~ The former Redhawks coach likely will serve as an assistant in the NBA Development League.
It looks like former Southeast Missouri State head men's basketball coach Gary Garner will return to the coaching ranks.
The Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported this week that Garner likely will become an assistant coach for Des Moines' new minor-league basketball team.
On Tuesday, the NBA awarded a franchise in the NBA Development League to Des Moines beginning with the 2007-08 season. Garner attended Tuesday's announcement.
The Des Moines Register reported that former Northern Iowa basketball star Nick Nurse and Garner would likely be named head coach and assistant coach, respectively.
Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer and investor in the expansion franchise, told the newspaper that Nurse and Garner were at the news conference because "they both hope to be involved with the team. The issue of the coaching staff will be decided at a meeting of the owners early next week."
Garner spent nine seasons as Southeast's coach before his contract was not extended last March.
Garner's overall record at Southeast was 126-132, which included a 76-41 mark in his first four seasons and a 50-91 ledger in his last five seasons, capped by a 7-20 campaign in 2005-06 that led to his contract not being extended.
During Garner's tenure, Southeast won the program's only Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles in 1999-2000, which resulted in the program's only NCAA Division I tournament berth.
Garner, who since leaving Southeast has continued to live in Cape Girardeau with his wife Barbara, has ties to Des Moines.
From 1981 through 1988, Garner was the head coach at Drake University in Des Moines. He went 95-104 in seven seasons at Drake to rank as the third-winningest coach in the program's history.
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