Redhawks' remaining coaches being paid additional $17,000

~ Increased duties are being rewarded monetarily.

In addition to paying former Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach B.J. Smith through the end of the 2006-07 school year, the university also increased the salaries of the remaining staff following Smith's resignation in December.

Acting head coach John Ishee, assistants Lisa Pace and Jenni Lingor are being compensated an additional $17,000 for this season, Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said this week.

"Essentially, you have three people doing the work of four, with John, of course, assuming the duties of head coach," Kaverman said.

Ishee is receiving a $10,000 overload that takes his salary this school year to $42,500. No incentives for an Ohio Valley Conference championship or an NCAA tournament berth were added to his contract.

Pace is receiving an additional $5,000 on her base salary of $40,000; while Lingor, a limited-earnings assistant, is receiving an additional $2,000 on her base salary of $13,000.

Smith is being paid his base salary through May 2007. He was being paid $75,000 annually, which means he was paid $37,500 from the effective date of his resignation, Dec. 1, to the end of May.

Smith resigned in a joint statement with the university on Dec. 6 after being placed on paid leave by the university prior to the season opener in early November.

Smith's contract, which originally ran through 2009, also included incentives for OVC championships and NCAA tournament berths.

The team tied for the OVC title last year and won the conference tournament to reach the NCAA field. Those accomplishments will be celebrated tonight at the Show Me Center.

But the women's program has been under investigation since late January, first by the OVC and then also by the NCAA.

Southeast officials still are awaiting the results of the NCAA inquiry.

The financial impact of the investigation on the university also is not complete. The Compliance Group, a Kansas-based organization which has done the work on behalf of the OVC, still remains involved and has not sent its bill to the OVC commissioner's office, which will then bill Southeast.

Kaverman said the university has not made a determination yet on how the process for replacing Smith will be handled.