Southeast Missouri State basketball recruits wait on word of new hires

With the head coaching positions for the Southeast Missouri State men's and women's basketball teams still vacant it's become a waiting game for the players that signed their National Letter of Intent to be a Redhawk during the early signing period in November.

The wait could be over in about a week based on a phone conversation Ron Lindfors, father of women's basketball signee Amber Lindfors, had with Southeast athletic director Mark Alnutt.

"I talked to the AD last week, and he said they were on a fast track to finding a new coach and they wanted us to have the opportunity to have the new coach talk to Amber, so that's kind of where we're at right now," Lindfors said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Other open basketball coaching positions within the Ohio Valley Conference are being addressed. SIU Edwardsville announced Jon Harris as its new men's basketball coach Friday. Harris replaced Lennox Forrester, whose contract was not renewed following the season.

There also were reports Tuesday that Minnesota assistant Dan McHale will replace Jeff Neubauer at Eastern Kentucky. Neubauer was announced as Fordham's coach March 30.

Austin Peay remains without a women's basketball coach after Carrie Daniels' contract was not renewed.

Lindfors said he was told by Alnutt that the school should know who the next women's coach will be by April 15, which happens to be the first day of the regular signing period for basketball.

Until then Lindfors, a center from Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, her three fellow signees to the women's basketball team, and a pair of men's basketball signees will have to wait to see who the replacements are for women's coach Ty Margenthaler, who resigned on March 23, and men's coach Dickey Nutt, who was fired within hours of the announcement of Margenthaler's resignation.

"Our timeline's their timeline," Lindfors said. "When they let us know, then we'll sit down and talk."

Any recruits who signs with a school must receive permission from that school to attend elsewhere.

Olivia Crozier, a forward from Madison High School in Indiana, and Jennifer and Jessica Mackowiak, guards out of Fenwick High School in Cicero, Illinois, also signed to play for Margenthaler.

The Redhawks return nine players from last year's squad that went 10-19 overall and 3-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast failed to make the OVC tournament for the sixth consecutive year and fourth under Margenthaler. The program is also under an NCAA investigation.

If all four signees end up attending Southeast, and no returners choose to transfer, the Redhawks would not need to add any additional players. Starting forwards Connor King and Erin Bollmann and guard Olivia Hackmann are expected to return.

"She was upset because I think Coach Ty and Amber made a really good connection," Lindfors said of the news of the resignation.

The announcement about the termination of Nutt's contract came less than two hours after Margenthaler's resignation and was revealed, and the news came as a surprise to Marion (Illinois) High School guard Robby Dosier, who signed with the Redhawks in November. Southwest Mississippi Community College forward Xavion Dillon also signed with Southeast during the week-long early signing period.

The men's team returns nine players from last year's team that was bounced from the first round of the conference tournament as the eighth seed. The Redhawks finished 13-17 and 7-9 in the OVC.

Starting guards Antonius Cleveland, Isiah Jones and Marcus Wallace are amongst the returnees.

Four players taller than 6-foot-5 exhausted their eligibility: second-team all-conference guard Jarekious Bradley, starting forwards Nino Johnson and Aaron Adeoye and reserve Josh Langford.

The Redhawks had a verbal commitment from 6-11 Macam Macam from Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kansas, and believed they were close to receiving a commitment from 6-8 John A. Logan forward Jordan Martin prior to Nutt's firing.

"I think at first he was kind of like anybody else, kind of stunned and shocked," Marion boys basketball coach Shane Hawkins said about Dosier in a phone interview Tuesday. "I think when something like that happens there's a bunch of questions that come into play. I think after the initial shock of it he's handled it really well. He's just going to kind of play it by ear, and he's as anxious as anybody else in the area about who the replacement's going to be."

Nutt has been in contact with Dosier and let him know that, "everything's going to be OK," according to Hawkins. He also heard from Nutt's assistants in the days following the coach's firing after six seasons.

"He had a very good relationship with Coach Nutt, and I think that's the major reason why he signed there, but now that something happened that Robby can't control it's kind of out of the hands of what he can do," Hawkins said.

Hawkins said that Dosier is "committed to Southeast Missouri State University" and has not discussed getting released from his letter of intent to try to sign elsewhere.

"We've had our discussions and I feel that I have a very good relationship with Robby, and everything's kind of been, 'Hey, we're going to wait and see what happens,'" Hawkins said. "And then whenever the new coach gets hired it's important for Robby to get down there as soon as possible and introduce himself and meet with him. I think he's looking forward to getting down there in the summer and beginning workouts and getting on campus and going forward."

"He's planning on taking a couple classes and getting to workout with his guys," Hawkins added. "I think he has a good relationship with a couple of the players and I think that part has been very important for him and he's looking forward to it."