Assistant likely to be acting coach

It's a virtual certainty that one of the three current assistants will be named acting coach for the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team.

Just who that person is should be determined by the middle of next week.

Southeast interim director of athletics Cindy Gannon said Zac Roman, Rodney Hamilton and Tommy Suitts all have accepted the opportunity to interview for the position that came open Thursday amid the fallout from alleged NCAA violations.

Southeast men's basketball coach Scott Edgar was placed on administrative leave pending the results of the NCAA investigation, which are expected no sooner than late February at the very earliest.

Southeast director of athletics Don Kaverman was placed on administrative leave until the end of his contract, which will be terminated Feb. 9.

Gannon, an associate athletic director since 2004, said Roman, Hamilton and Suitts all have "good credentials. They have all been scheduled for an interview. I'm assuming by that they're all three very interested."

The interview process for selecting an acting coach will begin Monday, Gannon said. With practice starting Friday, Gannon said the university hopes to make its decision "by the middle of the week."

Gannon said the possibility of somebody from outside the program taking over as acting coach has not been ruled out, although that is unlikely.

"I don't think we would be being fair to the current assistants to make that determination until we give them the opportunity to go through the interview process," Gannon said. "I don't anticipate that [one of the three assistants not taking over], but I'm not a person that says never.

"I'll just tell you that's not the direction we're going in right now."

Gannon said Roman and Hamilton have been named co-acting coaches for the time being until the official acting coach is selected.

Roman and Hamilton are both in their second seasons at Southeast, while Suitts was hired just last month to round out the Redhawks' staff.

Roman, 39, came to Southeast after five years as an assistant at Johnson County (Kan.) Community College. He served as the Cavaliers' interim coach over the final three months of the 2006-07 season.

Roman was designated by Edgar to be Southeast's lead coach during a game at Murray State last season that Edgar missed while serving an OVC-mandated suspension for a post-game radio show tirade against officials.

Hamilton, 32, came to Southeast after two seasons as an assistant at NAIA Crichton (Tenn.) College. Before that, he spent four seasons as coach at Westside High School in Memphis, Tenn.

Suitts, 60, has been a high school coach since 1992, but before that he was a coach at two Division I programs, Rice from 1981 to 1987 and Chicago State from 1987 to 1990.

Edgar, who went 23-39 in his first two seasons at Southeast, is in the third year of a five-year contract that pays him a base salary of $120,000 annually. He will continue to be paid while he is on administrative leave.

Among the reasons Southeast can terminate Edgar's contract for cause, as outlined in the contract, is if he is found to have committed significant or major NCAA violations.