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Iowa - Little Hawkeye Conference expansion?

EagleHawk

HB Heisman
Jan 16, 2002
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Will be interesting to see how many schools, if any, accept this offer. Maybe they should also throw out an offer to Waverly Shell Rock. :)


The schools of the Little Hawkeye Conference are looking to expand the high school sports league. In a statement issued Monday morning, invitations have been extended to Ames, Urbandale, Knoxville, Nevada, Des Moines Christian, PCM, and Van Meter to compete with Pella, Pella Christian, Indianola, Norwalk, Newton, DCG, and Oskaloosa.

Knoxville left the Little Hawkeye Conference before the 2014-15 school year and has been in the South Central Conference since. They issued a response following the report:

“Knoxville Community School District has been invited to join the Little Hawkeye Conference. We are honored by this invitation even though we are not looking to move from the South Central Conference. This invitation includes future opportunities to learn more about their vision to expand the Little Hawkeye Conference into two divisions and does not require a decision to be made at this time. If Knoxville were to consider this option in the future, stakeholders will have the ability to offer input before recommendations and decisions are made.”

The Urbandale School Board has been exploring leaving in the Central Iowa Metro League. All of the invited schools would need to vote of approval from their boards to join the league.

“On behalf of the Little Hawkeye Conference, we are excited to announce our invitation to Ames, Urbandale, Knoxville, Nevada, Des Moines Christian, PCM, and Van Meter to join our conference. This invitation reflects our collective commitment to fostering growth, strengthening community bonds, and enhancing opportunities for our students across academic, athletic, and fine arts programs.

The Little Hawkeye Conference has a long-standing tradition of excellence, with a deep focus on developing student-athletes, supporting coaches, and building strong educational communities. We are proud of the partnerships we have built within our conference and the success we’ve seen in providing enriched experiences for our students and families.

As we explore the possibility of expanding our conference, we recognize that each of the invited schools would bring unique strengths and shared values that would contribute to the continued success of the Little Hawkeye Conference. By joining our conference, these schools would be part of an exceptional network dedicated to collaboration, competition, and the development of the whole student.

We look forward to the continued conversations with these schools and to the exciting potential this expansion brings for all involved. Together, we can continue our tradition of excellence while creating new opportunities for growth and success for every student, athlete, and community member.

Sincerely,
The Little Hawkeye Conference Schools”


 
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I don't see how Urbandale fits.
They’d fit perfectly…they are never getting any bigger as they have been “land-locked” the past decade….Pella, Newton (a natural/old Urbandale rival), Norwalk (but soon they will be too big), Osky, Indianola would be much better levels of competition for Urbandale… DC-Grimes, too. Ames, Nevada, Van Meter, PCM would be good fits too…Pella Christian, perhaps. PC would fit better in a conference with Knoxville, Chariton, Albia and the like…my opinion only..I know Knoxville nixed the invite rather quickly.
 
I played in that conference. I remember losiing to Johnston that won 3a Championship. Johnston beat the 4a champion, Ankeny, during regular season play.

Still say Korver was one of the best the conference had
 
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They’d fit perfectly…they are never getting any bigger as they have been “land-locked” the past decade….Pella, Newton (a natural/old Urbandale rival), Norwalk (but soon they will be too big), Osky, Indianola would be much better levels of competition for Urbandale… DC-Grimes, too. Ames, Nevada, Van Meter, PCM would be good fits too…Pella Christian, perhaps. PC would fit better in a conference with Knoxville, Chariton, Albia and the like…my opinion only..I know Knoxville nixed the invite rather quickly.
What about Boone? I don't see them mentioned.
 
They’d fit perfectly…they are never getting any bigger as they have been “land-locked” the past decade….Pella, Newton (a natural/old Urbandale rival), Norwalk (but soon they will be too big), Osky, Indianola would be much better levels of competition for Urbandale… DC-Grimes, too. Ames, Nevada, Van Meter, PCM would be good fits too…Pella Christian, perhaps. PC would fit better in a conference with Knoxville, Chariton, Albia and the like…my opinion only..I know Knoxville nixed the invite rather quickly.
Of course they'd fit perfectly, that's why the Board voted "no" to the invitation.

And it's why kids will continue to open enroll OUT of Urbandale.
The parent survey showed a majority wanted to leave the CIML. But the AD got in the ear of board members because he doesn't want to have to schedule new "out of conference" games if they joined the Little Hawkeye.

They can't compete with the Waukees/Ankeny/!Johnston/SEP/Dowling/Valley and the upperclassmen get sick of losing and quit...a never ending cycle that consistently sees freshmen/sophomores playing varsity and the results show that.
 
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They can’t compete so they are giving up.
Very ignorant comment, I'm sorry.

BTW...it did sound like Urbandale might change their vote if Little Hawkeye got to 10 teams. With Ames, they'll be at 8.
So...Urbandale would be 9, meaning one more school coming in could get to Urbandale's magic number?
 
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They can’t compete so they are giving up.
They can compete but it’s a simple numbers game now in the ‘burbs and Urbandale Schools just don’t have the numbers the other ‘burbs have. Urbandale can compete with the Metro schools but they are dwarfed by Johnson, DC-G, Waukee, WDSM, SEPolk, Norwalk and even ADM.
it’s not a matter of “giving up” but more of finding a level playing field.
 
Very ignorant comment, I'm sorry.

