Rumors about Billings' offers bound to arise

Whenever a coach turns around a struggling college program in any sport -- particularly a relatively young coach -- he or she often becomes a prime target to be hired away by a bigger, higher-profile university.

Now that Tim Billings has just finished leading Southeast Missouri State University's previously woeful football program to an 8-4 record in just his third season with the Indians, it stands to reason that eventually he will fit that above scenario.

And that just might turn out to happen sooner than Southeast officials had envisioned.

Billings' name is being tossed around in preliminary discussions as a potential candidate for the head coaching job at the University of Wyoming, where Vic Koennig was fired Monday effective at the end of the current season. Koennig has a 5-28 record in three seasons at Division I-A Wyoming, including 1-10 this year with one game left.

Billings has a major connection to Wyoming in athletic director Lee Moon, who held a similar position at Marshall University from 1988 through 1996. Billings was an assistant football coach at Marshall from 1990 through 1999.

Moon is reportedly interested in bringing to Wyoming a coach with Marshall connections. There are quite a few of those floating around the country, Billings among them.

And the fact Billings has been able to breathe plenty of life into Southeast's previously moribund football program certainly makes him as attractive a candidate as many and more attractive than most.

As of Saturday, Billings told me he has not yet been contacted by Wyoming officials and he doesn't expect to be, although I don't know why he wouldn't think they would be interested. After all, he's done a remarkable job in a tough situation at Southeast.

Stay tuned, just in case things get interesting.

Southeast's men's basketball team lost its season opener Friday night 83-71 on the road to an athletic Arkansas State squad, but the Indians actually played fairly well overall and had several bright spots.

If the Indians can ever get their entire roster healthy, I could see them eventually fielding a pretty decent club. But they're not nearly deep enough to get by with key players like Tim Scheer and Reggie Golson on the bench with injuries.

While the Indians fell, what a Friday it was overall for Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball. In fact, it might have been one of the league's brightest nights in a long, long time.

Two teams not even picked to be among the OVC's better squads went on the road and recorded major upsets over heavily favored, much higher-profile programs.

Tennessee-Martin, selected eighth among nine OVC teams, stunned 21-point favorite Saint Louis 63-58.

And Austin Peay, tabbed for fifth in the league, shocked 18-point favorite Memphis 81-80 in overtime.

Those are just two more examples of how anything can happen in college basketball on a given night -- and why I love the sport so much.

Congratulations to first-year Southeast women's basketball coach B.J. Smith for having a successful season debut as the Otahkians routed Division II Henderson State 85-55 Friday night at the Show Me Center.

That should be a good way for the Otahkians to get ready for one of their many tough non-conference games -- Tuesday's road contest at perennial power Southwest Missouri State.

Also, kudos to the Notre Dame High School boys' soccer team after the Bulldogs last Saturday became the first non-St. Louis team to win a Missouri small-schools state soccer title, beating Borgia 1-0 in four overtimes in the Class 2 title contest.

Soccer in Southeast Missouri continues to improve, but without playoff success, it's hard to get much respect from the tradition-rich St. Louis area.

Notre Dame's accomplishment certainly helps in that direction.

And belated congrats to Leopold's volleyball team for capturing the Class 1 state championship.

Even though I didn't cover the game, I figured I had to check out Monday's much-hyped Class 4 playoff quarterfinal between Central and Eureka at Houck Stadium.

And let me tell you, the matchup certainly didn't disappoint. In fact, it more than lived up to its billing and ranks among the better high school football games I have seen.

The two excellent teams battled on virtually dead-even terms for the entire 48 minutes, with neither willing to budge. The hard-hitting contest could have gone either way, but Eureka kicked a late field goal to advance.

It was a heartbreaking end to a great Central season, but the Tigers definitely have nothing to hang their heads about. Both teams laid it all on the line and played their guts out, but there could be just one winner and it happened to be Eureka.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian