'It's an honor,' SEMO's new men's basketball coach says at Show Me Center introduction

Dickey Nutt said he has seen what the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball program is capable of.

When Nutt received an offer to try to get the Redhawks back on track, he didn't hesitate.

"It's an honor. I feel like it's an awesome privilege," Nutt said after being introduced as Southeast's new coach during a Thursday afternoon news conference at the Show Me Center. "I take it with great pride."

Nutt, 49, spent 13 seasons as coach at Arkansas State University before resigning near the end of a 9-17 campaign in 2007-2008. He went 189-187 at ASU, including 102-101 in the Sun Belt Conference. He left ASU three victories short of the program's all-time wins record.

Nutt pointed to Southeast's strong fan base, facilities and an area steeped in basketball tradition as among many factors that make the job attractive.

ASU and Southeast played each other several times during Nutt's tenure, including twice during Southeast's best-ever Division I seasons.

Southeast's 1998-1999 team, which went 20-9, won 76-75 in Jonesboro, Ark. The next season Southeast prevailed 74-71 at the Show Me Center on its way to a 24-7 record, its only Ohio Valley Conference title and its only NCAA Division I tournament berth.

"I've watched this program from a short distance away many, many years. I've seen it," said Nutt, whose new team is scheduled to play his former squad next year in Cape Girardeau as part of a four-year, home-and-home deal that started this season. Southeast playing ASU "was always a great series."

"The last thing you ever want to do is take a position where you have no chance. I've seen this program. This facility can be the most difficult place in the OVC to play. I know that you can win in the OVC."

Not much of that has been done lately.

After compiling a three-year record of 62-28 from 1998 through 2001, the program has bottomed out with just two winning seasons since the beginning of this decade and at least 19 losses in each of the last four seasons.

This year the Redhawks hit bottom, suffering through a 3-27 season that included an 0-18 OVC record.

The Redhawks ended the year on a 19-game losing streak, the longest in the nation, and became just the seventh men's basketball team to go winless in the OVC.

Asked how difficult it will be to get the program back on track, Nutt said: "You can't do it overnight. I can't predict wins and losses, but I can predict there will be great effort."

Southeast's program faces possible NCAA sanctions after alleged NCAA violations that led to the dismissal of previous coach Scott Edgar just 2 1/2 years into a five-year contract.

Nutt said he was not concerned about potential sanctions. "I'm here to stay, to build the basketball program. I'm not going to take shortcuts."

Nutt's best record at ASU was a 20-9 mark during his third year in 1997-1998, when he was named Sun Belt coach of the year. He led ASU to the program's only NCAA tournament appearance in 1998-1999. Twice Nutt's squads tied for the Sun Belt regular-season title, in 1997-1998 and 2006-2007.

Nutt had not been involved in coaching since resigning at ASU, although he and his family remained in Jonesboro.

"I had a chance to sit back for the first time in 25 years and not have a load on my shoulders," Nutt said.

Nutt said he and his wife, Cathy, spent part of the past year watching their two sons and daughter participate in sports. The entire family attended Thursday's news conference.

Junior college sophomore Logan played basketball this season at Southwest Missouri State-West Plains, high school senior Lucas played basketball and high school sophomore Lexis played volleyball.

"I saw my kids play, I visited coaches," Nutt said. "It was fun, but I found out how much I missed coaching."

Nutt was born in Arkansas but played college basketball at Oklahoma State and began his coaching career as an assistant at Stillwater (Okla.) High School before serving as an assistant at Oklahoma State from 1985 to 1987. Nutt was an assistant at Arkansas State from 1987 to 1995 before taking over as head coach.

Nutt comes from a coaching family. A brother, Houston, is the football coach at Mississippi after previously serving at Arkansas. Another brother, Dennis, was the coach at Southwest Texas State, now Texas State, for six seasons until 2006. He now is a scout for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Their father was a longtime high school coach and athletic director in Arkansas who died in 2005.

Nutt received a four-year contract at a base salary of $120,000 annually plus various incentives — the same dollar amount as Edgar.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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Dickey Nutt's introduction