Current members of the Central Ozark Conference (COC) have opened the door to further expansion. The COC has invited Camdenton, Lebanon, Rolla, and Waynesville to join the league. The invitation is contingent upon all four of those schools accepting. Lebanon’s school board has already voted to enter the COC.
Alongside those invitations, the COC will invite Springfield Central and Springfield Parkview to join the league for all sports except football.
Read the invitation letter posted on the Lebanon School District website.
If it happens, the expanded league would include 14 teams for football and 16 for all other sports. From the invitation letter:
“The current Athletics Directors for the Central Ozarks Conference, along with Will Christian (AD at Lebanon) will develop the structure and schedule for football for the next two years. Schools will be required to play the schedule provided by the conference with no exceptions for not playing games as decided by the conference. Additionally, the conference will work to develop a fair, two division structure for football that will provide each division with a balanced and blended division of teams, not separated solely by winning percentage, enrollment, or geography. This structure will not be required for Junior High, Freshmen, or JV contests.”
All sports would use the same divisions as football, with the addition of Central and Parkview to create eight-team divisions. Some crossover games may be played between divisions, also.
The COC gave a deadline of 2 pm Monday, October 30, to accept the invitation.