Redhawks 1-8 in Samuel's fourth year

~ The Southeast football coach has one year left on his contract, but it's uncertain if he'll return

As another dismal Southeast Missouri State football season nears its merciful end, speculation has started regarding the status of fourth-year coach Tony Samuel.

Plenty of talk around the community and on the Internet centers around whether the university will allow Samuel to return next season, which marks the final campaign of his original five-year contract that expires Jan. 31, 2011.

Southeast athletic director John Shafer, on the job less than 11 months, said Monday that any decision on Samuel's job status will be made after the season.

"I don't think it's appropriate at this time to discuss it," said Shafer, who also has been a Division I athletic director at Mississippi and Eastern Kentucky. "I evaluate any coach, whether it's football or any sport, after the season is over.

"We sit down and talk about what the plans are for going forward, regardless of what the record is."

The Redhawks are 1-8, including 0-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference, and have lost eight consecutive games since opening the season with a 72-3 rout of NAIA Quincy.

Southeast currently is one of only eight NCAA Division I-AA football teams without a win against a Division I-AA opponent.

The Redhawks have been competitive in every OVC game, their biggest margin of defeat being Saturday's 24-3 loss to nationally ranked Jacksonville State.

Southeast has two games left, both at home, starting with Saturday's final OVC contest against Murray State. Southeast never has finished without an OVC win since joining the league in 1991.

The Redhawks end the season Nov. 21 against SIU, ranked first and second in the two most recent major Division I-AA polls.

Shafer said he has been impressed with the way the Redhawks have competed this year, but acknowledges that their record is not what he hoped for.

"Obviously the win-loss record is disappointing," Shafer said. "Again, I want to use the whole season [to evaluate]. Let's look at it and see."

Samuel is 12-31 at Southeast, including 5-25 in OVC games. The Redhawks twice have won four games under Samuel and their high-water mark in league play has been two wins. Southeast went 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the OVC last year.

But Samuel is not alone in finding the going tough at the helm of Southeast football.

Southeast has not won more than four games in a year since 2003 and the Redhawks' last winning record came in 2002. That is one of only two winning seasons for Southeast since it moved up to Division I-AA in 1991.

In 18 previous Division I-AA seasons, Southeast's two winning marks were 8-4 in 2002 and 7-5 in 1994. Southeast has had only four winning OVC records, most recently in 2003.

Southeast's overall Division I-AA record is 70-141, which spans three coaches. The program has gone 46-95 in OVC play.

Samuel is paid an annual base salary of approximately $100,000. Under terms of his contract, if the university terminates the agreement without cause, it must pay Samuel one-half his remaining base salary.