Central Lee board hears pitch for conference shift

DONNELLSON - Central Lee AD Tyler Bryant thinks it makes sense for Central Lee to jump into the Southeast Conference starting in 2028.
Bryant made a thoughtful and data-filled approach to the Central Lee Board of Directors Tuesday morning, including hitting them in the wallet.
Bryant said there would be the potential for significant revenue increases with the move to compete with larger schools like Fort Madison and Keokuk locally, as well as Burlington and the other larger schools of the conference, including Washington, Fairfield, and Mt. Pleasant.
If the move is approved by the board, which took the presentation under advisement and requested a workshop to discuss the idea, Oskaloosa could also be in the mix as they have officially requested to join the conference starting in 2028.
"This idea first came up when Dr. (Andy) Crozier came up to me as soon as I became AD and made me aware our enrollment is growing and, with that, hopefully sports grows with them,” Bryant said.
The move isn't entirely athletics focused, either. Bryant said the Southeast Conference is more engaged with fine arts programming including band and show choir and Central Lee would fit right into those extracurriculars as one of the few in the current Southeast Iowa Super Conference that participates in those activities. Bryant went so far as to say Central Lee could actually take a leadership role with facilities available on the Donnellson campus.
“We’re being pretty open about this,” Bryant said.
He said there are several driving factors for the move.
“The big one is playing opportunities for our developmental levels. A lot of our sports, we have numerous teams that are jam packed full of kids, but they're limited to potentially one game against other schools, such as boys' and girls' basketball.
“That’s a big driving factor for me because that's going to naturally provide more opportunities, which will potentially get more kids into our programs because they see it as a worthwhile investment of their time.”
He said fiscal responsibility is also a driving factor.

The Southeast Conference gives the hosting school the revenue for the event. The downside is the host school has to also pay for the event. He said there is a huge difference in how the conference handles payments, and then travel distances and scheduling becomes a cost savings factor, as well, playing more games closer to home. The farthest they would travel in conference play in the SEC would be Oskaloosa if they are officially invited to play in the conference. Those games would be about 93 miles away. With Burlington, Fairfield, and Washington in the mix, many of the Hawks' games would be within an hour from the school.
Bryant said Central Lee is already the outlier in the Super Conference as the largest school. They are also a top 3 school in Class 2A according to state school enrollment numbers.
Crozier said Central Lee was actually projected to move to 3A this year in golf, but other schools in 2A and 3A had movement last year which kept the Hawks in 2A.  Crozier serves on the state’s Conference Realignment Committee, which would have to sign off on the shift.
The move would require the other schools in the conference to agree to accept the Hawks and Bryant said one school, who he declined to name, could be opposed. However, his opinion is that it would be unanimous because the move makes sense to others in the conference, as well, especially with regard to Central Lee’s established fine arts programs.
Keokuk could be the school to initially oppose the move. Last month the Keokuk school district sent a letter asking for conversations around consolidation of districts and were met with heavy resistance from Central Lee, specifically Crozier, who said Central Lee wouldn’t be interested in inheriting Keokuk’s financial struggles. 
Bryant said now is the time to have the conversations. In the event the board does agree with proposal, the district would have to send letters and possibly schedule a hearing with the realignment committee if the vote of other Southeast Conference schools isn’t unanimous.
Football, cross country, and track aren’t really factors because Central Lee can schedule track meets where they want, and football is district oriented, and not conference.
Bryant said winning conference championships with Southeast isn’t as important as developing athletes to compete better on a state level.
He specifically cited the boys' basketball teams run this year where he scheduled Keokuk and West Hancock the same week and got some questions from district parents on playing both those schools. Bryant said to develop more competitive athletes, the district needs to schedule more games like that, and joining the Southeast Conference would help with that dynamic.
Central Lee would be the smallest school in the conference, but Bryant is convinced they will be competitive out of the gate in many sports, and in some, there will be some growing pains.
“We can match up with these schools, otherwise I wouldn’t see this as a viable option,” he said.