Central football coaches will have a great view of the action next season on Friday nights.

The catch is, they might not be watching Central games.

Due to scheduling conflicts at Houck Stadium, on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, the Tigers could have as many as five home games on Thursday nights.

That's not sitting too well with Tiger coach Lawrence Brookins, whose team has traditionally played a Thursday game or two each season.

The major drawback to Thursday games is a short week of preparation after playing the previous Friday. Also, the school usually plays JV games on Monday, which only leaves a couple of days for complete team practices. On the smaller upside, the Central varsity staff can scout games in person on the open Fridays.

The conflicts arise from Southeast women's soccer and Southeast volleyball, played in adjacent Houck Field House. The soccer team uses Houck Stadium while the volleyball team uses the locker room used by the football team.

Central athletic director Terry Kitchen has been working with Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman in an effort to move a couple of the games to Friday.

"Don is trying to help us out," Kitchen said. "He knows the situation we're in and we know the situation they're in. We're trying to work something out that will help both schools."

Brookins and Kitchen have even kicked around the idea of playing a couple of Saturday afternoon games at Lou Muegge Field at the high school, but limited seating is a drawback.

The preference remains Friday at Houck.

"I'm just more of a traditionalist," Brookins said. "I just like those Friday night lights. It just sounds good."

Mules hire coach

Poplar Bluff filled its vacant varsity head coaching position earlier this week by promoting offensive coordinator Mike Dormady.

Dormady, 34, had been an assistant to Mark Barousse, who recently resigned to lead his alma mater in Lafayette, La. The Mules were 8-2 in Barousse's fifth and final season.

Dormady had six years of collegiate coaching experience before joining the Poplar Bluff staff in 1997. The Mules' offense thrived with Dormady at the controls, mounting over 3,000 total yards in each of the last three seasons.

Hayti drops girls hoops

The Hayti school board voted to drop its girls basketball program earlier this week at both the high school and junior high levels.

Indian girls coach Marty Madden said lack of participation was the reason the three-year old high school program was terminated. Hayti, with an enrollment of 239 students, did not have a JV team and had just eight girls participating at the high school level. The junior high team was started just two years ago.

Hayti, Class 2A in basketball, was winless in its maiden season, won two games in 2000-01, and improved to 6-13 in the just completed season.

"I think it will be dropped for a pretty good while, I'd imagine," Madden said.

Jeff Breer is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.