Redhawks retain a second Billings assistant, Chavez

~ The offensive line coach will have his contract extended a year.

Southeast Missouri State athletic director Don Kaverman has decided to retain one more assistant football coach for the next year in the0 wake of head coach Tim Billings' resignation.

That means two members of Billings' staff will be held over to join the staff of the Redhawks' future head coach.

After Billings' resignation was announced on Friday, Kaverman said that Damon Bradford -- Southeast's defensive coordinator who recently returned after spending the past 18 months serving in Iraq - will be retained.

On Tuesday, Kaverman said offensive line coach Mike Chavez -- who has been at Southeast the past six seasons -- will also have his contract extended for one year.

"First of all I think he [Chavez] is a great coach," Kaverman said. "I think he's done a great job with the offensive line, the fact he landed a couple of players in the NFL [Eugene Amano and Dan Connolly].

"Above and beyond that, he's been involved with the current staff since Tim started. He's familiar with what's going on. The student-athlete needs someone with that familiarity. He can be a real asset to the student-athlete."

Kaverman said Chavez and Bradford will keep up at least somewhat with recruiting until a new head coach is hired.

"We don't want that {recruiting} to be at a standstill for the next two, three, four weeks, however long it takes to get a new coach in," Kaverman said.

The current contracts of Southeast's assistant coaches expire Jan. 31.

"Those [Bradford and Chavez] will be the only two that I'm going to make a decision on," Kaverman said. "The others are welcome to interview with the new coach."

Kaverman said he has already had a number of inquiries regarding the head coaching position. He hopes to have a new coach hired before Christmas.