School receives countless inquiries into job opening

~ Southeast hopes to have the head coaching vacancy filled by early April.

One week after Southeast Missouri State announced that it would not extend the contract of men's basketball coach Gary Garner, athletic director Don Kaverman said the university has had no shortage of coaches looking into the situation.

"There is an endless amount of interest," Kaverman said Wednesday. "We're getting it from all levels, from community college up to Division I, from head coaches and assistants.

"They just keep coming in daily. We'll have two, three phones ringing at the same time, and I've gotten countless e-mails."

Kaverman said the plan is to take feelers from interested parties over the next seven to 10 days, then the university will begin to narrow down its list of potential candidates.

"I'm reaching out to some people myself, but at this point we want to give it some time to develop," Kaverman said. "A lot of people we might be interested in are still involved with their own seasons."

The search committee

Kaverman is chairing a search committee that includes Mike Kohlfeld and Janet Esicar of the Southeast Booster Board; faculty representative Tim Rademaker, a former Southeast assistant track coach; Alan Byrd, a former Southeast football player who now works in the school's admissions department; and student representative Dane Huxel, a former Southeast student body president who is still involved with student government.

"It's a good group that has some insights into the basketball program," Kaverman said.

Kaverman said his hope is to have a new coach in place by early April, or "as close to when the Final Four is over as possible."

The NCAA Division I Final Four will be held April 1 and 3.

Kaverman added that the university will again bring in a certain number of finalists for public meetings on campus. Southeast has followed those guidelines for its past few men's basketball and football coaching searches.

Southeast announced Garner's dismissal on March 1, shortly after the Redhawks completed a 7-20 season that marked their fourth losing record in the past five years.

Garner had a nine-year record of 126-132 at Southeast, including a 50-91 mark over the past five seasons.

Kaverman said one of Garner's assistants, chief recruiter Ronnie Dean, has continued his work in that area, even though there is no guarantee the new coach will keep Dean on the Redhawks' staff.

"His contract runs through the end of April, and I've asked him to continue recruiting," Kaverman said. "He wanted to do it, and he's done a wonderful job."