Lee University Dixon Center.A burning question for the Flames has been answered – at least for the next five years.
Lee University officials announced Wednesday that the school will not be adding football in the near future. That had been a subject of speculation and study since the Cleveland school decided to leave the NAIA and join the Gulf South Conference, which is one of the top football conferences in NCAA Division II.
“There is lots of enthusiasm for football at Lee, and I think one day we will probably have it,” Dr. Paul Conn, Lee’s president, said in Wednesday’s release. “But the board thinks the timing isn’t right to start it now, and I agree. We will take another look in 2019, and at that time we may be better positioned to add football.
“I personally love college football, and I would enjoy seeing it played on the Lee campus by Lee students,” Conn added. “We expect Lee athletes to play at a very high level and compete for championships. That’s our goal for all our sports, so football can’t be an exception. If we ever begin football, it needs to be at a time when we can be very good very quickly.”
Conn told the gathering of “the entire university family” Wednesday morning that four factors in particular worked against football for now. The school is starting a nursing program this year and still has pressing financial demands in developing its “south campus” between Sixth Street and Central Avenue, and the implications of football for Title IX compliance and the completion of full Division II membership brought other pressures.