Samuel's first season went about as expected

~ Southeast's new football coach put his stampon the program during a 4-7 campaign.

The Southeast Missouri State football team finished coach Tony Samuel's first season on a down note when Tennessee Tech rallied from a 29-6 second-half deficit to win 32-29 last weekend at Houck Stadium.

But everything considered, I thought Samuel's debut campaign in Cape Girardeau went pretty decent, even though records of 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the OVC probably don't seem like much.

Those marks aren't really much different than Tim Billings' final season last year -- when Southeast went 2-9 overall and 2-6 in the OVC -- since two of the nonconference wins were basically set up by the schedule, but I think Samuel made significant progress stamping his mark on the Redhawks and instilling his basic philosophy.

I believe Samuel established plenty of discipline within the program -- both on and off the field -- which is likely to pay off down the line.

Truthfully, it's going to probably take a while to determine just how good a hire Samuel was, because any football coach needs time to bring in his own players and then have a few years with those players in his program.

The general rule of thumb in football is to let a coach go through one recruiting cycle -- which is basically three or four years -- and then judge the job he's doing.

Sure, there are exceptions, and maybe Samuel will have the Redhawks toward the top of the OVC next year, although he'll need a major recruiting effort because Southeast loses a load of key seniors, many of whom were among the team's top players.

Otherwise, Redhawks' supporters simply need to be patient and hope Samuel eventually provides them with what they're looking for -- a winning program, something that Southeast has not consistently had since moving to Division I-AA.

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Tennessee-Martin came close to finally ending the OVC's long Division I-AA playoff drought.

But the OVC's futility lives on after Southern Illinois rallied to beat the visiting Skyhawks 36-30 Saturday.

Coupled with Eastern Illinois' 24-13 home loss to Illinois State, and the OVC has dropped its last eight postseason games. All told, the conference has one victory in its last 14 playoff contests.

At least the OVC -- which this year had two teams in the playoffs for the first time since 2002 -- was more competitive than it had been in a long time.

Entering Saturday's play, the league had dropped its last five postseason games by at least 15 points.

Tennessee-Martin and Eastern Illinois were both closer than that, so maybe the conference is making progress after being maligned for so long.

And you've got to hand it to Tennessee-Martin for quite an effort. I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking the Skyhawks -- in the I-AA playoffs for the first time -- would get hammered by the postseason-savvy Salukis.

But the Skyhawks, who put together the story of the year in I-AA football simply to make the playoffs after they were so awful for so long, led most of the way, fought the Salukis to the wire and nearly pulled off a major upset.

Maybe next year the OVC will finally get over the hump.

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After the OVC graduated 13 of its top 15 men's basketball scorers from last year, most people figured the conference would be a bit down -- and certainly wide open -- this season.

What has transpired so far during nonleague play has done nothing to dispute the above.

Entering Saturday's games, the OVC was 7-28 against Division I competition.

Some of the blame for that dismal record can be attributed to the conference's teams having to play so many big-time opponents on the road for guarantees to help out their athletic departments financially.

That's why OVC squads rarely sport strong non-league records.

But the OVC has also suffered its share of losses to other mid-major programs -- and Murray State even lost to a Division II team.

Still, the conference race could perhaps be as exciting as it's been in a while. Since there don't appear to be any dominant squads, just about everybody must feel like they've got a chance to contend.

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With OVC basketball moving to a 20-game schedule last year -- meaning all 11 league teams play each other twice -- the conference slate had to begin much earlier than normal.

So, even though the season has really only just started, all-important league play has started, as Murray State and Eastern Illinois squared off Saturday night.

Southeast's men jump into the OVC fray for the first time under coach Scott Edgar on Saturday night when Tennessee-Martin visits the Show Me Center, although the Southeast women don't play their first conference game until Dec. 7.

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While the OVC is struggling a bit, the Missouri Valley Conference -- coming off a banner year that saw two of its men's basketball teams make the NCAA Sweet 16 -- is off to another impressive start.

Wichita State, which is ranked in The Associated Press Top 25, won Saturday afternoon at No. 6 Louisiana State.

Missouri State, a squad that many people thought got snubbed by the NCAA last year, stunned seventh-ranked Wisconsin on Friday during a tournament in South Padre Island, Texas.

The Bears came back Saturday and took Oklahoma State to overtime before losing in the tournament championship game.

Southern Illinois probably should have beaten Arkansas on Thursday before losing in overtime, but the Salukis rebounded to rout Minnesota Friday, both games coming during a tournament in Florida.

Sure, Minnesota is probably not very good this year, but the Golden Gophers are still a member of the Big 10 Conference.

Can you imagine what the OVC would give to beat a Big 10 program?

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Former Southeast assistant men's basketball coach Tom Schuberth is off to quite a start in his first college head coaching position.

Schuberth, Gary Garner's chief recruiter when Southeast made its only Division I tournament appearance in 1999-2000, became the first coach in Texas-Pan American basketball history to begin his career with a 3-0 record.

The Broncs later moved to 4-0 before suffering their first loss Tuesday at Texas-Arlington.

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Former Southeast assistant men's basketball coach Anthony Beane, who spent the past several seasons as an assistant at St. Louis University before stepping down to pursue other interests, is now coaching high school basketball in St. Louis.

Beane, who like Schuberth was an assistant on Southeast's NCAA tournament team in 1999-2000, is the head coach at Soldan High School.

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Belated congratulations to the Notre Dame High School boys soccer team, which finished a fantastic season recently by winning the Class 2 state championship.

Not only did the Bulldogs' capture their second state title, they dominated virtually all season, going 26-1, winning their last 21 matches and allowing just nine goals the entire campaign.

Kudos to everybody associated with the program, which is directed by veteran coach Brad Wittenborn.

Although I don't cover very many high school sporting events these days, I've been fond of "Witt" ever since my early years at the Southeast Missourian, when I had the privilege of covering his sensational Notre Dame boys basketball teams that won back-to-back state titles in the mid-1980s.

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Dave Oster, who this year retired after 27 seasons as the baseball coach at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo., recently became the first inductee into the junior college's new Baseball Hall of Fame.

I mention this because numerous local high school products went on to play for Oster at Jeffco, and many of them continued their careers at not only Southeast but with the Capahas.

Chaffee's Jerry Wolsey -- who pitched for Jeffco, Southeast and the Capahas -- attended Oster's induction on Nov. 10 at the Holiday Inn in Festus, Mo.

Wolsey told me it was a great ceremony and Oster is very deserving, because he has done so much for baseball in the region.

Kelly's Danny Simpher, who pitched for the Capahas, also attended, according to Wolsey, as did Ste. Genevieve's Steve Bieser, who starred at Southeast and eventually reached the major leagues.

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It's hard to be upset that Phillies' slugger Ryan Howard won the National League's Most Valuable Player award, because he's from St. Louis and by all accounts he's really a fine young man.

But I still think the Cardinals' Albert Pujols should have gotten the MVP.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.