MUMFORD'S ATTENTION ON HIS JOB, NOT JOB SECURITY

Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford says he refuses to concern himself with something that he cannot control.

That's why Mumford says he really hasn't given a whole lot of thought to whether he will have his contract extended when the 1998 season is over. That has been a lively topic among Southeast football followers for much of the season.

"Nothing has been mentioned to me," said Mumford. "I've chosen not to think about it. I don't have time to think about it. What good would it do to fret and worry about it? Whatever happens, happens."

The Indians are assured of their fourth straight losing season. Southeast is 3-6 overall with two games remaining. The Indians have a 2-4 Ohio Valley Conference record, which has them tied for sixth in the eight-team league.

Mumford was in the final year of his contract last season and there was much public speculation at the time centering around whether his contract would be extended. It was, for one season, which Southeast executive vice president Kenneth Dobbins said is pretty much standard procedure regarding the school's athletic program.

"All of our coaches, except two, are on year-to-year contracts," Dobbins said. "So it's not unusual. Both our head basketball coaches are the only ones on multiple-year contracts."

Dobbins said standard procedure is for Southeast athletic director Carroll Williams to get together with each sport's head coach following the season and evaluate how things have gone. Then Williams reports to Dobbins.

"We really haven't had any discussions about it (Mumford's status)," said Dobbins. "We'll talk about it at the end of the season."

Mumford, 41, is in his ninth season as Southeast's head coach after spending one season as the Indians' defensive coordinator.

During Mumford's only season as the Indians' head coach while the school still competed on the NCAA Division II level -- 1990 -- Southeast went 7-3.

Then Southeast moved up to the Division I-AA level for football, which is always a difficult transition.

Southeast went 8-25 in its first three I-AA seasons before a breakout 7-5 campaign in 1994 that earned Mumford OVC Coach of the Year honors as the Indians finished third in the league.

The Indians went 5-6 in 1995, including another impressive OVC showing of fourth place.

But the next two seasons were particularly difficult. The Indians went 3-8 in 1996 and tied for sixth in the OVC. Last year they were 4-7 and placed seventh in the league.

Mumford's overall record at Southeast is 37-60, which includes a 23-37 OVC mark.

Several factors are regarded as having made Southeast's adjustment to I-AA football extra difficult, among them antiquated Houck Stadium, a venue that pales in comparison to most of the other stadiums in the OVC and has undoubtedly hampered recruiting.

Also, the Indians are just now getting up to the scholarship level of many of the other OVC schools. Having fewer scholarships has undoubtedly hampered the team's depth and made it difficult to overcome injuries.

Mumford has publicly refused to blame any of the above factors on the Indians' struggles in recent seasons, but others -- including Williams -- have pointed out the difficulties for a program that is not on totally equal footing with the programs it competes against.

Of the Indians' six losses this season, two of them were lopsided: 38-7 against Tennessee State and 45-10 at Southwest Missouri State.

The other four were 21-14 to Indiana State, 26-14 to Murray State, 35-33 at Eastern Illinois in a game that saw the Panthers kick a winning field goal with just seconds remaining and 21-19 to Middle Tennessee State this past Saturday.

"It's frustrating that we don't have a better record," said Mumford. "We've played some good football but we don't have the wins to show for it."