Alnutt is confident in Southeast Missouri State's commitment to athletics

A few hours after announcing his resignation as Southeast Missouri State's athletics director Mark Alnutt spoke candidly about the future of Redhawks athletics after he departs for his new post as deputy director of athletics at the University of Memphis.

He touched on the topic of the university's commitment to athletics, the improvements that he believes were made during the three years he was there and what's next for athletic programs at Southeast.

What's next includes a search for his replacement, and when he was asked what his pitch to a candidate for the job would be he took a deep breath before answering that it would probably be the same one given to him before he took the job in April 2012.

"The potential's there," Alnutt said of the pitch he received and also would give. "The potential for this place to be successful is there and I firmly believe that."

He feels that Southeast athletics is on the cusp of competing for Ohio Valley Conference championships year in and year out, but couldn't list any particular improvements that would get the department to that point.

"I don't know if I can just say, 'We need more money' or 'We need an enhanced budget.' Having the good people in place, that helps," Alnutt said. "I feel we have good people in place now so it's not like we're far away. I can tell you that right now. If you look at baseball, soccer, football's making the climb.

"I wouldn't say it's something that, 'Hey, we need this much,' or 'You need to invest all this money into summer school or you need to do this or you need to do that.' I just think as people get together strategically and look at, 'OK, what's the best thing that we can do, and what we're able to do, that's going to benefit our program to get us to that level?' And it's going to involve conversations with all parties involved -- campus, athletics, people in the community -- and try to put together a plan to make it happen."

Alnutt said that when he became Southeast's AD a little more than three years ago the athletic budget was in the range of $8 million and it's now up to $9 million.

"I don't know what that number looks like," Alnutt said. "Does that 9 million turn into 10 million, 11 million, 12 million? Does 9 million stay at 9 million and the external side goes up? I have no idea. But again, there was a strong commitment when I got here and I feel that that strong commitment's going to be maintained, and I do feel it will be elevated."

Alnutt pointed out how he'd seen the university's commitment to athletics in the agreement to buy out the contracts of former football coach Tony Samuel and former men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt as well as investing money in Show Me Center renovations and improvements to the football team's practice field at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex.

Dr. Carlos Vargas, who began his duties as Southeast's 18th president on July 1, agreed that how resources are used is important to a mid-major university like Southeast and knows that the task of turning it into a winning program is not an easy one.

"Although it's difficult, there are ways of becoming very successful in your own sphere of influence, so I believe SEMO can compete," Vargas said. "It's just a matter of bringing the right mix of resources. It calls for students with the right skills and caliber to come here, the coaches, the athletic director -- everybody has to contribute a little bit, and it can happen. I believe it can happen. I've seen institutions where that happens, so it's not only institutions that have a lot of resources that can be successful. Keeping in mind that because of our size and limitations, which in some cases will not be able to be removed. Those limitations in many cases will be there. We cannot easily achieve things that other institutions will achieve, as you can imagine."

In less than a week on the job Vargas had to make his first decision regarding athletics and decided to tab his senior associate Brady Barke as the interim athletic director.

Barke was the interim associate director of athletics for compliance and student support services before being selected as senior associate to the president in 2013. He began working at Southeast in 2008 as the assistant director of athletics for compliance and eligibility.

"He was hired in athletics, so it seemed to me that he was the kind of person that would bring about the kind of continuity and also stability to the department," Vargas said.

Vargas plans to utilize Alnutt during his remaining few weeks on the job. His resignation becomes effective on July 31.

"He's going to have conversations with Brady, and I hope that those conversations will provide some input and some help to us in terms of making a decision as to how to go about the search," Vargas said. "Mr. Alnutt has been very open about his willingness to help us in any way he can."

As of Monday no plan had been made and no timeline set in the director of athletics search, but Vargas was confident that Alnutt and the nature of his departure would draw candidates to the opening.

"I think that we owe a lot to Mr. Alnutt in terms of what he's helped us do," Vargas said. "And it's not only him. It's him, and like he said in his press release, it's him and the coaches and the staff that have worked with him that have contributed to making a change in athletics at the university so that is going to be clearly an important element. I think people outside who see him having been here and going and seeking other opportunities and being courted by other institutions will probably make them feel that it is worth considering this institution as a place to come to. I am very happy about the fact that the core concepts that he operated with included academic excellence because that is an important thing. Student-athletes are of course students, and so not losing track of that is important. I think that's something that the university has done very well, and he has promoted that."

Not only does Alnutt being sought after by another school, which was willing to pay his buyout of $135,000, show promise for prospective candidates, but he is willing to attest to his experience at Southeast.

"I feel that at this point in time the university is doing the best that they can do," Alnutt said. "Now moving forward will that best become better? I hope so. I truly hope so. But I wouldn't come up here and say that the university's not doing anything. We all know this. But I definitely feel confident that the commitment is there."