NEW INDIAN ASSISTANTS EXCITED, ALREADY BUSY

It hasn't taken Southeast Missouri State University's two new assistant men's basketball coaches long to get their feet wet on the job.

Tom Schuberth and Anthony Beane, recently hired by Southeast head coach Gary Garner, have settled somewhat into their office at the Show Me Center and have already been out on the road looking at potential recruits.

"July is an evaluation period, so we've hit the ground running," said Schuberth, who added with a laugh, "It's been kind of hectic so far. Hopefully in August, we can get settled around the office a little bit better."

In Schuberth, 39, and Beane, 25, Garner appears to have landed two talented assistants who bring different yet equally valuable things to the Southeast coaching table.

"I couldn't be more pleased that we were able to get two coaches of this caliber," said Garner. "I'm just extremely happy to have both of them."

Schuberth, an assistant at Memphis University the past five years, is originally from Chicago. He is regarded as an ace recruiter -- Hoop Scoop Magazine voted him as one of three most visible assistant coaches in the country -- with strong recruiting ties in both Memphis and Chicago, which he hopes to use to his advantage at Southeast.

"I know coach Garner and Anthony are both Missouri natives and they know more about that than I do," said Schuberth. "I'm a Chicago native. I'm going to try and recruit that area, along with Memphis and some other areas I've had success in."

A two-time Academic All-Southeastern Conference guard while playing for Mississippi State, Schuberth has been an assistant coach at three schools since 1982. He left Memphis after last season during a coaching shakeup when head coach Larry Finch was forced out.

Schuberth, who is single, said he had some other coaching opportunities after leaving Memphis -- including some head coaching possibilities -- but he wanted to be selective with his next move.

"It's always a tough situation with what happened at Memphis, but I just didn't want to take the first thing that came along," he said. "I wanted to be very selective and try to work for a person like coach Garner.

"I'm just very excited about the opportunity we have here. First, it's a great opportunity because of somebody like coach Garner. But second, we have the ingredients here to be successful. We have a great facility, a lot of interest and the program had a great Division II tradition. We hope to build a Division I tradition."

Beane, who like Schuberth is extremely personable, good-natured and quick with a grin, brings a local flavor to the Southeast coaching staff.

Beane earned all-state honors at Bernie High School, leading the Mules to a second-place finish in the Missouri Class 2A state tournament as a senior.

After earning All-American honors for a national championship team at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Beane went on to star at Kansas State, where he was a two-time All-Big Eight Conference selection at guard.

"I'm looking forward to recruiting Southeast Missouri," said a smiling Beane. "I'm real familiar with the area and I always thought there were a lot of very talented players that came out of this area."

Beane, who spent last season as an assistant at Southwest Missouri State-West Plains Junior College after serving the previous season as an assistant at Allen County Community College in Kansas, sounded just as excited as Schuberth to be at Southeast.

"I jumped at the opportunity when coach Garner called and asked if I'd be interested," said Beane. "I knew a little bit about coach Garner, but I think he knew a little bit more about me because he's from West Plains, where I coached last year."

Beane played one year of professional basketball in Europe before deciding to get his coaching career started.

"It's something I always wanted to do," he said. "I had a great high school coach (Paul Hale), who was the main reason I wanted to get into coaching. At first I wanted to be a high school coach, but after playing for some great college coaches like (TRCC head coach) Gene Bess, (SMS-West Plains head coach) Tom Barr and (former Kansas State head coach) Dana Altman, I wanted to be a college coach.

"Since I've gotten into coaching, I've wanted to get back into Division I because I had so much fun when I was playing Division I."

Beane said while he is happy to move back to Southeast Missouri, his wife Katina -- a Sikeston native -- is just as pleased. They have a 3-year-old son, Jerome Anthony.

"We're both really happy to be back," he said. "I think she's as excited as I am."