BTW...it did sound like Urbandale might change their vote if Little Hawkeye got to 10 teams. With Ames, they'll be at 8.
So...Urbandale would be 9, meaning one more school coming in could get to Urbandale's magic number?
Sounded like to be they were looking at a lot bigger than 10…Rumors are that DC-G will soon be ready for 5A (biggest class) sports and will be moving conferences in a few years…
Pella Christian is not a football player in that conference…
Currently the conference is Newton, Osky, Pella, Pella Christian, Newton, Indianola and DC-G. I think Waverly-Shell Rock is literally, a bridge too far.
 
Sounded like to be they were looking at a lot bigger than 10…Rumors are that DC-G will soon be ready for 5A (biggest class) sports and will be moving conferences in a few years…
Pella Christian is not a football player in that conference…
Currently the conference is Newton, Osky, Pella, Pella Christian, Newton, Indianola and DC-G. I think Waverly-Shell Rock is literally, a bridge too far.
Mostly agree, and I know you meant to include Norwalk rather than Newton 2X.
And yes, DCG and Norwalk will be large school in 5 years.
Regarding Urbandale and their inability to be competitive in athletics...their youth programs mostly suck, in part, because they refuse to get semi serious before 6th grade.
Both my grandsons from Urbandale wanted to play tackle football by 4th grade, so they played for non Urbandale teams.
They are both seriously wanting to open enroll away from Urbandale because they are extremely competitive and Urbandale is basically a 3A school for talent. In other words...there are only 3-4 kids in each grade that are eventual varsity material.
Until Urbandale makes a commitment to a youth program, they will NEVER be competitive in the CIML.
Top athletes from Urbandale are going to the Waukees/Valley/Dowling/Johnston/DCGs of the world.
 
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Mostly agree, and I know you meant to include Norwalk rather than Newton 2X.
And yes, DCG and Norwalk will be large school in 5 years.
Regarding Urbandale and their inability to be competitive in athletics...their youth programs mostly suck, in part, because they refuse to get semi serious before 6th grade.
Both my grandsons from Urbandale wanted to play tackle football by 4th grade, so they played for non Urbandale teams.
They are both seriously wanting to open enroll away from Urbandale because they are extremely competitive and Urbandale is basically a 3A school for talent. In other words...there are only 3-4 kids in each grade that are eventual varsity material.
Until Urbandale makes a commitment to a youth program, they will NEVER be competitive in the CIML.
Top athletes from Urbandale are going to the Waukees/Valley/Dowling/Johnston/DCGs of the world.
A lot if it goes back decades to when the district boundaries were drawn. Way too many “Urbandale” addresses were included in the WDSM district as long as 50 years ago… Urbandale was content to be a “3A” school while other districts ( namely Johnston) were being very aggressive with their district borders.
It is what it is. But Urbandale has hamstrung itself by fencing itself in, years ago.
 
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Sounded like to be they were looking at a lot bigger than 10…Rumors are that DC-G will soon be ready for 5A (biggest class) sports and will be moving conferences in a few years…
Pella Christian is not a football player in that conference…
Currently the conference is Newton, Osky, Pella, Pella Christian, Newton, Indianola and DC-G. I think Waverly-Shell Rock is literally, a bridge too far.
I'm sure WSR would be a good fit as far as competition but they would geographically be a huge outlier.

Funding for all the extra travel??
 
It's just weird to me, cause the Scruvs were always our (Johnston's) rival. But I'm old and times have changed. I should think they could just as well have Urbandale addresses go to Urbandale school, but that's too logical.

High school sports should not be as complex or messed up as they are.
 
It's just weird to me, cause the Scruvs were always our (Johnston's) rival. But I'm old and times have changed. I should think they could just as well have Urbandale addresses go to Urbandale school, but that's too logical.

High school sports should not be as complex or messed up as they are.
Johnston was lucky to have Louis Friestad as their Supervvack in the 60-70’s… the guy was aggressive in extending the Johnston school boundaries and his aggressiveness has paid huge dividends to Johnston Schools. He was 40 years ahead of his time. He was a good one. I hope the folks of Johnston appreciate his work in making the district what is is today those many years ago.,
 
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Johnston was lucky to have Louis Friestad as their Supervvack in the 60-70’s… the guy was aggressive in extending the Johnston school boundaries and his aggressiveness has paid huge dividends to Johnston Schools. He was 40 years ahead of his time. He was a good one. I hope the folks of Johnston appreciate his work in making the district what is is today those many years ago.,
Yep. They built Hoover as the newest Metro school but then Johnston took all the land around it. So like Urbandale Hoover was screwed.
 
Johnston was lucky to have Louis Friestad as their Supervvack in the 60-70’s… the guy was aggressive in extending the Johnston school boundaries and his aggressiveness has paid huge dividends to Johnston Schools. He was 40 years ahead of his time. He was a good one. I hope the folks of Johnston appreciate his work in making the district what is is today those many years ago.,


Smart dude. But I still hate Johnston athletics. Every Boone kid did
 
Sounded like to be they were looking at a lot bigger than 10…Rumors are that DC-G will soon be ready for 5A (biggest class) sports and will be moving conferences in a few years…
Pella Christian is not a football player in that conference…
Currently the conference is Newton, Osky, Pella, Pella Christian, Newton, Indianola and DC-G. I think Waverly-Shell Rock is literally, a bridge too far.
Football is not played by conference anymore. It is districts. DCG end Norwalk are both in 5A now.
 
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