Eastern Illiniois Head Coach Bob Spoo to Undergo Surgery Next Week

Contact: Rich Moser, SID (rlmoser@eiu.edu)
Story Date: August 23, 2006


MARK HUTSON
Assistant Head Coach

CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois University athletic director Dr. Rich McDuffie has announced that Panthers head coach Bob Spoo will undergo surgery in St. Louis next Tuesday and will miss 4-to-6 weeks recovering prior to returning to the EIU sidelines.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach Spoo and his family at this time,” McDuffie stated. “We are confident this will be a successful surgery and anticipate Coach to return to team as soon as he feels ready.”

In Spoo’s absence assistant head coach Mark Hutson will take over the day-to-day duties of running the Panthers football program. Huston has been with the program for four seasons and has previous coaching stops at Arkansas, Boise State, Tulsa and Murray State. He is a 1989 graduate of the University of Oklahoma earning All-Big Eight honors three times. He was a third round draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys and spent two seasons in the Cowboys organization.

The Panthers open the season on Sept. 2 at the University of Illinois. Coach Spoo is entering his 20th year as EIU’s head coach. A 1960 graduate of Purdue University, Spoo has compiled a 119-98-1 record during 19 seasons at Eastern Illinois including seven NCAA I-AA playoff appearances. He is the reigning OVC Coach of the Year.

Based on privacy issues, Coach Spoo or Eastern Illinois will not comment further on Coach Spoo’s medical treatment at this time. We are hopeful that Coach Spoo will be able to address the media sometime during his recovery period.