THE LATEST LINE: EX-SEMO ASSISTANT ONE STEP AWAY FROM SUPER BOWL

It's unlikely that the one season he spent as an assistant football coach at Southeast Missouri State University was the key in Jon Gruden getting to the point he is at today.

But it's still kind of neat that a guy with at least some kind of ties to our area is just one step away from reaching the ultimate of his profession -- the Super Bowl.

Gruden, of course, is the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, who will play the Baltimore Ravens today in the AFC championship game, with the winner moving on to the Super Bowl.

Most people who follow the local sports scene probably already know this, but Gruden spent the 1988 season in Cape Girardeau as SEMO's quarterbacks coach under then-head coach Bill Maskill. The Indians went 6-4 that season as a Division II program.

Gruden, who had come to SEMO after spending the previous two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee, went from Cape Girardeau to the University of Pacific, where he spent one season as wide receivers coach.

In 1990, Gruden broke into the NFL as an offensive assistant with the San Francisco 49ers. He spent the next season back in the college ranks, coaching receivers at Pittsburgh, before rejoining the NFL.

From 1992-94, Gruden was wide receivers coach for the Green Pay Packers, then from 1995-97 he served as the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive coordinator.

In 1998, Gruden became the head coach of the Raiders. And, after consecutive 8-8 seasons, he has Oakland on the brink of the Super Bowl and is being lauded as one of the top coaches in the NFL despite being only 37 years old.

Gruden has built a reputation as a tireless worker who thinks nothing of putting in 20-hour days. He is also known as a stickler for detail. I've been told he was exactly the same way during his brief stint at SEMO.

Gruden had some ties to the NFL -- his father Jim is a regional scout for the 49ers and previously served as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant -- which might have helped get his foot in the door.

But getting your foot in the door is one thing. Reaching the heights of the coaching profession that Gruden has already ascended to is another.

I didn't get to know Gruden well during his one year in Cape Girardeau, although I was fairly familiar with him through my covering SEMO football, but I know which team I'll be rooting for in today's AFC title contest.

I've never really been a Raiders fan, but having a SEMO connection in the Super Bowl would be fun.

And you've got to like a guy who mentions SEMO during a national television interview, as Gruden did last week on ESPN.

* The Charleston boys basketball team has not contended for a state championship for a few years and probably won't this season.

But for one night at least, the glory returned to Charleston hoops last Tuesday when the Bluejays stunned defending Class 3A state champion New Madrid in what has to rank as one of the state's biggest upsets this season.

* And speaking of a surprise in the area prep ranks, although it didn't result in a victory, has there been any more of a shocker this season than Cape Central taking New Madrid to overtime Friday night?

This will probably end up being one of the worst seasons record-wise in the modern history of Cape Central basketball, but for one night at least the Tigers were able to play with one of the state's best 3A teams.