Southern Ill. Fires Football Coach

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) â€” Southern Illinois fired football coach Jan Quarless a day after his team lost 22-0 at Western Kentucky to finish a 3-8 season, the Southern Illinoisan reported Monday.

Athletic director Paul Kowalczyk dismissed Quarless on Sunday, said the newspaper, citing unidentified sources.

Kowalczyk did not return a call Monday. Quarless, whose number is not listed, also did not return calls to the Southern Illinoisan.

Quarless, a frequent critic of the team's football facilities and athletics program, had one year remaining on the five-year contract he signed in 1997.

Kowalczyk plans to begin a national search for a new coach immediately and hopes to have a replacement by mid-December, sources told the Southern Illinoisan.

It was unclear whether Kowalczyk would retain Michael Vite, the team's defensive coordinator, or other assistant coaches.

Quarless was 14-30 in his four seasons as head coach. His first two teams went 3-8, last in the Gateway Conference. But the 1999 team went 5-6, fueling hopes he was on the verge of turning around a program that hadn't had a winning season since 1991.