Western Indiana Conference

The red county is Vermillion county which left the conference in 2016. The yellow counties show current member counties and the schools are reoresented by blue dots. The one in Putnam county to the left is South Putnam High School.

The Western Indiana Conference is the name of two IHSAA-sanctioned conferences based in West Central Indiana. The first formed as an eight-team league that formed as a basketball league in 1944 as the West Central Conference.^[1] The league started expanding in 1945 and changed its name to the Western Indiana Conference. With consolidation forcing many membership changes in the 1970s (including all the Terre Haute public schools), the conference folded at four members in 1983.

The second incarnation started in 1999, including four previous members (or their current incarnations) from the old conference, and three other schools from South Central Indiana. Its only change in membership in its first 16 years was in football, where South Vermilion played independently for the 2007 and 2008 seasons before rejoining the conference. March 2014 marked a sea change for the conference, as what originally was an invite for Greencastle turned into inviting the remaining five teams of the West Central Conference to join.^[2] All seven WIC schools and all five WIC schools voted to expand the conference into 2015, making a 12 team, two division league.^[3]

In the 2016-2017 school year South Vermilion will leave the WIC and rejoin the Wabash River Conference. Indian Creek will leave the Mid-Hoosier Conference and join the WIC in the fall of 2016 to keep the WIC at an even 12-teams after South Vermilion's departure.

Members

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Enrollment	IHSAA Class FB	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference
Brown County	Nashville	Eagles		755	AAA AAA	7 Brown	1999	Mid-Hoosier
Cascade	Clayton	Cadets		495	AA AA	33 Hendricks	2015	West Central
Cloverdale	Cloverdale	Clovers		408	AA AA	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Edgewood	Ellettsville	Mustangs		833	AAA AAAA	53 Monroe	1999	West Central
Greencastle	Greencastle	Tiger Cubs		611	AAA AAA	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
North Putnam	Roachdale	Cougars		532	AA AA	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Northview	Brazil	Knights		1,142	AAA AAAA	11 Clay	1999	independent
Owen Valley	Spencer	Patriots		908	AAA AAAA	60 Owen	1999	West Central
South Vermilion	Clinton	Wildcats		523 [4]	AAA AA	83 Vermilion	1999	Wabash River
South Putnam	Greencastle	Eagles		394	AA A	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Sullivan	Sullivan	Golden Arrows		543	AA AAA	77 Sullivan	1999	Tri-River
West Vigo	West Terre Haute	Vikings		640	AAA AAA	84 Vigo	1999	independent
Indian Creek	Trafalgar	Braves		599	AAA AAA	41 Johnson	2016	Mid-Hoosier

Past Members (1999-2015)

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference	Year Departed	Conference Joined
South Vermillion	Clinton	Wildcats		83 Vermillion	1999	Wabash River	2016	Wabash River

Divisions

2015-16		2016-
East	West	East	West
Brown County	Greencastle	Brown County	Greencastle
Cascade	Northview	Cascade	North Putnam
Cloverdale	South Putnam	Cloverdale	Northview
Edgewood	South Vermilion	Edgewood	South Putnam
North Putnam	Sullivan	Indian Creek	Sullivan
Owen Valley	West Vigo	Owen Valley	West Vigo

Old Conference Membership

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference	Year Left	Conference Joined
Brazil	Brazil	Red Devils		11 Clay	1944	Wabash Valley	1982	Independents (consolidated into Northview 1984)
Garfield	Terre Haute	Purple Eagles		84 Vigo	1944	Wabash Valley	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute North)
Gerstmeyer Tech	Terre Haute	Black Cats		84 Vigo	1944	Wabash Valley	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute North)
Linton-Stockton^1	Linton	Miners		28 Greene	1944	Southern Indiana/ Wabash Valley	1974	SW Indiana
State Lab^2	Terre Haute	Little Sycamores		84 Vigo	1944	Wabash Valley	1978	none (school closed)
South Vermillion^3	Clinton	Wildcats		83 Vermillion	1944	Wabash Valley	1982	Wabash River
Sullivan^4	Sullivan	Golden Arrows		77 Sullivan	1944	Southern Indiana/ Wabash Valley	1982	Independents (TRC 1986)
Wiley	Terre Haute	Red Streaks		84 Vigo	1944	Wabash Valley	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute South)
Honey Creek	Allendale	Honey Bees		84 Vigo	1945	Wabash Valley	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute South)
Greencastle	Greencastle	Tiger Cubs		67 Putnam	1949	South Central	1977	West Central
Jasonville	Jasonville	Yellow Jackets		28 Greene	1949		1963	none (consolidated into Shakamak)
Union High	Dugger	Bulldogs		77 Sullivan	1950		1958	Independents (TRC 1965)
Lebanon	Lebanon	Tigers		06 Boone	<1951		1967	Sagamore
Schulte^5	Terre Haute	Golden Bears		84 Vigo	1953	none (new school)	1977	none (school closed)
West Vigo	West Terre Haute	Vikings		84 Vigo	1960	none (new school)	1982	Independent (WIC 1999)
Shakamak	Jasonville	Lakers		28 Greene	1963	none (new school)	1964	Tri-River
North Knox	Bicknell	Warriors		42 Knox	1977	Blue Chip	1981	Independents (BCC 1986)

1. Linton-Stockton played concurrentily in the WIC and the SIAC from 1944 to 1951.
2. State played concurrently in the WIC and the Tri-River Conference from 1964 to 1978.
3. South Vermillion was known as Clinton until 1977. The smaller schools in southern Vermillion County had consolidated into Clinton by 1963, but the school did not change its name right away (and kept Clinton's school colors and nickname), so this is considered a name change rather than an actual consolidation of schools.
4. Sullivan played concurrently in the WIC and the SIAC from 1944 to 1962.
5. Schulte played concurrently in the WIC and the Tri-River from 1964 to 1977.

References

1. "8 Schools Join Wabash League". Hammond Times, Hammond, IN. 1944-11-19. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
2. "Future May Include Expansion Of Western Indiana Conference Field". Hoosier Topics. 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
3. "Western Indiana Conference to Expand to 12 Schools". Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, IN. 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
4. http://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/quick%20resources/Enrollments%2014151617.pdf

http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/2071979.html

Resources

• IHSAA Conferences
• IHSAA Directory