Here's why three schools are leaving the Western Indiana Conference
The Western Indiana Conference lineup will be shrinking some more after Greencastle and Cascade decided to join North Putnam in bolting for a new league started by five ex-Sagamore Conference members. It will begin play in 2025-26.
Greencastle announced its vote last Monday, not long after Cascade, which left the WIC in 2019 to join the Indiana Crossroads Conference, then changed its mind and asked to rejoin the WIC next year, has given league members whiplash by backing out again.
It leaves the WIC, for now, with nine members heading into the 2025-26 school year.
"We really haven't had a meeting yet or even a general discussion about it," Edgewood athletic director Jerry Bland said. But he noted there will be a regular scheduled league meeting soon and it's certain the topic will be addressed. Expansion, even adding one more team would be difficult without further stretching the league that sees an 80-mile distance between its eastern- and western-most schools.
"It's kind of a shame because I thought we had a competitive league. We still will, but it will make it pretty interesting. Some of those teams will still stay on our schedules, but they've got to take care of their own and we'll do the same."
The WIC was born in 1999 of the West Central Conference that included Edgewood, Owen Valley, Cascade, Cloverdale, Danville, Greencastle, Monrovia, North Putnam, South Putnam and Tri-West. That group splintered, with Danville and Tri-West joining the Sagamore Conference and Edgewood and Owen Valley joining South Vermillion (which left the Wabash River Conference) and former independents Brown County, Northview, Sullivan and West Vigo.
The WIC has schools competing at all four levels in class sports and at the 1, 2, 3 and 4A levels in football but was first split into East and West Divisions. Those were eventually eliminated and for football only, the league split into two divisions, putting the smaller six schools in the Green Division, the bigger six in the Gold, to put teams on a more even footing.
That's why returning to an eight-game round-robin is highly unlikely, especially since Brown County dropped Indian Creek this year with the rivalry becoming increasingly bitter. Cascade's departure left five in the Gold. Greencastle and North Putnam were in the Green Division, leaving four teams: Brown County, South Putnam, Cloverdale and West Vigo.
Edgewood added Cascade in Week 3 in anticipation of the Cadets' return while Owen Valley has Cascade and Greencastle on its schedule in Week 8 this year. Volleyball, tennis, basketball, baseball and softball all currently have a 10-game round-robin schedule.
More: Bloomington North volleyball shows poise vs. Edgewood: 'They just attack, attack, attack'
"Football I'm not sure of but it's going to be some work," Bland said, noting former AD Mick Hammett had a schedule set three or four years out. Those will need some adjustment now. "There will be some shuffling there, but we're one of the least affected by those three."
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X (Twitter) @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Big changes coming to the Western Indiana Conference
