Nevada High School moves toward conference placement

Nevada High School athletic director Kevin McKinley has accomplished his first goal in the long process of finally getting Nevada into a conference. On Dec. 1, McKinley went to Columbia, Mo., along with Nevada R-5 assistant superintendent Tyson Beshore and McDonald County school district officials to attempt to make their case for placing both Nevada and McDonald County high schools into a conference.

They are still far from accomplishing that long-term goal, but the first step of convincing the MSHSAA board of directors to form an ad hoc committee to consider the situation that both Nevada and McDonald County have found themselves stuck in since Neosho, Webb City and Carthage left the Southwest Conference in 2008 has been accomplished. "I am happy to report that we were successful in achieving the next step in this process in that the MSHSAA Board of Directors have agreed to create an Ad Hoc committee to address this issue," McKinley said. "We will again be traveling back to Columbia after the first of the year to make a presentation to this group."

McKinley went to Columbia prepared with a full PowerPoint presentation detailing the dilemma and presenting background documentation that included a plan to remedy the situation. Along with those documents, McKinley took a series of letters from current and former Nevada High School athletes and coaches outlining their desire to be placed in a conference and some of the benefits they saw in the possibility of such placement. According to McKinley, not only did those letters help his case, but they were the first things that the MSHSAA Board of Directors looked at upon beginning the hearing.

At the Nevada R-5 Board of Education's regular monthly meeting on Dec. 8, McKinley said that he is optimistic about the results of the hearing and where things will go from here. He also told the board that the series of letters that he brought with him to the hearing were the first thing MSHSAA officials read.

"I am very appreciative of the letters of support written by many of you to MSHSAA," McKinley said. "To be very honest, it was one of the first things they examined when going through the individual portfolios that I had prepared for the board and the MSHSAA staff."

Nevada's lack of conference affiliation -- as well as that of McDonald County -- began in 2007, when Neosho, Webb City and Carthage left what was then the Southwest Conference to join the Central Ozarks Conference. In the time since then, Nevada has made eight different attempts to obtain a new conference affiliation.

The Big 8 Conference -- which Nevada is now attempting to be placed in by MSHSAA -- has denied Nevada entry three times, while the COC, West Central Conference and Show-Me West Conference each denied entry in 2007. In addition to those attempts to enter already established conferences, Nevada attempted in October 2007, November 2009 and September 2010 to create a new conference without success.

The biggest reason that Nevada and McDonald County have both decided that the Big 8 is the best viable option for conference placement is not only the geographical proximity between both schools and the conference's current members, but also that both have strong historical ties to the conference already.

In 1975, the MSHSHAA Board of Directors placed McDonald County into the Big 8 Conference -- of which Nevada was already a part at the time -- using the same process that McKinley has now employed. In addition to that, both schools already play Big 8 opponents in approximately 105 athletic events per year. The current Big 8 conference includes Lamar, East Newton, Carl Junction, Seneca, Aurora, Cassville, Monett and Mount Vernon. Of those schools, Aurora is the only one Nevada isn't already competing against.

Though the first visit was designed to convince MSHSAA to form an ad hoc committee to address the issue and convince them that the Big 8 is the best choice for conference placement and that goal was accomplished, the committee does not have to recommend the Big 8 even if it does recommend conference placement. McKinley and his fellow administrators will make another trip to Columbia to speak directly to the committee on this issue and present their case once again.

Given the apparent significance of the series of letters that he presented from students and coaches regarding the conference situation at the first meeting in Columbia, McKinley is encouraging anyone who would be interested in aiding the cause to submit more letters that can be presented to the ad hoc committee.

"The more letters I can take to them the better," McKinley told the R-5 board. "I really believe that's an effective thing. Some letters are really heartfelt letters from students and alumni."

Though the process of gaining conference placement is far from over, McKinley said that the steps that have been taken thus far are positive ones and have started the process moving in the most favorable direction possible.

"While we are far from finding a conference home for our students, school and community, we are headed in the right direction thanks to all of our efforts," he said.