GARNER TO STAY AT SOUTHEAST; COACH WITHDRAWS NAME AS CANDIDATE AT COLORADO ST.

Well, Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

Coach Gary Garner is staying in Cape Girardeau.

After visiting the Colorado State University campus and meeting with school officials earlier this week about their basketball coaching vacancy, Garner announced Thursday that he has decided to remain at Southeast.

"I love Southeast Missouri and I feel very comfortable in my present position and in the community," said Garner. "I have no intention of leaving. I had several schools contact me about jobs, but I told them all I was happy at Southeast. When Colorado State contacted me, I felt I owed it to my family to at least check the job out.

"Colorado State is in a very competitive Mountain West Conference that includes basketball powers like Utah, New Mexico, Nevada-Las Vegas and Fresno State. It was intriguing to think about coaching against Rick Majerus and the other fine coaches in that conference, but after visiting the beautiful campus in Fort Collins, I just decided that Southeast Missouri State is where I want to be."

According to Garner, he discussed the Colorado State job with Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman and Kaverman agreed that Garner should at least look into the position.

"Gary has done an outstanding job here and I know he has other schools contacting him from time to time because of his success," Kaverman said. "It is natural that he should want to check out some of the opportunities.

"Needless to say, I am delighted that Gary has decided to stay. He has elevated our program and I feel he has the basketball program poised to be a force in the Ohio Valley Conference for some time to come."

Garner has a 58-29 record in three years at Southeast, including a 44-16 mark the past two seasons. This year, Garner led the Indians to their first OVC co-championship, their first OVC Tournament championship and their first trip to the NCAA Division I tournament.

According to media sources in Colorado, Garner had emerged as one of the front-runners for the Colorado State position that has been open since March 24, when Ritchie McKay resigned to become coach at Oregon State.

Now that Garner has taken his hat out of the ring regarding Colorado State, he can continue to focus on recruiting, and in fact he was on the recruiting trail Thursday. The spring signing date begins Wednesday and runs through May 15.

"Recruiting is our top priority right now," Garner said. "This is an important time of the year for our basketball program."