Next up for North Clay: the NTC?

Tyler Dixon Daily News | Posted: Friday, November 28, 2014 9:00 am
LOUISVILLE When Jason Lewis was named athletic director at North Clay in July, he
already knew what he wanted to work on first.
The North Clay School Board passed a motion 3-1 this month to pursue to join the National
Trail Conference, after discussions at last months board meeting were tabled.
I know when I took over in July, Lewis said. That was one of the things on the top of the

agenda.
The motion was originally tabled because the board wanted Lewis to gather more information
and also look into the cost of the move.
Benjamin Johnson, NTC president and Neoga High School principal, said the first step a school
has to do to be considered for the conference is send the NTC an official request from the
school administration.
Once the official request comes into the conference, the principals of the schools in the NTC
vote. Johnson said the NTC is ran similar to the IHSA meaning the principals have the voting
power. Johnson added all the information must be gathered prior to the vote.
New schools may be admitted by a three-quarters vote of the schools in the conference,

according to the constitution of the NTC.

Every school whether in a co-op or not in the NTC receives a vote. With schools in coops like Windsor and Stew-Stras, and St. Elmo and Brownstown, that would require nine of the
11 schools to vote yes.
At this time, both schools, any high school thats involved right now in the conference,

Johnson said. They get their own individual vote at this point.
Several factors are considered when a team enquirers to join the NTC, Johnson said.
We want to see if theyre a good competitive fit, obviously we dont want schools that are a

lot larger than we are and are going to come in and not fit in well with the competitive nature of
the conference, he said. Were interested in schools with a good fan base.
Johnson said its not imperative, but they look into if the school offers the sports in which they
have conference activities. He said if he team doesnt have fall baseball then that doesnt mean
they wont be considered, but it does play a role.

Since Johnson had been at the helm of the NTC, Teutopolis left the conference starting in 2012,
and Dieterich and South Central have since joined from the Midland Trail Conference, where
North Clay currently plays. He said when those two joined, the schools were allowed to come
to the meeting and present their case to the principals.
Lewis said this move has been in the works for a year and has been rumored for the past four or
five years.
Lewis met with the coaches at North Clay to figure out if they had any interest in leaving the
MTC for the NTC. He said most of the coaches were for it. He first met with the coaches
individually then as a group.
One of the reasons some coaches werent for the move was because of the big gap in consistent
competition.
Once I got to where we were happy with our conversations and we were basically all aligned

and all on the same page, Lewis said. We went ahead and took it too, and put it on the board
agenda.
North Clay wants the move to happen for the 2016-2017 school year. Lewis said this was to
give a one-year courtesy to the coaches in the MTC because schedules are usually made two
years in advance.
Lewis and Johnson each agreed that proximity is important for both sides. Johnson said
proximity is another one of the things considered when a team looks to join the conference.
If we join that conference (NTC), everybodys 20 to 35 miles away as opposed to two teams

that are really close and everybody else is 45 (miles), Lewis said.
Lewis said after going through each team in the NTC and MTC, the mileage is almost the exact
same after a full conference season.
The competition that some of the coaches at North Clay were concerned about was one of the
things that appealed to Lewis. He said in baseball, they might not see a teams best pitcher
because its not a conference game.
Our interest was trying to take care of our kids, Lewis said. Give them the best opportunity

for better competition day in and day out.

Lewis said some say the competition is better in the NTC but in the past few years, the MTC
has had teams advance to the state tournament. Woodlawn has been a stable in IHSA basketball
for the last decade. Woodlawn volleyball went to state this year, and Webber Township took
second in baseball last spring. Lewis said hes spoken to a few coaches in the MTC and told
them that it was in the works.

These are probably two of the best small school conferences in the state, Lewis said.

Leaving the Midland Trail, being the oldest conference in the state, is kind of hard to do.
The NTC has meetings in the fall and early spring, but Johnson said an earlier meeting could be
scheduled.
Depending if theres pressing issues that we need to take care of, I know in the past when

weve had schools that were interested in joining the conference, we have scheduled additional
meetings so that we could make sure we get that taken care of in a timely fashion, Johnson
said.
Now its just a waiting game for Lewis and North Clay.
Were going to get the letter drafted and get it send to the National Trail and well go from

there, Lewis said.