Change is needed, but Nutt?

Dickey Nutt?

Really?

More than a hundred applicants, hundreds of calls and e-mails, a new athletic director with 25 years of connections in the Southeastern Conference and the new hire for the men's basketball coaching position boasts a .500 record in 13 seasons at Arkansas State?

Actually, Nutt is a coach with a career record above .500 -- 189-187. He led Arkansas State out of the rugged Sun Belt Conference to one NCAA tournament appearance in 1999.

Essentially, Southeast Missouri State has hired a personable guy with Gary Garner's track record three years after Garner's contract was not renewed.

But it will be a welcomed relief after the last three years.

Perhaps there's something to be said for keeping it in the region. Nutt recruited into Southeast Missouri when he was just across the border in Jonesboro.

Still.

Imagine a conversation like this in Columbia a couple years ago: "Mike, who should we hire to replace Quinn Snyder?"

"Well, Brad Soderberg just got canned at Saint Louis University, but he had a couple good years and he knows the region. I bet he could recruit St. Louis. Let's get him."

Didn't happen.

You've got to think big.

This is not just about who can do the job at Southeast Missouri State.

This is about who can do the job and inspire the faithful for the school's highest-profile program. This is about being able to sell season tickets today, tomorrow, signing day, the first day of practice and all the days in between. It's about making the boosters with the big bucks write checks that will give the program -- the entire athletic program -- needed resources in the coming years.

Does Dickey Nutt do that?

He may someday. He made his pitch to get those tickets during his introductory news conference Thursday, but so did his predecessor three years before him.

This is, as you've heard a million times, the Show Me State.

I believe a lot of fans are going to want Dickey Nutt to show them something.

That means we can expect about 10 months of wondering, "Dickey Nutt? Really?"

Make that 22 months of wondering.

Because Dickey Nutt may be good, but this ain't an overnight rebuilding job -- with or without Michael Porter, the top recruit in Southeast Missouri.

He will have scholarships to give, unless the NCAA takes a big bite in the hearing next month. But he will be rebuilding from the basement after the Redhawks went winless through the Ohio Valley Conference in a 3-27 campaign.

Clearly, this isn't UCLA. Or even UC-Riverside. There were 337 teams considered better in Division I this year and only five considered worse.

Maybe the field of candidates was limited. Maybe the daunting task was too much for a handful of applicants. Maybe the salary scared off some people.

John Wooden wasn't going to come out of retirement for one more NCAA title here. Nor was Bobby Knight. Nor Dean Smith.

But John Shafer was charged with finding a guy he thought might get there eventually. Not at Southeast, per se. In all likelihood, this is going to be a stepping stone for someone who wanted to get to the next level.

It could have been anyway.

Take a guy like Jay Spoonhour, a finalist the last time around when Scott Edgar was hired. He may have been channeling some frequency from Bizarro World when he talked about making Southeast a program that could reach the NCAA tourney as an at-large team on its RPI rating -- perhaps by adding Duke, UNC and UConn to the schedule -- but he was a young, passionate up-and-comer.

Spoonhour had ties to a regional media market a bit bigger than Jonesboro. Did you notice all the St. Louis media in attendance Thursday afternoon, piping coverage into the market Southeast considers its backyard.

Dickey Nutt?

He does fit the recent profile for the job, though.

Southeast is consistent about ignoring up-and-comers in favor of been-there, done-got-fired guys.

Welcome, Dickey Nutt. Good luck.

Toby Carrig served as editor of the regional Web site semoball.com