The Northwest Conference...you have the next move

BirdDog10 said:
You have a skewed view of what a "spread out" conference is. Not every league can be the MAC, where you've got 10 similar sized schools within half an hour of each other, or the BVC, where you've got every school that surrounds Findlay (that's going to change very quickly). The NWC has focused on size and competitive value of schools over travel time, and it has kept the league strong and competitive throughout its history
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That could all change when $ start to overtake that mindset. Selfishly, I hope that comes to fruition sooner than later. Funny though how the MAC has been the best league with their model. Yes other factors contribute to that, but it is something to note.
 
Basement Bias said:
That could all change when $ start to overtake that mindset. Selfishly, I hope that comes to fruition sooner than later. Funny though how the MAC has been the best league with their model. Yes other factors contribute to that, but it is something to note.
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Mac has been the best football league for years. Some say the MAC is the best small school football conference in Ohio and beyond. However, the NWC is a very wealthy conference and tradition rich across many sports. Butts in seats. Farm heavy communities (similar to MAC) and strong small school support. Money will be the driving force for multiple teams to potentially move to the NWC. And it will continue to stay spread. My wish is that we go to two sides of a conference, and have 12 schools which minimizes travel with crossovers.
 
ghsknightsfan said:
going to be a strange add if it happens. don’t get this move
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Multiple Putnam County schools (including Leipsic for a short time) have been in the NWC throughout the years. Makes sense from a competitive viewpoint. Strengthens their schedule with other sports (basketball, track) in which they tend to excel in. And they don't have to play schools of a wide variety of sizes. I wasn't aware of the large discrepancy in school sizes across the board in the BVC until Leipsic made it a point to move and made that their main factor.
 
cknights said:
Mac has been the best football league for years. Some say the MAC is the best small school football conference in Ohio and beyond. However, the NWC is a very wealthy conference and tradition rich across many sports. Butts in seats. Farm heavy communities (similar to MAC) and strong small school support. Money will be the driving force for multiple teams to potentially move to the NWC. And it will continue to stay spread. My wish is that we go to two sides of a conference, and have 12 schools which minimizes travel with crossovers.
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The best would be to have some shake ups in existing conferences or have new conferences created. I'd rather see Crestview with GMC schools in the area like WT, Paulding, Antwerp, and some if not all of the Defiance schools in the GMC. Swap Edgerton out and that would be 8 since Holgate is gone. Then add Delphos Jeff & Spencerville. Lincolnview would be the 11th non football. If you wanted 12 for football, the dream would be to have Parkway & DSJ from the MAC (not happening though).
 
cknights said:
Multiple Putnam County schools (including Leipsic for a short time) have been in the NWC throughout the years. Makes sense from a competitive viewpoint. Strengthens their schedule with other sports (basketball, track) in which they tend to excel in. And they don't have to play schools of a wide variety of sizes. I wasn't aware of the large discrepancy in school sizes across the board in the BVC until Leipsic made it a point to move and made that their main factor.
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with Grove and Leipsic both now in the NWC, the northwest conference has half of all football schools in Putnam county! ?
 
Basement Bias said:
Funny though how the MAC has been the best league with their model. Yes other factors contribute to that, but it is something to note.
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The social structure of Mercer County is the factor that makes the MAC what it is. There’s a reason why not a single league in Ohio (or most parts of the country) have been able to recreate their success
 
I think it's a great fit for Leipsic. They saw the writing on the wall and saw an out and took it (pending vote by Leipsic board of course). Itll be interesting to see what the BVC even looks like in 2 years.
 
StateChampion2012 said:
I think it's a great fit for Leipsic. They saw the writing on the wall and saw an out and took it (pending vote by Leipsic board of course). Itll be interesting to see what the BVC even looks like in 2 years.
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You'd think it would be near impossible to survive in it's soon-to-be current state. The question I have is - they knew these issues weren't going away and only getting worse. Why did they not actively try and do something about it? I'm a bit surprised the bigger schools didn't break away on their own and trytoo add a PH, Elmwood, etc. Leipsic was a key cog in the general area of the bigger schools. Big loss IMO.
 
RollingTrain said:
You'd think it would be near impossible to survive in it's soon-to-be current state. The question I have is - they knew these issues weren't going away and only getting worse. Why did they not actively try and do something about it? I'm a bit surprised the bigger schools didn't break away on their own and trytoo add a PH, Elmwood, etc. Leipsic was a key cog in the general area of the bigger schools. Big loss IMO.
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Not sure why they weren't trying to be more proactive. If they do nothing. The league will implode. I dont mind the idea of the rumored league that's on the other Leipsic thread. Let's say Cory-Rawson, Vanlue, Arcadia, and North Baltimore are our of the picture. What 4 could you add really and not have an adverse reaction in multiple other leagues?
 
