North Central Conference reaches out to Harrison, Lafayette Jeff and McCutcheon

Harrison, Lafayette Jeff and McCutcheon released a joint statement on Tuesday saying they had been contacted by the North Central Conferenceabout possible conference affiliation.

The statement, written by Lafayette Jeff Principal Jeff Studebaker, said the NCC contacted each of the three schools last Wednesday to inform them it was interested in discussion conference expansion. It also said all three schools responded to the NCC with a letter confirming their interest in participating in those discussions.

Current members of the North Central Conference include Anderson, Huntington North, Logansport, Kokomo, Marion, Muncie Central, New Castle and Richmond. Lafayette Jeff was a longtime member of the NCC before leaving for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference in the mid-2000s. All of those schools are Class 4A or 5A in football and 3A or 4A in the four-class sports.

The announcement comes as the seven Indianapolis-area Hoosier Crossroads Conference schools, of which Harrison, Lafayette Jeff and McCutcheon are also members, have begun discussions with the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference about formation of a possible “mega conference” or some other affiliation. The three Tippecanoe County schools were not involved in those discussions.

“As the events of the past several months have unfolded, it has become very clear that the metro-Indianapolis schools in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference (HCC) have been engaged in serious discussions pertaining to their continued participation within the conference,” Tuesday’s statement read.

“The ensuing instability with the HCC has caused several conferences in central Indiana to evaluate their needs and circumstances. On Wednesday November 14, 2012, Harrison High School, Jefferson High School, and McCutcheon High School were all individually contacted by the North Central Conference (NCC). The purpose of the contact was to inform those three schools that the North Central Conference is interested in discussing expansion of their conference. Further, they wanted to share that if we are interested in discussing that expansion with them that we should send them a letter of intent to discuss that expansion with them.

“Harrison, Jefferson, and McCutcheon have all sent the NCC letters stating that we are willing to discuss a possible expansion of their conference. It should be emphasized that at this point, that Harrison, Jefferson, McCutcheon, and the North Central Conference have only decided to speak with one another about a possible expansion of the NCC…no other decisions have been reached.”