Ben Davis, Penn leave IHSAA for The Big East Conference
By Howie Baker, THG Sports
College football
conference realignment has caused a shake-up that reverberated throughout the
college ranks this past year. Now it is affecting high schools in Indiana as
well.
An anonymous Ben Davis
official has told The Hoosier Gazette that the athletic directors at Ben Davis
and Penn High Schools in Indiana will soon announce that they will be leaving
the Indiana High School Athletic Association in 2005 to join the NCAA’s Big East
conference in football.
The winners of seven of
the last ten 5A state football championships, Ben Davis and Penn have grow tired
of the lack of competition in the state tournament, says the official, and want
to move to a bigger stage to so they can gain more exposure and share in the
revenue the Big East gets each year as part of its television package.
This move would also
greatly benefit the Big East, who has been scrambling to find teams to replace
Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Miami, all of whom have defected to the
Atlantic Coast Conference. This will allow the Big East to keep their Bowl
Championship Series bid as well as give them room to add two more teams in the
future to make a conference championship game a reality. Other teams Big East
officials are looking at are South Florida, Central Florida, Carmel, and Warren
Central.
Coaches at other 5A
schools in Indiana believe that the move by Penn and Ben Davis is a good one
since it allows a level playing field for the remaining teams. “We go 9-0 in
the regular season and can’t compete with them in the playoffs because they have
three times the students that we have. I hate those bastards! Good riddance to
them!” said one coach who wished to remain unnamed.
