New Southeast Missouri State AD Barke turns his attention to hiring a coach to replace Bieser

When Brady Barke was introduced as Southeast Missouri State's athletics director June 7, he alluded to Redhawk coaches becoming so successful that major universities would seek them out.

Coaches moving on to bigger and better things would be a sign that the department and its programs were "doing something right."

That moment came sooner rather than later, though, with Steve Bieser departing after a stellar four-year stint with the Redhawks to be the head coach of the Missouri baseball team Thursday.

Now, less than a month since the interim tag was dropped from his title, Barke will be tasked with finding the replacement for the man that led Southeast to three consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles and the program's first OVC tournament title and NCAA Regional berth since 2002.

"It really is bittersweet for me, personally, because Steve is a good friend of mine, and I'm happy for him and happy for the opportunity that he's earned and I think he's going to do great things at Mizzou, but at the same time certainly hate to see him go from here because we've accomplished so many things and we've progressed so much within that baseball program, and I know that there was more there that he wanted to accomplish and that I certainly wanted to help him accomplish," Barke said on Friday. "I've said it before, it's a good problem to have when we have success and we have coaches that are able to get to that level, but it's certainly frustrating for us because we find ourselves in this situation again."

Southeast announced that it would begin a national search for its new coach immediately, and Barke was already busy on the phone Friday morning.

He plans to have the new coach "in place no later than August 1."

"We want to move as quickly as we can, but we want to make sure that we get the right person," Barke said. "We'll do a national search and we'll recruit as good of candidates as we can. Ideally, I would like for us to be able to have someone in place sooner rather than later, but I don't want that to be at the expense of finding the right person. We'll get the position posted, and I've already been in contact with a number of people, and we'll continue to do that."

Barke assisted in the hirings of football coach Tom Matukewicz and men's basketball coach Rick Ray over the past few years and will lead the search for the new baseball coach. He's uncertain if he will have anyone assist him or who that would be if he does. A search firm will not be used.

Barke did not want to disclose whether he'd consider any of the current Southeast assistants -- pitching coach Lane Rhodes, hitting coach Matt Borgschulte and volunteer assistant Joe Migliaccio -- for the job, should they not move on to Mizzou with Bieser, but planned to speak with them "just to talk about where they are with things, and then we'll go from there."

He also planned to reach out to all current players Friday, which is a challenge with them being scattered across the country playing in summer leagues, to keep them updated and provide answers to any questions or concerns they may have about the transition.

The qualities Barke will be looking for in candidates are the same as he's had in past searches.

"I will look for a person that has high character and integrity, somebody that can recruit and somebody that can coach," Barke said. "I think if you can hit on those three things they can certainly be successful and build the type of programs that we're trying to build here."

Bieser, who posted a record of 138-97 during his four years at Southeast, reportedly received a five-year contract worth $300,000 per year at Mizzou.

He'd signed a four-year contract extension at Southeast on September 22 with a base salary of

$91,632 per year in addition to bonuses for meeting certain standards.

According to the terms of the contract, providing Barke with written notice of his intent to interview with Missouri would waive terms of liquidated damages otherwise stipulated -- a buyout "amount equal to one-half the remaining base salary that would have been due him under the current agreement."

With Bieser's resignation announced exactly three years to the date the contract was set to expire -- June 30, 2019 -- that amount would be $137,448.

Barke confirmed that he had been in contact with Bieser throughout the process and that there would be no buyout owed.

He expects the opening to be an attractive one that garners plenty of suitable candidates, particularly because of the renovations coming to Capaha Field. The university and City of Cape Girardeau came to an agreement in April for renovations that include the installation of an artificial turf field, a new outfield fence, more dugout protection and the reparation or replacement of the scoreboard.

Southeast hopes to be able to complete an indoor hitting facility and team locker room at the field in the next couple of years.

"I think if you look at the Capaha Field improvements, if you look at where we're situated within the region and Cape Girardeau and the community that we have to recruit to, I think it's very attractive for a school of our size," Barke said. "And I think if you look at the success that we've had -- not just in the past few years, but the success we've had for years and years -- it's a place that's always been competitive and a place that's always been able to win. I think people see that. Then anytime you see a coach that is here for four years and lands a job in the best baseball conference in the country, it tells you that you have the opportunities to be able to come here and do great things."

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that Rick Ray is the Southeast men's basketball coach.