Southeast Missouri Director of Athletics Mark Alnutt announced Wednesday that Dickey Nutt has agreed to a new contract to be the Redhawks head men’s basketball coach through 2016-17.
Nutt guided Southeast to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the fourth-straight year in 2013-14. The Redhawks advanced to the OVC Tournament quarterfinals and finished with an overall record of 18-14.
Southeast enjoyed its second-straight winning season with Nutt at the helm. It marked the first time in 13 years and just the second in their NCAA Division I era that the Redhawks posted back-to-back winning campaigns. Southeast’s 18 victories were the most in a season since 2000-01 (18-12).
"I’m very excited about the direction of our men’s basketball program," said Alnutt. "I firmly believe that Coach Nutt has laid a solid foundation for this program to be a contender in the OVC on an annual basis. Our ultimate goal is to win an OVC championship. We achieve that by building a program the right way, recruiting high character student-athletes who leave Southeast with their degrees and having a coaching staff that abides by NCAA rules and regulations. I look forward to continuing to work with Coach Nutt as he prepares for the upcoming season and beyond."
Statistically, the Redhawks ranked among the top-10 teams in the nation in field goal percentage (2nd, .499), scoring offense (6th, 82.9 ppg) and assists per game (7th, 16.7). Southeast led the conference in each of those categories, as well.
"I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am with the new contract," said Nutt. "I am most appreciative that Dr. Dobbins and Mr. Alnutt have the confidence in me to continue building this program to higher grounds," said Nutt. "I do believe that our future is bright and this only enhances our efforts in reaching our goals."
The Redhawks had two of the OVC’s top scorers in Tyler Stone and Jarekious Bradley. Stone, a First-Team All-OVC performer, ranked second with 19.3 points a game, while Bradley followed close behind with 19 per contest. Bradley earned Second-Team All-OVC accolades and was named to the league’s All-Newcomer Team. Both garnered National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-Region honors.
Nutt’s teams have improved each of his first five years at Southeast. He has coached one NCAA Division I statistical champion (Leon Powell), two 1,000-point scorers (Marland Smith, Tyler Stone), three All-OVC picks (Leon Powell, Tyler Stone, Jarekious Bradley) and four NABC All-District honorees (Leon Powell, Tyler Stone, Marland Smith, Jarekious Bradley) during that time. His son, Lucas, also broke the school’s all-time career assists record.
Southeast returns three starters next season, including Bradley, Nino Johnson and Antonius Cleveland. Johnson averaged 8.5 points and six rebounds, and ranked third on the team in blocks (28), while Cleveland (9.1 ppg) was the Redhawks third-leading scorer and one of the OVC’s top freshmen this year.
Nutt’s current contract was set to expire at the end of the 2014-15 season.
Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.
