Redhawks' Simonhoff lands more recognition

~ The punter was selected to his second All-America team this week.

Southeast Missouri State junior punter David Simonhoff has made another Division I-AA All-America team.

It was announced Friday that The Sports Xchange named Simonhoff a second team All-America. Earlier this week, the American Football Coaches Association put Simonhoff on its All-America first team.

Simonhoff averaged 42.8 yards per punt to lead the Ohio Valley Conference for the second straight season. He had 16 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

Last year as a sophomore, Simonhoff set Southeast and OVC records by averaging 46 yards per punt, which ranked second nationally. He earned second team All-America honors, and was a consensus preseason All-America pick this year.

Simonhoff, a native of Coral Gables, Fla., has been first team all-OVC the past two years. He made the conference's second team as a freshman, when he averaged 41 yards per punt. He has four punts of 80 yards or longer in his career.

No coaching news

Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said Friday the university will likely wait until early next week before moving forward in the search for a new football coach.

Three finalists for the position -- Craig Schurig, the head coach at Division II Washburn (Kan.); Jerry Partridge, the head coaching at Division II Missouri Western; and Tony Samuel, an assistant coach at Purdue and a former head coach at Division I-A New Mexico State -- were in Cape Girardeau for interviews in the past week.

Kaverman said it is likely one of the three will be offered the position, although he has still not ruled out the possibility of another candidate surfacing.

"We were very impressed with all three [finalists], but we're just not ready to offer one of them the job yet," Kaverman said. "It's such an important decision for the university, and we don't want to rush into it."

Kaverman said he still expects to have a new coach in place by the time the university begins its holiday break on Friday.

Southeast is searching for a coach after the resignation of Tim Billings, who went 25-43 in six seasons, including 2-9 this year.