SE Missouri women's basketball coach and former Pawhuska resident placed on leave

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. _ The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team has a new acting coach after its head coach was placed on administrative leave. <br/><br/>Coach BJ Smith was put on paid leave

Monday, November 13th 2006, 3:23 pm

By: News On 6

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. _ The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team has a new acting coach after its head coach was placed on administrative leave.

Coach BJ Smith was put on paid leave last Thursday and an assistant coached the team in its 67-to-54 loss at Tulsa on Saturday.

Smith is a native of Pawhuska and is a former head coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in Miami and was an assistant at the now-closed Phillips University in Enid.

Southeast Missouri is under investigation by the NCAA and the Ohio Valley Conference but athletic director Don Kaverman wouldn't comment on whether the paid leave is connected to those investigations. Kaverman says only that Smith is on leave for personal reasons.