Southeast Missouri State athletic director John Shafer retires

Family obligation finally became too strong for John Shafer to ignore.

So Shafer made official what he'd been considering since December. He announced Thursday his retirement as Southeast Missouri State's athletic director, effective June 30.

"It was just weighing on me that I wasn't able to do everything," Shafer said. "Finally it just got to where I couldn't do this anymore and do what I needed to take care of.

"I've been contemplating for a time just out of necessity. I just had to do something."

Shafer, who is 64 years old, said he plans to continue living in Cape Girardeau with his wife, Dianne.

"I just need to be freed up where I can go on extended trip and not come back and take six months to catch up," he said.

Shafer signed a 3 1/2-year contract in December 2008, which was to run through June 2012. Southeast president Ken Dobbins said he initially tried to convince Shafer to complete the contract.

"There's some personal issues that he really wants to take care of, he and Dianne," Dobbins said. "I think that's really important that he does that. If I was in his situation, I would do the same thing."

Cindy Gannon, Southeast's associate director of athletics/senior woman administrator, will serve as Southeast's interim athletic director until the position is filled. She also served as the interim athletic director after Don Kaverman was let go in October 2008 until Shafer was hired later that year. She said she already canceled her summer vacation plans because of her added workload.

"She's been an interim before and she knows intercollegiate athletics, and the program is in much better shape than when she did it the last time," Dobbins said. "We had major infractions reports and some real issues that we needed to take care of, and John did. I think we need to move forward. I would imagine in the next three to four months we would begin the national search."

Dobbins identified two qualities that he deemed important for Shafer's replacement.

"I think that athletic direction has to have a vision for where we are and where we want to be and how to get us there," Dobbins said. "I think it's going to be vital that that person has the integrity that we expect from the athletic director, but more importantly for what we want for our coaches and our program."

Southeast's athletic department remains on probation until two years from today. The probation stems from the infractions by the men's and women's basketball programs before Shafer's tenure at Southeast. But Dobbins doesn't anticipate the probation scaring away potential candidates.

"I think we'll have a large group of very qualified individuals who would like to have this job, and this is going to be a very good job for someone to be the athletic director," Dobbins said. "John has established a base to build upon and we're going to look for someone to do that."

Gannon, who said she wasn't interested in the job while serving as interim athletic director in 2008, didn't discount interest in replacing Shafer.

"I really want to be fair to the university, which I'm obviously totally committed to the university and have been here for a long time," she said. "I've devoted a lot of my time. I'm going to put all of my time efforts into doing the best to my ability during my interim position. I'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Whoever replaces Shafer will inherit a department in much better shape than the one he was hired to lead. Southeast has avoided any visits to the NCAA Committee on Infractions for any violations under Shafer's guidance while enjoying academic success. All of the university's teams met the Academic Progress Rate benchmarks to avoid punishment by the NCAA this year. That has helped Dobbins' peace of mind regarding his athletic department.

"I can tell you I feel better because John instilled a pride in the whole program," Dobbins said. "He's concentrated on not only hiring good people but also making sure that academically our student-athletes were successful. There are several sports that we've had problems with APR, Academic Progress Report. We didn't have any this time. We had the highest average GPA in the 20 years I've been here. He not only turned things around with great hires, but he also walked the walk, and that's so important."

There also were successes on the field during Shafer's tenure. The football team enjoyed unprecedented success last season. The Redhawks won the program's first Ohio Valley Conference title and they played in the first playoff game in the program's 104-year history. That led Shafer to sign football coach Tony Samuel to a five-year contract in February.

Shafer also was responsible for hiring men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt in March 2009 and women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler in April 2011.

"I think the people that we've brought in, both staff and coaches, that will be here long after I'm gone and restoring the great tradition of Southeast Missouri State," he said about what he sees as his legacy at Southeast.

Shafer came to Southeast after serving as athletic director at Eastern Kentucky in 2003 and 2004 and working as athletic director at the University of Mississippi from 1998 to 2002. He said he doesn't know if he'll seek another job in college athletics down the road, but he knows what he'll miss the most now that he's retiring from Southeast.

"I'll miss the kids, the student-athletes," he said. "That's the reason I do what I did or did what I did. I'll miss the coaches and the staff and fighting like heck to get better in the classroom, fighting like heck to get better on the field of competition. That's what I'll miss."