Sagamore Conference Explained

Sagamore Athletic Conference
Map:Indiana (SAG).png
League:IHSAA
Founded:1966
Teams:8
Website:https://www.sagamoreconference.com
Mens:10
Womens:10, and unified: 1

Sagamore Conference is an eight-member IHSAA sanctioned athletic conference comprising 2A and 3A and sized schools in Clinton, Boone, Hendricks, and Montgomery Counties in Central Indiana.

The Sagamore Conference was founded in 1966 in Lebanon, Indiana, with a meeting between school officials from Brownsburg, Carmel, Crawfordsville, Frankfort, Lebanon, and Noblesville. The founders selected the name "Sagamore" after the Abnaki Indian tribe's name for "chief".[1] The conference remained stable until Carmel withdrew in 1973 to establish themselves with other schools in then-class AAA and Noblesville followed suit in 1979. This did not stop the Sagamore, however, as North Montgomery was added in 1975, Western Boone in 1981, and Southmont in 1984. Brownsburg departed in 1985.

In 1995, the Sagamore executive council considered expansion. Several schools were mentioned but only two submitted written applications for membership. Starting in 1998, the Sagamore was engaged in discussions with Danville to become the seventh member of the conference and Tri-West was contacted joined the Sagamore to bring the league to eight members. Formally announced in the winter of 1998–1999, the Sagamore conference expanded to eight members. Since then, the conference membership remained stable despite conference realignment around the west central Indiana region the witnessed the formation and disbandment of many different conferences.

In 2023, serious discussions took place among the Sagamore schools outside of the Indianapolis metropolitan loop about forming a new athletic conference. Montgomery County schools had been in contact with Putnam County schools Cloverdale, Greencastle, North Putnam, and South Putnam about the formation of a new league.[2] On May 10, 2023, citing enrollment and competitive balance, five Sagamore schools in Crawfordsville, Frankfort, North Montgomery, Southmont, and Western Boone notified the Sagamore Conference of their intent to separate from the Sagamore and form a new conference with a sixth member school to start as early as the 2024-2025 academic year but no later than the 2026-2027 academic year.[3] Danville, Lebanon, and Tri-West will retain the Sagamore Conference name and history and will leave the conference with three member schools.

In early 2024, it was announced that both Harrison and McCutcheon would join the three remaining Sagamore schools, bringing conference membership to 5. This represents a dramatic shift in conference demographics, as both of the new schools are larger than the three remainders. It also represents a change in conference geography, as both Harrison and McCutcheon are located in West Lafayette, Indiana.

On May 7, 2024, it was announced that Tri-West would depart the Sagamore Conference in 2026-27 and create a new conference being joined by Western Indiana Conference member Indian Creek and the four public schools in the Indiana Crossroads Conference: Beech Grove, Monrovia, Speedway, and Triton Central.

Membership

Members departing for the Monon Athletic Conference on July 1, 2025.
Members departing for the Hoosier Legends Conference in 2026-27

SchoolLocationMascotColorsEnrollmentIHSAA ClassCountyYear joinedPrevious conference
CrawfordsvilleCrawfordsvilleAthenians6963A54
Montgomery
1967
DanvilleDanvilleWarriors7663A32
Hendricks
1999West Central
FrankfortHot Dogs8934A12
Clinton
1967North Central
LebanonLebanonTigers1,0014A06
Boone
1967Western Indiana
North
Montgomery
CrawfordsvilleChargers5493A54
Montgomery
1974Wabash River
SouthmontNew MarketMounties4872A54
Montgomery
1985Wabash River
Tri-WestLiztonBruins6253A32
Hendricks
1999West Central
Western
Boone
ThorntownStars5113A06
Boone
1983

Future members

SchoolLocationMascotColorsCountyYear joiningPrevious conference
West Lafayette
Harrison
West LafayetteRaiders79
Tippecanoe
2025North Central
McCutcheonLafayetteMavericks79
Tippecanoe
2025North Central

Former members

SchoolLocationMascotColorsCountyYear joinedPrevious conferenceYear leftConference joined
BrownsburgBrownsburgBulldogs32
Hendricks
1967Mid-State1985Central Suburban
CarmelCarmelGreyhounds29
Hamilton
1967Capital District1974Olympic
NoblesvilleNoblesvilleMillers29
Hamilton
1967Independents
(HCC 1965)
1980Central Suburban

