A day after the dismissal of Dale Lennon as the head football coach at SIU, Director of Athletics Tommy Bell addressed the future of the program in front of the media on Tuesday.
Bell said the decision to remove Lennon came down to the program missing the playoffs for six straight seasons and not living up to SIU's Standard of Excellence.
"We want to compete for the Missouri Valley Conference football championship, which means that puts us in a situation were in that competitive market, that puts us in the ability to compete for the national championship."
Assistant coach Nick Hill has been named the interim head coach. Bell said he plans to hire a new permanent coach by Christmas.
"We're not going to do a traditional posting on this position. We're going to get after it, get done, because this is what's beneficial for our student-athletes. We cannot afford to miss on the recruiting cycle that is so important in the development of football."
He says the new hire must bring certain things to the table.
"First and foremost, the right fit for SIU, and familiarity with the southern Illinois region. And then most importantly, familiarity with the Missouri Valley Football Conference."
Bell said SIU has everything in place for the new coach to be successful.
"We're fully funded in scholarships. We have a good salary base. We have a good head coaching salary. That's what's making this job very interesting to a lot of people. People know that this institution has made investments for us to have success."
Illinois is now into its six month without a state budget for higher education. But, Bell said that has no impact on how much the Salukis can offer a potential new football coach.
"We are fortunate enough here that none of our coaches' salaries are covered by state appropriated dollars in our athletic department...that's a good thing. Where other state schools, they're paying their coaches with appropriated money from the state of Illinois...not here, we're very fortunate."
Bell's advisory committee to help him find a new coach includes former Saluki great and current SIU trustee Joel Sambursky, longtime SIU administrator Harold Bardo, local businessman and SIU philanthropist Greg Cook, faculty athletic representative Julie Partridge, and special adviser Jerry Kill, the former Saluki coach who just stepped down as head coach at the University of Minnesota because of health issues.
