Southeast Missouri State men's basketball program under NCAA investigation

NOTE: Copy of NCAA letter has been added. 

The NCAA again is investigating the Southeast Missouri State University athletics program, this time following up on new information relating to the men's basketball program.

The university today acknowledged receiving a letter from David Price, vice president of enforcement for the NCAA, informing the school of the beginning of the new probe.

The letter, dated Aug. 4, said information that was developed between April, when university officials made an appearance before the NCAA Committee on Infractions, and June, when the committee released its report on the previous infractions, led to the new investigation.

That report concluded a 29-month process that began in January 2006 with allegations about the women's basketball program. The investigation found a number of violations — mostly related to inappropriate travel, inappropriate lodging and insufficient monitoring of the program's summer activities — during the four-year stint of former coach B.J. Smith. The penalties included reduction of scholarships for one year, reduction of recruiting days and vacating the program's records for Smith's last two seasons, 2004-05 and the 2005-06 Ohio Valley Conference championship season that resulted in the program's first NCAA tournament appearance.

The investigation also included violations of the men's program for traveling with three student-athletes who had transferred but were not eligible for away games during a two-year period when Gary Garner was the coach of the program. The university paid a fine for this infraction.

However, today's release from Southeast also said the university received a case study of the incident and that Garner is disputing the NCAA Committee on Infractions' ruling that this is a major incident.

The university release included a statement from university president Dr. Kenneth Dobbins that there would be no further comment from the university and its employees.