Ex-Southeast assistants reunite at Central Michigan

One of the two Southeast Missouri State men's basketball assistants that coach Dickey Nutt recently decided not to retain wasn't out of work long.

Kyle Gerdeman, who spent the past three seasons on Nutt's staff, is joining the Central Michigan staff under recently hired Keno Davis, also a former Southeast assistant.

Davis and Gerdeman were together at Southeast during the 1997-98 season, when Davis joined Gary Garner's inaugural staff and Gerdeman was a student assistant while finishing up his undergraduate studies.

It sounds like a great opportunity for Gerdeman with a Mid-American Conference program, and I wish him well.

I haven't heard if Jeremy Case, the other Southeast assistant not retained, has found another job. I can't imagine the former Kansas guard being out of work long.

Nutt told me he's not going to rush into filling the vacancies on his coaching staff with the Redhawks' roster pretty much set for next season. He said he's taking his time in order to find the best fits.

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I've been told there is a good chance one of the "money" games for the Southeast men's basketball team will be at Kansas next season. The Jayhawks would rank among the more high-profile opponents Southeast has ever faced.

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The Southeast baseball team saw its streak of Ohio Valley Conference series wins end at two over the weekend, but the Redhawks continued to play well.

Southeast dropped two of three at perennial OVC power Jacksonville State, winning 5-3 in Friday's series opener before falling 4-3 on Saturday and 8-7 on Sunday.

Southeast is a far cry from the inexperienced, struggling squad that Redhawks fans saw the first couple months of the season.

Southeast has put itself in decent position to extend its OVC-record streak of 17 consecutive conference tournament appearances despite its 17-32 record.

Southeast still has plenty of work to do, but its remaining six OVC contests are at home. The Redhawks begin that stretch Friday when they start a three-game series against Murray State.

The Redhawks and Racers are among several teams battling for the sixth and final conference tournament berth.

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Donnie Tyndall did one of college basketball's best coaching jobs in transforming the Morehead State men's program from one of the nation's worst into one of the OVC's best.

It will be interesting to see how the Eagles fare in the future now that Tyndall has left to take over at Southern Mississippi.

Tyndall led the Eagles to OVC tournament championships and NCAA tournament berths in 2009 and 2011.

Morehead is conducting a national search to find Tyndall's replacement.

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I mistakenly wrote in an article about the Southeast softball team last week that Evan Sallis came to the Redhawks as a junior college transfer two years ago.

I knew better, because I had correctly written about her history in the past. Sallis is a transfer from the University of Oklahoma, and a good one at that.

Sallis led the Redhawks in batting average (.367), stolen bases (22), triples (3) and runs scored (41) in the recently completed season.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.