Ottumwa opting out of CIML?

Mar. 1—Ottumwa may be on the verge of leaving the Central Iowa Metropolitan League in favor of a brand-new 10-school league starting with the 2022-23 academic school year.

In a letter obtained by the Des Moines Register on Monday sent to the superintendents and athletic directors of all CIML schools. Ottumwa, Ames, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Mason City and the Des Moines Public Schools (Hoover, North, Roosevelt, Lincoln, East) are seeking a new league seperate from the current CIML structure. The letter, written by Marshalltown Community School District Superintendent Theron J. Schutte, would create a new league where "students can have a more equitable and successful interscholastic experience."

"All one has to do is look at the long history of success; or lack there of, to recognize there is great disparity and inequities amongst the schools currently forming the CIML," Schutte wrote.

The topic of moving away from the CIML was discussed last week at Ottumwa's school board meeting. Ottumwa superintendent Mike McGrory talked about the 10 schools giving notice, playing one final year as part of the CIML Metro conference, before moving on to become part of the new league.

"I think what drove the discussion is that the conference is very conducive to our needs," Ottumwa superintendent Mike McGrory said. "I think, at some point, the feeling is we would break away anyway, so why put that off? Each of the other schools districts will be discussing it with their board members and, eventually, we will be doing a resolution if the board decides they want to move forward with this."

Ottumwa athletic director Scott Maas has mentioned to the Ottumwa school board that discussions have been ongoing for "the last couple of years" with coaches, administrators and community members about whether Ottumwa is still a good fit for the CIML. The realignment discussion, according to Maas, has brought those discussion to a head.

"Ottumwa's had it pretty good being in the CIML for a lot of year being in the Metro with the public schools. We only play the suburban schools once in a while in various things, but not on a regular basis," Maas said. "The realignment would put us in position to play a basketball round-robin with everybody, so our basketball schedule would be more difficult than it is now.

"It's just a matter of where we think Ottumwa fits the best. I would be in favor of the split, switching to two different conferences with us being in with the Des Moines metro and other outlying schools."

Mason City athletic director Tracy Johnson told the Register that, pending school board approval, his school is in lockstep with Marshalltown to form a new conference.

"We just feel like it's a good fit this way," Johnson said. "It allows us to be in a conference, to be honest with you, where we feel we can be more competitive year in and year out."

Johnson said the CIML athletic directors had a meeting scheduled Monday. Schutte's letter highlights the success gap between "non-suburban schools vs. the suburban schools" in the past five years within the CIML, specifically citing volleyball, boys' and girls' soccer, boys' and girls' basketball, baseball and softball.

Among those sports, Schutte says non-suburban schools accounted for 16.5 percent of wins in those sports over the past five years (376 wins, compared to suburban schools' 1,899 wins). According to McGrory, the move would allow the 10 schools including Ottumwa to fill in their schedule with closer schools, something that appeals to all schools in favor of the move.

"I think this also allows more natural rivalries to formulate," McGrory said. "I know Marshalltown wants to schedule in games with schools like Newton and Grinnell. I think we could do the same. We could have that flexibility without having all the CIML schools on our schedule."

Ottumwa school board member Christina Schark did raise one concern about the move. Trips to Mason City, Fort Dodge, Ames and Marshalltown would increase transportation costs for athletics.

"I've had conversations with those athletic directors," Maas said. "I think there's a way we can do some creative scheduling. If we go there (Fort Dodge or Mason City), it'll be on a Friday and not a Tuesday. I don't see us going for some of the sports like golf, tennis. Wrestling, we could meet in Ames and do a double-dual. We would have to go there at least once for basketball, baseball and softball.

"It's not out of the question we could do a neutral sites. We met Mason City at the University of Iowa. We could possibly schedule a game at Wells Fargo Arena."

According to discussions, Ames is the one school that is not firmly committed to the move. The commitment of the other schools, according to McGrory, would allow for the possibility of looking for another school to join at the 10th team should Ames decide to stay with the CIML.

"We could be looking at Waterloo for an option for a 10th team," McGrory said.

McGrory will keep the Ottumwa school board up to date on the progress of the talks from the other schools boards with a possible resolution to vote on coming later this month. The next Ottumwa school board meeting is scheduled to be held next Monday, Mar. 8, at 6 p.m.

"I think it's a good move for Ottumwa," Schark said.

"It sounds like there's unanimous support," Ottumwa school board member Jeremy Weller added.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.