You can't say Dickey Nutt will ease into his first season as the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach.

While the Redhawks' entire 2009-10 schedule has not been released yet, the four opponents announced by the university last week are plenty formidable.

Nutt's first Southeast team will play Southern Illinois-Carbondale and Arkansas State at home, while facing Memphis and Saint Louis on the road.

The Redhawks open the season Nov. 14 at SLU in a guarantee game that I've been told will net the Southeast athletic department $75,000.

Southeast plays its first regular-season home game Nov. 18 against Arkansas State, Nutt's former squad that routed the Redhawks last season in Jonesboro, Ark.

The highly anticipated renewal of the SIU series will be Dec. 9, with Southeast returning the game to Carbondale, Ill., next season. Nutt told me he'll do everything in his power to make sure the Redhawks and Salukis play each year as long as he's at Southeast.

Southeast and SIU last met during the 2004-05 season, so I know Redhawks fans are thrilled that the Salukis are finally back on the schedule.

The Redhawks will play another guarantee game at nationally prominent Memphis on Dec. 22, which will bring in $85,000.

The remainder of the Southeast schedule that will feature 14 regular-season home games, along with two home exhibition contests, will be released soon after all contracts are signed.

I have learned that Southeast also will host Eastern Michigan, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and NAIA Williams Baptist College, in addition to the nine Ohio Valley Conference home games.

Among other road dates will be a game at Northern Illinois -- the Huskies rolled past Southeast at the Show Me Center last year in the BracketBuster -- and a tournament at Illinois State featuring contests against the host squad, St. Bonaventure and Norfolk State.

Southeast will receive $60,000 for the Illinois State tournament, meaning the Redhawks will bring in a cool $220,000 for the athletic department.

Overall, it's quite a challenging schedule for one of the nation's worst teams last season that went 3-27 and did not post an OVC victory.

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Nutt's first coaching staff that he finalized last week will rank among the youngest in the country.

While I don't know the exact ages of Nutt's three assistants, they're all under 35.

Former Moberly Area Community College coach Kyle Gerdeman, hired last week to complete the staff, will be the elder statesman of the group as he is a 1998 Southeast graduate.

Jamie Rosser, who played for Nutt at Arkansas State, completed his collegiate eligibility in 2000-01.

Jeremy Case played his last college season in 2007-08 as a member of Kansas' national championship team.

A youthful staff, for sure, but I don't think that's a bad thing. It probably means they'll be extremely enthusiastic and hungry, which is good.

And remember, with the financial restraints placed on Nutt regarding his staff, it's not like experienced college coaches are beating down the door to work at Southeast.

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Former Southeast track and field coach Joey Haines is now officially a member of the OVC Hall of Fame after his induction Friday during the league's annual honors luncheon in Nashville, Tenn.

Haines, one of just 65 OVC Hall of Fame members, coached at Southeast for 26 years before his retirement in 2008.

Although his first nine years at Southeast were prior to the school joining the OVC, Haines won 20 OVC coach of the year honors (six men's and 14 women's) in 21 actual seasons as a coach in the conference.

Congratulations to Haines, among Southeast's all-time great coaches.

Marty Mishow is a sports reporter for the Southeast Missourian. You can reach him at: mmishow@semissourian.com;