Interviews begin

Craig Schurig has already turned around one struggling football program.

Now he'd like the opportunity to do the same at Southeast Missouri State.

Schurig, the head coach at Division II Washburn (Kan.) University the past four years, was the first finalist for the vacant Southeast coaching position brought to campus for a series of interviews on Friday.

Schurig met with various Southeast administrators early in the day, followed by a mid-afternoon public gathering at the University Center that was attended by about 30 Southeast football players, several boosters and a few media members.

"It was a pleasant surprise," Schurig said of the turnout at the public forum, which included him being grilled about various topics by many of the players. "You never know what to expect with something like this. I didn't know if two players would show up or what."

During a one-on-one interview following the public meeting, the 40-year-old Schurig said he knows how to build a program from the ground up.

"Just looking at a blueprint of what we've done at Washburn and understanding what it takes, it's a very similar situation," Schurig said. "I took over a program not unlike this one, but I think this one is in better shape personnel-wise.

"All the feedback I've gotten, there's a lot of talent here, it just needs some direction. For whatever reason, it didn't work."

Schurig has gone 25-21 at Washburn the past four seasons, including a 17-7 mark the last two years after he took over a program that had not had a winning record since 1999.

This year, Washburn won its first Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association title in school history -- and its first conference title of any kind since 1983. The Ichabods earned their first NCAA playoff berth and won nine games for the first time. Schurig was named the MIAA coach of the year.

Washburn, ranked as high as No. 5 nationally, lost to MIAA rival Northwest Missouri State 42-32 in the second round of the Division II playoffs after beating the Bearcats during the regular season. Northwest Missouri will play in today's Division II national championship game.

"What Craig has done at Washburn is very impressive. He really turned that program around," Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said.

Before taking his first head coaching position at Washburn, Schurig spent eight seasons as an assistant at perennial Division II power Pittsburg (Kan.) State, which has produced numerous successful college coaches on all levels.

Schurig likened himself somewhat to Jerry Kill, another former Pittsburg State assistant who also originally made his mark on the Division II level before taking over one of the nation's worst Division I-AA programs at Southern Illinois.

Kill has led a remarkable turnaround in Carbondale -- which no doubt caught the attention of Southeast administrators when they considered Schurig.

Schurig, when asked if what Kill has done at SIU might work in his favor, said, "I do. I have a lot of similarities to Jerry, and we're good friends. There's no secret, he did it the right way. There is no quick fix."

By the right way, Schurig said he means getting strong assistant coaches -- he intimated that, if hired, he would try to bring much of his current staff at Washburn to Southeast -- recruiting well, being organized and working hard.

"In building a program, you have to have a great staff that will compete with the best teams you play," said Schurig, who also coaches the quarterbacks at Washburn. "We've been fortunate at Washburn in that our staff has been together the last four years.

"We bring to the players some very detailed organization. If you're looking for some big pep talk, that won't get it done. We'll roll our sleeves up and go to work."

Schurig said he believes in building a program with freshmen, and then filling in gaps with other players.

"I'd rather build with guys who are in the program four and five years, then you can fill spot needs with junior college and four-year transfers," he said.

Schurig said his recruiting philosophy is to attract the best players from not too far away and then branch out when necessary.

"I'm a strong believer that you have to recruit regionally first -- three, four hours from Cape Girardeau -- then you need to recruit certain hotbeds," he said. "We have a number of kids from South Florida, the Dallas Metroplex, we've gone to California."

As far as an offensive philosophy, Schurig said his teams at Washburn have been balanced between the run and pass, operating out of both two-back and one-back formations. But being physically tough is a must.

The Ichabods averaged 36 points and 415 yards per game this year, with a little more than 233 yards coming through the air and almost 182 yards coming on the ground.

"You look at our stats, we're very balanced," said Schurig, who played college football as a defensive back at the Colorado School of Mines. "But my philosophy is you hang your hat on something, and we want to be physical. That's the way you win, especially in this part of the country."

Southeast's administration has received criticism for not providing the necessary financial resources to build a strong football program, and the facilities also are not regarded as top-notch.

Without getting into the specifics of the kind of budget he would be working with if hired, Schurig said having a Division II background -- where financial resources are generally limited -- would help him.

"I'm not spoiled. I'm used to operating with what I'm given," he said.

As for the facilities, Schurig said, "I drove around Cape Girardeau last night after getting into town. It's beautiful. The town itself is a huge selling point. When you have a town like that, the facilities are good enough to recruit to."

Added Schurig: "It has to be a community wide effort to get it done. Football takes so many resources. It takes the entire town to get it done. I know it seems like a clichŽ, but this program has a lot of potential. I'm very excited about the opportunity here."

Kaverman said the university expects to bring three more finalists in for interviews and public forums, although those finalists will probably not be determined until early next week. The other finalists are tentatively scheduled to be in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday, Thursday and Dec. 19.

Southeast is searching for a new coach after the resignation of Tim Billings, who went 25-43 in six seasons, including 2-9 this year.