New conference talks under way for Nevada, other area schools
The preliminary discussions are over and now Nevada R-5 superintendent Craig Noah, Brian Thomsen, Nevada High School principal, and Kevin McKinley, athletic director, are anxiously waiting to hear from the Butler, El Dorado Springs, Lamar and Warsaw school districts about forming a new conference.
Wednesday the superintendents, principals and athletic directors from each school met in Nevada to discuss their options.
Craig Noah said that the school superintendents were going to talk to their school boards and let him know.
"We should know in a week or a week and a half," Noah said Wednesday afternoon.
"This looks like our last chance to join a conference," he said.
Noah said that he gives this a 50-50 chance of happening.
If these schools do not form a new conference, Noah said that Nevada's will petition the Missouri State High School Activities Admin-istration to place them in a conference. Since that process takes a long time, Nevada will face the 2008 school year as an independent school and may have trouble finding teams to play.
Noah said that he has talked to the MSHSAA and they are aware of the situation.
Nevada, as well as McDonald County, have been looking for a new conference since Webb City, Carthage and Neosho decided to leave the five-member Southwest Conference earlier this year. Webb City moved to the Central Ozark Conference so they would have less trouble filling their football schedule and Carthage and Neosho decided to move to the COC as well.
Nevada and McDonald County were both turned down by the Big Eight Conference, which Lamar belongs to now, and the COC when they asked to join. Nevada has also attempted to join other conferences in western Missouri without success.
McDonald County superintendent Dr. Randy Smith told reporters last week that. for them, "things look pretty bleak. The Big 8 was about the only real option. We can't go into Arkansas or Oklahoma for a conference. We met with the COC, but we were never invited and it really wasn't a good option for us because of the distance."
Smith noted the distance would involve kids who live as far away as Southwest City or in Powell to travel exceptionally long distances for games on school nights and would likely be getting home late that evening or the early morning hours.
'That (being part of the COC) would have been tough for us to do," said Smith. "We would've been happy if the Big 8 found reasons to let us in. But it shouldn't be the Big 8's fault. I just really thought we would get into the Big 8."
With the COC's vote behind them, McDonald County athletic director and head football coach Jeff Wilkie will have to piece together a schedule as an independent.
Recently the Show-Me West Conference, which Butler belongs to and El Dorado Springs was going to join next year, had several schools leave for other conferences, leaving Butler and El Dorado Springs looking at their options.
"I'm very disappointed, number one, that the Southwest Conference disbanded," said Smith. "I'm upset for our students and kids in McDonald County that can't be part of a conference."
According to Noah, Warsaw administrators are concerned about several schools in their conference leaving in the future and members of the Lamar school board have expressed an interest in moving to a different conference as well.
Cody Thorn of the Neosho Daily News contributed to this story.