OVC ASSISTS SOUTHEAST BASKETBALL REVIEW; LEAGUE COMMISSIONER INTERVIEWS INDIAN PLAYERS

The Southeast Missourian has learned that Ohio Valley Conference commissioner Dan Beebe has been in Cape Girardeau in recent days aiding with an in-house review of the Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball program.

Sources told the Missourian that Beebe has been on the Southeast campus interviewing some players and going over papers and documents.

Beebe, when contacted Friday evening at his home in the Nashville, Tenn., area, would neither confirm nor deny that the OVC is conducting an investigation at Southeast.

Several players, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Missourian that Beebe conducted taped interviews during which he asked them a variety of questions, including the validity of their signatures on various documents and also about the purchase of airline tickets.

Southeast men's basketball coach Ron Shumate, when asked Friday evening if the OVC has been investigating his program, said, "Not that I know of."Carroll Williams, Southeasts interim athletic director, confirmed that Beebe was on the Southeast campus last week interviewing some players, but Williams stressed that the OVC is not conducting an investigation regarding the Southeast basketball program."The OVC is not investigating SEMO basketball," said Williams. "I'm guarding my words very carefully, because anything that is interpreted wrong could really damage Ron's recruiting."The (basketball) program, as well as some programs, are under review. It's a common practice. It happens all the time. My golf program (Williams also serves as the school's golf coach) was reviewed last year."It is not, however, common practice for the OVC commissioner to become involved in a school's in-house review of one of its programs."We are in the process of conducting a review. We interviewed a lot of folks, and after that, we asked for some guidance and assistance," Williams said. "This is not the OVC doing any kind of investigation. We're doing this and it was just a matter of Dan being asked to assist."It's really premature to say that anything's been done wrong. People don't really need to read too much into the fact that he's here. It's important to point out that were looking into some things and he's merely assisting us."Williams said that Southeast is likely to have some kind of a formal announcement regarding the in-house review in the near future.