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20Period = from:1967 till:2026TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white

PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:red from:1967 till:1985 text:Brownsburg (1967–1985) bar:2 color:red from:1967 till:1974 text:Carmel (1967–1974) bar:3 color:red from:1967 till:2024 text:Crawfordsville (1967–2024) bar:4 color:red from:1967 till:2024 text:Frankfort (1967–2024) bar:5 color:red from:1967 till:end text:Lebanon (1967–present) bar:6 color:red from:1967 till:1980 text:Noblesville (1967–1980) bar:7 color:red from:1975 till:2024 text:North Montgomery (1975–2024) bar:8 color:red from:1982 till:2024 text:Western Boone (1982–2024) bar:9 color:red from:1985 till:2024 text:Southmont (1985–2024) bar:10 color:red from:1999 till:end text:Danville (1999–present) bar:11 color:red from:1999 till:2026 text:Tri-West Hendricks (1999–2026) bar:12 color:red from:2025 till:end text:Harrison (2025-present) bar:13 color: red from:2025 till:end text:McCutcheon (2025-present)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1970

TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(175,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Sagamore Conference Membership History"

Conference championships

Football

Team Seasons
10 Danville 1999, 2000*, 2001, 2002, 2005*, 2007, 2012*, 2017, 2020, 2021
10 Western Boone 1987*, 1988, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2012*, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022*
9 Tri-West 2003, 2004, 2005*, 2012*, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2022*, 2023
7 Crawfordsville 1968, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1985*, 1989, 1991
7 Noblesville 1969, 1970*, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979
6 Lebanon 1976, 1983*, 1985*, 1992, 1993, 2006
6 North Montgomery 1986, 1987*, 1994, 1995*, 1996, 2008
5 Brownsburg 1973, 1980, 1981, 1983*, 1984
4 Frankfort 1970*, 1987*, 1995*, 2000*
3 Southmont 2009, 2010, 2011
1 Carmel 1970*

Boys basketball

Team Seasons
30 Lebanon 1970, 1974*, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985*, 1986, 1987*, 1988, 1989, 1990*, 1991, 1992, 1997*, 1998, 1999, 2001*, 2002*, 2003*, 2004*, 2005*, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016*, 2022*, 2023
14 Danville 2002*, 2003*, 2004*, 2005*, 2008, 2009*, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016*, 2017*, 2020, 2021, 2024
13 Frankfort 1971, 1974*, 1977, 1979, 1985*, 1990*, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997*, 2000, 2001*, 2009*
5 Crawfordsville 1968*, 1973, 1974*, 1987*, 2019*
4 North Montgomery 1990*, 2006, 2007, 2009*
4 Tri-West 2016*, 2017*, 2018, 2019*
3 Carmel 1968*, 1969, 1972
1 Brownsburg 1981
1 Noblesville 1980
1 Southmont 2022*
1 Western Boone 1993

Girls basketball

Team Seasons
16 Lebanon 1981*, 1989*, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001*, 2003*, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014*, 2015, 2016
9 Frankfort 1985*, 1989*, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2001*, 2002
8 Danville 2003*, 2004, 2017*, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024
6 North Montgomery 1979, 1980, 1981*, 1985*, 1988, 1989*
5 Western Boone 1986*, 1996, 1997, 2010, 2014*
3 Brownsburg 1982, 1983, 1984
3 Crawfordsville 1987, 2008, 2009
3 Tri-West 2017*, 2021, 2022
2 Southmont 1986*, 1994
0 Noblesville

State championships

Crawfordsville (7)

Frankfort (4)

Lebanon (4)

North Montgomery (2)

Tri-West Hendricks (5)

Western Boone (4)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020-03-17 . History – Sagamore Conference Athletics . 2023-05-21 . en-US.
  2. Web site: 2023-03-13 . CCSC superintendent discusses proposed state funding changes . 2023-05-21 . Journal Review . en.
  3. Web site: Western Boone to leave Sagamore Conference, will form new six-team league . 2023-05-21 . The Indianapolis Star . en-US.