Nutt completes first staff with Gerdeman

~ Southeast's new men's basketball coach hired his third and final assistant.

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt has completed his first Redhawks staff by hiring a Southeast product.

Kyle Gerdeman, a 1998 Southeast graduate, spent the last three years as the coach at Moberly Area (Mo.) Community College.

Gerdeman was also the coach at East Central (Mo.) College from 1998 through 2001. He served as an assistant at Moberly from 2001 through 2003 and as an assistant at Mineral Area (Mo.) College from 2004 through 2006.

"I am excited to be able to announce that Kyle has accepted our offer to complete our first coaching staff at Southeast," said Nutt, who was hired March 12. "Kyle is a native of Missouri and he has great ties to the high school and junior college coaches in the state of Missouri.

"I have followed his progress as a coach, and his experience as a junior college head coach will be important to our program."

Added Nutt: "Kyle comes highly recommended. He is a Southeast graduate and has great pride in our university. I talked to a lot of coaches during the search process, and after talking with Kyle, I knew he gives us what we are looking for at Southeast.

"I can't stress enough his connections to high school, junior college and AAU coaches in the state of Missouri."

Gerdeman, a native of Wright City, Mo., is pleased to be back at Southeast for his first Division I coaching opportunity.

"I've always wanted to get to the Division I level and it feels good coming back to Southeast," said Gerdeman, whose contract was not renewed at Moberly after a 9-23 record last season. "I've known Coach Nutt for a number of years and respect his approach to the game. I think the opportunity to work with him is really special.

"We will have three young and hungry assistant coaches anxious to return Southeast basketball to the top of the OVC."

Gerdeman joins Jamie Rosser and Jeremy Case as assistants on Nutt's staff.

Rosser, who played for Nutt at Arkansas State, has been coaching girls high school basketball in Memphis, Tenn.

Case, a four-year player at Kansas -- he was a member of the Jayhawks' 2007-08 national championship team -- served as a graduate assistant at Kansas last season.

"I feel our staff has the experience, character, and background on different levels that our fans will appreciate," Nutt said. "These guys are hungry to make us as good as we can possibly be."