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Basement Bias said:
You mean genetics. The real difference is the genetics. Everything else can be duplicated in some form.
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Yeah genetics. Also add in median income, graduation rates, percentage of students that go to college, low crime rates, percentage of students with both parents living at home, extremely low divorce rate, rarely ever a home going for sale on the public market without already being spoken for. Yeah, go ahead and try to duplicate everything that makes Mercer county great :rolleyes:
 
RollingTrain said:
You'd think it would be near impossible to survive in it's soon-to-be current state. The question I have is - they knew these issues weren't going away and only getting worse. Why did they not actively try and do something about it? I'm a bit surprised the bigger schools didn't break away on their own and trytoo add a PH, Elmwood, etc. Leipsic was a key cog in the general area of the bigger schools. Big loss IMO.
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Would Carey fit into the BVC?
 
The Dock said:
Would Carey fit into the BVC?
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No one does in its current state.....I highly doubt that they could get anyone to come into the league when 30-40% of the league is an 8-man candidate at this point. The only way would be to go to a two tier division so that Vanlue, Arcadia, Cory-Rawson and probably North Baltimore are together. A nine game football schedule with LB playing those 3 or 4 and losing a non-conference game isn’t going to fly long term.

I don’t see Carey jumping ship now for anything and they certainly wouldn’t go anywhere without Mohawk.
 
BirdDog10 said:
Yeah genetics. Also add in median income, graduation rates, percentage of students that go to college, low crime rates, percentage of students with both parents living at home, extremely low divorce rate, rarely ever a home going for sale on the public market without already being spoken for. Yeah, go ahead and try to duplicate everything that makes Mercer county great :rolleyes:
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The rural areas of Van Wert county seem to do just fine with it. The city of Van Wert doesn't, but they're like Celina in a way. Heck you basically described my alma mater other than a couple of stupid people doing really dumb things recently. Same with our southern rival in the county. Guess it's just because we're so close to Mercer county though.
 
I look for the BVC to keep the 2nd non league game and skip 1 league opponent. (the MAC model)

At least until 1 or more is forced to drop down to 8-man. When that happens the NWCC will get a northern division and Liberty-Benton will spend a few seasons wandering the independent wilderness.
 
bob22 said:
In Northwest Conference facility news, Bluffton's football field got it's yearly application of fish poo fertilizer.
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I saw that the Riley went into the quarry again so was pretty sure the field got a little wet again
 
In a perfect world I think Crestview, Pauliding and Jefferson would be replaced with McComb, Leipsic and Bath. The remaining 8 BVC schools stay together (LB would find somewhere else) and the 3 members who left the NWC could join a conference with teams like Edon, Hilltop, Montpelier, Hicksville, Ayersville, Antwerp and Wayne Trace. Would probably be better for travel and competition.
 
NLLBEST said:
In a perfect world I think Crestview, Pauliding and Jefferson would be replaced with McComb, Leipsic and Bath. The remaining 8 BVC schools stay together (LB would find somewhere else) and the 3 members who left the NWC could join a conference with teams like Edon, Hilltop, Montpelier, Hicksville, Ayersville, Antwerp and Wayne Trace. Would probably be better for travel and competition.
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Paulding has already left for the GMC. In addition, why in the world would a perfect world kick Crestview and Jefferson from the NWC in favor of McComb, Leipsic, and D5 Bath? We added Leipsic without kicking Paulding and Crestview/Jefferson have strong athletic traditions. I would say they both provide top tier sports programs in multiple NWC sports, year in and year out that carry other schools when down and vice versa with other NWC schools. Kind of an off the wall post. Crestview has brought more state championships across the board than any other member over the past 15 years. I'm not sure what competitive landscape you are referring to?

Right now, the BVC is hanging on a thread. I get it. Its a very old and long standing conference. But as the Leipsic AD said, this isn't the 1970s anymore. You have to plan for the future. The imminent threat of multiple BVC members going to 8 man leads one to believe that there will likely be one or two more come to the NWC and the rest of the football schools being absorbed by other conferences, while a few start joining in with the 8 man popup leagues. The BVC's only hope is that schools try to jump ship for "football only" and can stay in tact for other sports.
 
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