that would tip it either way. Based on my experience and looking at the situation, I just think it’s the best fit for us.”
If the school board approves Long’s recommendation, Jay County would join the Allen County Athletic Conference for the 2014-15 school year. The Patriots are in their third season competing as an independent following the dissolution of the Olympic Athletic Conference in 2010.
“South Adams is excited for the opportunity,” said SAHS athletics director Jason Arnold. “We feel we’re bringing in a school that’s going to provide good competition for our conference, good competition for our athletes. It gives us a chance to compete against somebody who will push us …
“We’re excited about being able to bring in a school with the proximity Jay County has to South Adams, and a school that has the following that Jay County has.
“For us we see that as a win for Jay County, and we see it as a win for the ACAC.”
Bluffton athletics director Steve Thompson, who serves as president of the ACAC, said he would not comment until the decision is official. Anderson AD Steve Schindler, who has been the spokesperson for the North Central Conference, also declined to comment.
Jay Schools administrators had discussed travel as a concern regarding the North Central Conference since receiving the invitation to join the group on Feb. 10. That was one of the factors that led Long to his decision to recommend the ACAC.
Four of the schools in the Allen County Athletic Conference are located within 32 miles of JCHS, and all are within 75 miles. Ten of the schools in the proposed 12-team North Central Conference are more than 40 miles away from Jay County, four are more than 85 miles and three clear the 100-mile mark.
“The Jay School Corporation has a tremendous reputation and following and we get a lot of fans that travel in every sport,” said Long. “Certainly that’s one of the things that was a big consideration for me, how the travel situation would match up.”
Jay County, with its enrollment of 1,113 students, would be the largest school in the ACAC by nearly 200 students over Leo. The current group includes two Class 3A schools, five Class 2A schools and one Class 1A school in the four-class sports (volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball).
JCHS would have been one of the smallest schools in the North Central Conference, ahead of only New Castle and Muncie Central in the league that also includes Richmond, Anderson, Marion, Huntington North, Kokomo and Logansport. Lafayette-area schools Jefferson, Harrison and McCutcheon have accepted invitations to join the NCC.
The Patriots have been looking for a conference solution since 2001, when the Olympic Athletic Conference slipped from 10 to five teams with the departure of Harrison, McCutcheon, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville and Brownsburg. Huntington North left the group for the NCC three years later, and the OAC survived as a four-team conference until Anderson Highland merged with Anderson in 2010.
Connersville will join the Eastern Indiana Conference next season, leaving Muncie Southside as the lone former OAC school without a home.
Southside had also applied to join the North Central Conference, and Schindler said this morning that the Rebels would be considered as the league continues in its goal to expand to 12 teams.
“Our situation right now is we’re still fighting the possibility that we might close, but if they were to talk to us we would definitely give it some serious consideration,” said Southside AD Tom Lyon. “It would definitely be a good fit for us.”
The ACAC would be Jay County’s fourth league since the school opened in 1975. The Patriots competed in the Mississinewa Valley Conference until 1977, the Classic Athletic Conference from 1977 to ’85 and the OAC from 1985 to 2010.
JCHS was in a good position to have to conference options to choose from after looking for more than a decade, Long said.
“We wanted to do our due diligence,” he added of the decision-making process. “I want to compliment (JCHS principal Phil Ford) and the high school for really taking their time. They evaluated the proposal. We had some open discussion and dialogue on these things.
“We try to be as methodical as we can with our decision making. … You have to look at the big picture.”[[In-content Ad]]