The Decline of Terre Haute High School Athletics

WANTED: Passionate Sycamore Fanatics. That You?

Register NOW to join our community of die-hard Sycamore fans.

Register Log in
This topic has many layers to it...Do the TH schools have the D1 talent in our HS's that they have had in previous decades? I think it's pretty clear that they do not..I do not subscribe to the notion that ball around the Wabash valley as a whole is any worse than it has been in the last 20 years though. Smaller schools have most certainly put out teams that would absolutely pistol whip any teams from previous decades at their respective schools ( Linton, Park Heritage, Bloomfield, etc)..There are many 1-3 A schools that have made significant jumps in their standings amongst their peers in the state...Go look at state rankings or I love the site John Harrell runs where you can see updated team stats and compare to previous years.

Why are North/South not taking leaps others are in the area ? This is where context comes into play... The fact of the matter is this is not the same landscape that many of us grew up around 20+ yrs ago in...These schools are down attendance wise by a wide margin compared to their "peers" in 4A from 20 years ago. Also with the loosening of transfer regulations you have seen many players who would have gone to TH schools (mainly South) end up in smaller community schools for high school. I mean you would get 365'd for the slightest thing in the past and now you have kids transferring after starting the school yr at one school and then playing for another...It is pretty much the wild west out there similar to college sports now, just without the money attached to it. Hell, the best player on North Central and Cloverdale right now should be wearing South colors...They would help greatly on a team that cannot score.

Also, factor in THS especially does not take their feeder programs seriously and it compounds that issue. Under previous coaches South has not had any contact with middle school coaches or sponsored teams to compete in the feeder ball state tournaments (basically 4th-8th grade state for kids who funnel in their respective HS's)..In the age we live in now where the athlete has the power to move freely, it is no wonder South especially has fallen behind. The only feeder teams that have been started are my sons team in 4th grade and a very good middle school team, but those had to be funded and registered strictly from the parents involved and have no connection to the HS..North on the other hand has sponsored teams for a few yrs now...That stuff goes a long way with building loyalty to the school. As far the travel ball scene, TH is in a pretty decent spot..As I said we do not have the top notch HS talent here like Bassett, Odum, Gant, etc from years past...But the Terre Haute Jammers is still a pretty well respected program in the Midwest and does well in their tournaments..Grand Park in Indy has picked up a few higher end players through the yrs from here, but compared to regions our size, the Jammers probably have the best program in the state factoring that in...

Finally, when it comes to what needs to be done going forward? I would push for 1 big high school on the east side..The community has shown they don't have the stomach to back redoing both of the HS's properly and given enrollment trends combining North and South would allow us to not only maintain 4A status, but give us a fighting chance to compete with the bigger programs in the state..I don't see this happening TBH, but it would beat the hell out of what we have right now, which are two decaying schools that have shrinking enrollments and a lack of passion when it comes to athletes. The least of our worries are lawyers or doctors kids playing over more qualified kids..That is simply just laughable
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Vincennes Lincoln just announced they are leaving the SIAC and the SIAC is looking to expand. I wonder if the SIAC is interested in the Terre Haute schools this time around.
 
eaglepride said:
Vincennes Lincoln just announced they are leaving the SIAC and the SIAC is looking to expand. I wonder if the SIAC is interested in the Terre Haute schools this time around.
Click to expand...
North and South were in the SIAC until the mid-80’s. I thought it was good for them. They dominated most things, iirc.
 
IndyTreeFan said:
North and South were in the SIAC until the mid-80’s. I thought it was good for them. They dominated most things, iirc.
Click to expand...
As poorly as we've performed the last 10 years collectively, North and South wouldn't be able to dominate the WIC. Something needs to change, hopefully what's been started is what leads Terre Haute high school athletics back to relevancy.
 
IndyTreeFan said:
North and South were in the SIAC until the mid-80’s. I thought it was good for them. They dominated most things, iirc.
Click to expand...
The rumor down here is this year the SIAC is going to stay frozen minus Vincennes (not a big loss in any sport) next year and in 1-2 years look to add two to four schools. The issue with TH schools joining the SIAC is the conference is namely all the Evansville Schools and Castle (Warrick Co) & Jasper. You are looking at a two hour drive in a bus each way for an away conf games and a time zone change. So with smaller sports Volleyball, Wrestling, Tennis, Baseball, Track, etc who play on a week nights you will have kids not getting home till 1 or 2 in the morning and having to get up and go to school the next day as well as the safety of a bus on 41 in ice rain and snow consistently with the amount of games in all sports combined time 2 TH schools. Logistically i don't see that as floating with parents or administration of current SIAC members, or attractive to TH schools.
 
Last edited:
IndyTreeFan said:
North and South were in the SIAC until the mid-80’s. I thought it was good for them. They dominated most things, iirc.
Click to expand...

Here's a list of all SIAC champs from the beginning of the SIAC...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Indiana_Athletic_Conference#Conference_championships

Do your own count and see if you still recall T.H. North and T.H. South "dominating most things..."

