A mix of insight: SEMO, Jay Spoonhour and Ben Hansbrough in the mix

A few notes while we collectively ponder why SLU waited until now to fire Brad Soderberg:

• Toby Carrig has a piece of advice for the PR arm of Southeast Missouri State University: Just be honest. His Southeast Missourian column published Tuesdayprovides a step-by-step account of how SEMO stammered, bumbled and fumbled its way toward explaining the recent injury to football player T.J. Walls.

While SEMO's pattern of sweeping bad news under the rug and flooding local media with good-news PR fluff is nothing new, it's been historically fueled by local media that has too often quietly played along. To the credit of the Southeast Missourian, Carrig's insight on SEMO's selective, hush-hush style of community relations comes in the wake of its own actions that might be reversing the newspaper's trend of covering the local university's athletic department, including recent document requests and aggressive reporting.

Taxpayers, boosters and fans across the region deserve nothing less, and the Missourian's newfound burst of investigative journalism can only make SEMO a better and more accountable university.

• Bad news for fans of Jay Spoonhour who lobbied for him to replace Gary Garner last spring: He didn't get the job at University of Missouri-Kansas City either. He was one of three coaches interviewed to replace Rich Zvosec, but he was passed over when West Virginia assistant Matt Brown was hired late last week.

Spoonhour is an assistant at Texas-San Antonio last season.

• Poplar Bluff grad Ben Hansbrough likely faces a more high-profile role if he chooses to stay at Mississippi State for his sophomore season. The team lost two starters this week when twins Reginald and Richard Delk of Jackson, Tenn., said they are leaving the team, leaving Jamont Gordon to run the point and Hansbrough and Barry Stewart in the mix as forwards. Reserve forward Bernard Rimmer is also leaving the team.

Hansbrough, which hasn't commented publicly about plans to leave MSU, reportedly has confided in friends that he has considered leaving MSU before next season. The school also hasn't commented.