Mt. Pleasant, IA- The Southeast Conference (SEC) once had just five teams in the conference before allowing Burlington to join 2020. Now, the SEC looks to become an eight-team conference by the 2028-29 school year with the additions of Oskaloosa and Central Lee. Oskaloosa’s School Board agreed upon the decision in late April after deeming the Little Hawkeye was no longer a good fit.
During that same time, Central Lee’ School Board started their own committee to investigate their move away from the Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC), which is predominantly made up of Class 1A and Class 2A schools, to join the SEC, which would encompass mostly Class 3A competition, to better fit the growing enrollment.
On June 16th, Central Lee requested entry into the Southeast Conference and this past Monday night at a Mt. Pleasant School Board Meeting, Panther Athletic Director Scot Lamm, presented several factors for Central Lee’s admittance into the conference. Here’s the main takeaways:
Slaten: “What are the positives of having Central Lee join the SEC?”
Scot: “Well, proximity is number one. I mean, they’re 20 minutes from us and so, you know, you’ve traveled around and seen enough of our sports teams. That makes a big difference when we’re going 20 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half. You know, they’re a growing district. You know, probably more benefit for them, you know, but our number one is proximity. You know, and then just the ability to get to eight teams is huge. You know, five years ago we were at five teams in our conference and so, just giving our conference a little more validity, you know, helping with scheduling, not having to see schools, you know, two or three times based on the sport. It does allow us to see someone else a little more often… So, it’ll be a great addition for us.”
Slaten: “What are the next steps for Central Lee to be formally admitted?”
Scot: “So, all of this will go to the Conference Realignment Committee, which I’m also on at the state level. Basically, there’s two ways. If our conference completely agrees, which we do, and their conference completely agrees to let them out, which I’m not 100% on that. I don’t want to go on record for that. If both conferences completely agree, then it goes to kind of a fast track model in the conference realignment committee. And there’s not a lot of questions about that. If there’s some reason not to from someone, then that conference realignment committee steps in, looks at everything, and just looks at what makes the most sense, and then ultimately makes that decision. So, regardless, it will come down to the conference realignment committee looking statewide and making sure that this is a good fit and makes sense for everyone, and doesn’t leave anybody else out, you know, and searching, and kind of fills in the gaps across the state, and make sure that things are good for everyone. And then my last question for you, unless I think of one magically, but my last question for you, how exciting is it, you know, like you said, go from five teams just a couple years ago to now having eight teams, you know, kind of expand a little bit further on the map.”
Slaten: “How exciting is this expansion for the SEC?”
Scot: “Well, you know, from an AD’s (Athletic Director) perspective, it’s huge because I got to make a lot less phone calls and begging people to schedule extra games just so that we can get games. And so that’s huge. I honestly think, you know, for our community and the number of things that we are doing and the number of things that our kids are doing, I think our community definitely appreciates the nights that we’re traveling 20 minutes and not so much the nights that we’re traveling an hour and a half. And, you know, again, as you know, you go to those away games where we’re going to Cedar Rapids, you know, there’s just not the fan base that you would have even at a game at Central Lee. So, that makes a difference for our families and for our kids and the kids participating in those to have those closer games and start to develop some rivalries. And, you know, we don’t always have rivalries with schools that we don’t see in every sport. So, it’ll be nice to have both Oskaloosa and Central Lee joining our conference.”
For Oskaloosa it would be a return to the conference after being in the conference from 1968 through 1982 with a brief return for two years in the last 1990s. Central Lee–middle school athletics is scheduled to join the SEC in 2027–is set to leave the SEISC after being there for its inception in 1991, but has really been a member of the Southeast Iowa Conference since 1981.
Still, Lamm says to get used to the variability of conference realignment,
“You know, and this is definitely something, you know, that I’ve learned on that state realignment committee that, you know, it’s happening all over the place and a lot, you know, enrollments are changing all over the state and people are having to adjust to it. So while it’s exciting, it’s new, at the end of the day, you know, this won’t be the last time that the Southeast Conference has a change. I’m sure of that. You know, this may solidify us for, you know, 10 years, who knows? But, you know, it’s happening all the time.”