John Harrell's basketball and football pages used to list conference winners; it seems to have disappeared, if/when I find it I'll add it here

wiki is wiki but I do NOT recall either of the T.H. schools DOMINATING the SIAC during their tenure, I recall South's crazy, deep basketball tourney runs but not conf play
 
Last edited:

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Southgrad07 said:
Finally, when it comes to what needs to be done going forward? I would push for 1 big high school on the east side..The community has shown they don't have the stomach to back redoing both of the HS's properly and given enrollment trends combining North and South would allow us to not only maintain 4A status, but give us a fighting chance to compete with the bigger programs in the state..I don't see this happening TBH, but it would beat the hell out of what we have right now, which are two decaying schools that have shrinking enrollments and a lack of passion when it comes to athletes. The least of our worries are lawyers or doctors kids playing over more qualified kids..That is simply just laughable
Click to expand...

Honestly, you would also actually end up with better student outcomes academically because you have CapEx/OpEx for supporting the multiple infrastructures that could go into one so dollars that may have to go to infra decay or extraneous headcount could go into a litany of other things.
 
It simply makes the most financial sense... When you have budget issues and enrollment issues like VCSC you have to take several things into consideration. Redistricting and consolidation at the forefront when you have too many schools to upkeep, have staffing issues etc.

North and South become one on the East side
West can stay West or North South and West become Central and you combine all 3.

Honey Creek and Sarah Scott merge and you have a merged middle school at what is now the Terre Haute South campus. Demo the current school and build a new middle school

Dixie Bee and Hoosier Prarie which are very dated combine and move Honey Creek

The elementary schools that feed into Sarah Scott all combine.

Just say... that's brilliant why didn't they hire you instead of these $$$ consultants.
 
SycamoreBlue3209 said:
Man, this would really make guys like ‘96 sport wood when Northview or Sullivan beat Terre Haute CENTRAL High School!
Click to expand...

He needs something other than ISU football to get excited about…

I get the nostalgia and the history… but this corporation needs to make business decisions at this point and not worry about few people‘s feelings they’ve been worrying about feelings for too long.
 
I agree with your idea, but it won’t happen. No one is going to vote for a referendum to pay for a big new school. They wouldn’t even pay to renovate the three they have.
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
EvilleSycamore said:
The rumor down here is this year the SIAC is going to stay frozen minus Vincennes (not a big loss in any sport) next year and in 1-2 years look to add two to four schools. The issue with TH schools joining the SIAC is the conference is namely all the Evansville Schools and Castle (Warrick Co) & Jasper. You are looking at a two hour drive in a bus each way for an away conf games and a time zone change. So with smaller sports Volleyball, Wrestling, Tennis, Baseball, Track, etc who play on a week nights you will have kids not getting home till 1 or 2 in the morning and having to get up and go to school the next day as well as the safety of a bus on 41 in ice rain and snow consistently with the amount of games in all sports combined time 2 TH schools. Logistically i don't see that as floating with parents or administration of current SIAC members, or attractive to TH schools.
Click to expand...
You are correct and that is why the SIAC rejected the Terre Haute schools application to the SIAC back in 2012 or 2013. If both Terre Haute schools wanted in the SIAC and if the SIAC wanted them it could work out. For example SIAC sports like cross country, Golf, swimming, wrestling, tennis and track the SIAC champion is determined by a conference meet so the Terre Haute schools and the Evansville schools would not have to play each other in the regular season in those sports. Football games would be played on Friday and you could schedule the conference games in soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball on a Friday and Saturday. The SIAC was looking at expanding but I don't think and schools in Southwest Indiana would be interested in the SIAC at this time other than the Terre Haute schools.
 
So right now you have ENTEK coming to Terre Haute 300-700 new jobs, you have Wabash Valley Resources another 100-200 new jobs.

You have no housing for them and you have shitty ass schools that all need repair. This might be an athletic thread but the conversation has clearly pivoted. This is about a school corporation that needs to figure how they are going to renovate / consolidate a couple high schools, how they are going to curb the enrollment bleed out and how they are going to afford maintenance on way too many buildings.

They are working on things athletically - but I don’t think they are really the same conversation. The - less athletics opportunities case if you combine the two schools is hilarious to me. I think it actually pushes marginal 2 sport athletes to focus on a single sport and excel at that sport rather than be so/so at 2 sports. Ya all gotta find a way to fight the urge to get locked into an old school mindset - the world has changed.
 
eaglepride said:
You are correct and that is why the SIAC rejected the Terre Haute schools application to the SIAC back in 2012 or 2013. If both Terre Haute schools wanted in the SIAC and if the SIAC wanted them it could work out. For example SIAC sports like cross country, Golf, swimming, wrestling, tennis and track the SIAC champion is determined by a conference meet so the Terre Haute schools and the Evansville schools would not have to play each other in the regular season in those sports. Football games would be played on Friday and you could schedule the conference games in soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball on a Friday and Saturday. The SIAC was looking at expanding but I don't think and schools in Southwest Indiana would be interested in the SIAC at this time other than the Terre Haute schools.
Click to expand...
The two they are going to bring in are to the east of Evansville a little over an Hour. Floyd Central and Jeffersonville to be exact.
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
I’ll throw this out there as an unpopular take. Going to one high school in Terre Haute is the wrong approach. Having four smaller high schools would improve student outcomes and provide a more personalized education experience for students.

Wouldn’t do much for athletics, but “mega” schools are ONLY about athletics.

Of course, I don’t have to pay for any of this, so I can just throw stuff out there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top