THE LATEST LINE: SEARCH FOR SE FOOTBALL COACH IN FINAL STAGES

Southeast Missouri State University is getting closer and closer to deciding on a new head football coach, with an announcement expected to come in the next week or so.

Three of the four finalists -- Marshall defensive coordinator Tim Billings, Iowa State passing game coordinator Richard Wilson and Iowa State quarterback coach Phil Meyer -- were on campus for interviews last week, with Jackson State offensive coordinator John Shannon coming in Monday.

People all over town have been asking me one question: Who do I think will get the job?

Well, first of all, my track record in predicting this kind of thing is not real good (I'll explain later), but I do enjoy giving my opinion (although you know the old saying about opinions, don't you?).

For openers, after speaking with and listening to the first three candidates answer a barrage of questions during public meetings when they were on campus, I came away very impressed with all three, as I'm sure I'll be with Shannon.

All four coaches have impressive credentials, which you'd expect. Otherwise, it's doubtful they would have become finalists.

But there's no denying the fact that Billings' resume particularly stands out:

-- He's the only coordinator among the bunch.

-- He's at by far the most successful program of the four, Marshall being the nation's winningest program in the 1990s.

-- He's at a school that has experienced considerable success both at the I-AA and I-A levels.

-- He's at a school that used to field one of the nation's worst football programs before becoming a I-AA power in the 1990s, which led to Marshall's ascent to I-A status.

All that being said, it shouldn't surprise you that I believe the SEMO job is Billings' to have, as long as he wants it.

That last part as long as he wants it -- is a key issue, because there have been many instances of coaches, for whatever reasons, getting cold feet and turning down jobs they were offered.

And now, back to what I said earlier about my track record. Think back a few years, to when SEMO was in the market for a basketball coach and had narrowed the search down to several highly qualified finalists.

All of them seemed very impressive, with sterling credentials. I said at the time that I believed you could not go wrong with any of them, but my feeling was that then-Missouri assistant Kim Anderson would get the job.

Well, as everybody knows, Gary Garner was hired. And, nothing against Anderson, but am I ever glad I was wrong, because I can't imagine anybody doing a better job with SEMO's hoop program -- or being a better person than the classy Garner.

* Best wishes to L.G. Lauxman, who has served in a variety of duties at SEMO over the past 32 years and most recently ran the Student Rec Center, on his retirement.

I have gotten to know L.G. well because I hang out at the Rec Center a lot and he is truly one of the area's good guys.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian