Concerned about program

I have been a SEMO basketball fan for many years. I rarely miss a game although I live in the St. Louis area. The drives to games are becoming much longer due to our poor record and more expensive due to gas prices. The value of a ticket is diminishing.

I feel you somewhat sugar coated the article on Coach Garner, and the athletic director seems to ignore several alarming factors.

Yes, we've lost several games by only a few points, but most basketball fans would agree that it is a reflection of the coach. Case in point would be the Murray State game, where we were the superior team, at least on that night. However, the coach did not rotate his players properly and our opponent basically wore us out.

The discipline issues with the recruits mentioned should fall on the coach for bad decisions on these individuals. Although we did not see Smith play, Rogers was overweight, disinterested and rode the bench. How can we say that not having these players set back our program? They should not have been at SEMO in the first place.

Other OVC teams out-recruit Coach Garner. Austin Peay recruits good players from Three Rivers, for instance. The top teams don't rebuild, they reload. Also, the traditionally good teams had underclassmen that are good players, so being more experienced is not the only reason they win.

Three years ago the coach was looking forward to Winans and Hale playing as juniors and seniors. However, we finished in last place in the conference. Winans, Griffin and Gonner were some of the better players in the league, but we can't win with them.

At this point, I am very disappointed in the direction of the progam. I will be hesitant to renew my season tickets that I've held for 24 years.

JOHN SACHSE

Ballwin, Mo.