THE LATEST LINE: GARNER HAS PROVEN TO BE QUITE A HIRE

When Gary Garner was hired as Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball coach in June of 1997, nobody really knew for sure if the school had made the right choice.

Now, everybody knows.

It would be hard to imagine anybody -- not even John Wooden and Dean Smith rolled into one -- doing what Garner has done with the SEMO program.

When Garner came to Cape Girardeau, the Indians were coming off a 12-18 season and they were about to be hit with probation for NCAA violations committed under the former coaching staff.

But look at the Indians now.

SEMO, after posting what was then its best-ever Division I record of 20-9 last season, is 24-6 and headed for its first trip to the Big Dance -- the NCAA Division I Tournament.

No, Garner might not be a miracle worker, but in the eyes of SEMO fans, he's probably pretty darn close.

It's doubtful that even the most optimistic SEMO followers could have envisioned Garner and his staff taking the program to the heights they have in just three seasons.

Garner's first SEMO team went 14-13 and showed the heart and spirit that area fans have become accustomed to. Last year, that was taken to a higher level when the Indians won 20 games and came within a buzzer shot of making the NCAA tourney.

This season, the Indians have raised the bar several more notches. Not only did they compile by far their best record on the Division I level, they won a share of their first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and captured their first OVC tourney championship.

And now it's on to the NCAA Tournament for the Indians, who today will learn who, where and when they'll be playing in the first round.

Garner keeps emphasizing that the Indians' work is not done, that they don't want to be satisfied with just getting this far, that they also want to win an NCAA tourney game or two.

And really, there's no reason they can't. Every year, a program about the level of SEMO's pulls off a major upset or two and becomes the darling of the entire hoops nation.

Southwest Missouri did it last season and Valparaiso did it a few years ago, both relatively no-name squads winning twice and reaching the Sweet 16. Who's to say the Indians won't capture the country's attention later this week?

But even if that doesn't happen, nobody can take away from what has been a glorious basketball season in Cape Girardeau.

And nobody can take away from the job Garner and his assistants have done in building a program that figures to be an OVC power for years to come.

Likewise, nobody can take away from the classy manner in which Garner, his assistants and all their players have carried themselves both on and off the court.

To a man, everybody associated with the SEMO program is a first-rate individual. As somebody who travels with the team on a regular basis, I get to see that up close and personal.

The Indians are certainly the kind of team worth rooting for.

And Garner was certainly the kind of coach worth hiring.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian