SPORTS

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. 

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