Saluki Sports with Fred Huff

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ It's time for a little of "this" and not too much of "that".

First, congratulations to SIU's football coach Dale Lennon, his assistants and players for another superb season.

Yes, we watched as it ended just a little earlier than hoped for, but we've never been too upset when the Salukis have lost to a better opponent.

Last Saturday, William & Mary was a better football team, deserved the win and hopefully will go on to claim the national championship next week in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Tribe turned in an almost perfect performance in beating one of SIU's finest teams ever. W&M shut down Deji Karim. It prevented Paul McIntosh from getting into any kind of a rhythm and at the same time was able to score 27 points, enough for the convincing 27-3 victory.

There was no shame in the Salukis' loss which seemingly came in the final game ever to be played in McAndrew Stadium.

Now it's time for SIU athletics director Mario Moccia to go to work in regard to extending - and enhancing - Lennon's contract.

Fortunately SIU has the attractive new stadium going for it, but there are more factors involved in the event Lennon receives an attractive offer in the near future. We feel he will as the football coaching carousel has yet to hit high gear and SIU's coach has been flawless since taking over the Salukis two seasons ago.

And "flawless" is also the correct definition for Rodney Watson's start as the University of Southern Indiana's head basketball coach.

The Screaming Eagles are off to a rousing 6-0 start in regular-season play after pushing the basketball Salukis to near overtime in an early pre-season exhibition game.

So, too, is former SIU football assistant Jim Caldwell who has yet to lose a game in the National Football League after taking over as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts this season.

And how about another former Saluki assistant coach Charlie Strong?

Strong, who served two years at SIU under head coach Ray Dorr before heading south, was named head coach at Louisville this week. He's another Saluki coach who had "success" indelibly stamped across his forehead when he was in Carbondale.

Finally it's hoops time and Missouri Valley Conference officials are enjoying every moment of the early season as league clubs are having unusual success against many of the somewhat better known Division I clubs in the nation.

Going into this weekend's action, Valley teams have won 53 while losing only 22 and an impressive number of the victories have been over meaningful opponents as opposed to SIU's first road win Wednesday night at Southeast Missouri State.

Actually the Salukis, while still solid at 4-2 after having claimed the one-sided win, are one of the league's so-so teams at this stage of the season.

SIU's loss a week ago to a young Saint Louis University team playing without a single upper-classman, was tough to accept for some Saluki fans.

Coach Chris Lowery's outfit simply hasn't found its groove as yet, but it's a long, long season.

Valley teams continue to show improvement across the board and league parity may never have been so evident as it appears to be this season.

Missouri State, Illinois State, Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Bradley have all gotten off to impressive starts.

And that's no oversight in that Creighton was not included in the pack.

The Bears are cruising with a perfect 8-0 record and the Redbirds are just a step behind at 7-0. Wichita State is 8-1 and Northern Iowa 6-1 to lead Valley teams in non-conference action. The Bluejays are 3-4.

The Valley is in for an interesting season . . . once again.

after almost a month of pre-t as the Jayhawks are experiencing more than just a little discord among their athletes. In the event you missed reading about it, football and basketball players exchanged far more than "Have a good day," when leaving the athletics cafeteria this week.

What ever happened to the days we remember at SIU when basketball players cheered for the football team in the fall, football players returned the favor by supporting the basketball team at home games in the winter and many athletes of all sports were on the sidelines for wrestling, gymnastics, track and baseball events.

No doubt missing that is a sign of our advanced age, but we firmly believe that's the way it ought to be.

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