HALF OF OVC TEAMS HAVE NEW COACHES

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The winds of (coaching) change have swept into Ohio Valley Conference football for the 2000 season.

Of the league's eight football teams, four have new head coaches this year. They were formally introduced to the rest of the league Wednesday during the conference's annual football media day.

Two of the new bosses -- Southeast Missouri State University's Tim Billings and Tennessee-Martin's Sam McCorkle --have been brought in to try and revive struggling programs.

The other two --Tennessee State's James Reese and Murray State's Joe Pannunzio -- will try to continue their program's recent success after the former coaches left for different jobs.

Billings spent the past 10 seasons -- including last year as defensive coordinator -- at Marshall, which went 69-6 over the past five seasons. He's also been an assistant at Missouri and Oklahoma.

McCorkle most recently was the offensive coordinator at Mississippi Delta Community College. He's also been an assistant at, among other places, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Mississippi.

Reese, a former TSU player, was an assistant at his alma mater the past nine seasons.

Pannunzio, most recently an assistant at Auburn, has also assisted at Kansas, Minnesota and Mississippi.

* Twelve players who earned either first or second-team all-OVC honors last year were among the 27 players selected to the 2000 preseason all-OVC squad in voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.

Eastern Illinois, despite being picked to finish just sixth in the eight-team league, led all schools with six players on the preseason all-star squad. Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech were next with five each.

The entire preseason team can be found in Scoreboard.'

* Southeast placed no players on the preseason all-OVC squad, but three Indians earned honorable mention: junior quarterback Rashad West, senior defensive back Isaac Powell and sophomore defensive lineman James Jennette.

After West took over at quarterback last season, the Indians won three of their final four games. He passed for 917 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 364 yards and six TDs.

Powell, entering his fourth year with the Indians, had 80 tackles and three interceptions last season. He is the team's top returning tackler.

Jennette recorded 40 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss, as a true freshman last year.