Smith's admirable accomplishments overshadowed by drama

Not that it came as a surprise, because it was pretty much a given that he would not return, but the B.J. Smith era as Southeast Missouri State's women's basketball coach has ended.

Officially, as announced by the university Wednesday, Smith resigned, but in actuality he was fired. That came after he was placed on indefinite paid leave by the university two days prior to the start of the season.

I have mixed feelings on the entire situation.

On the one hand, I like Smith and certainly admire the coaching job he did in four years at Southeast, compiling a 79-41 record -- the best in the Ohio Valley Conference during that period -- and leading the Redhawks to the program's first NCAA Division I tournament berth.

Smith is a personable and likable guy with whom it is easy to get friendly.

On the other hand, I think Smith himself is largely to blame for the situation he found himself in.

I have had plenty of issues over the years with the way the Southeast administration has handled things within the athletic department, but in this case, it's hard for me to bash solely the university.

The alleged NCAA rules violations within the women's basketball program that Southeast admitted to and for which it self-imposed sanctions -- the case is still pending with the NCAA -- have been well-documented.

Regardless if they were minor or major -- the jury is still out on that -- they had to at least be an indication to Smith that his leash was perhaps not as long as he would like.

That was especially true since there had been other NCAA rules-related transgressions within Smith's program that the university had to clean up and later acknowledged, but never were announced to the public.

Throw in some other issues that Southeast administrators apparently had with Smith and also were never publicized, and it became clear that Smith had to start playing more by university rules.

If it were me, and I truly wanted to keep my job, I believe I would have done what I could to stay in good graces with my superiors.

Most of us have been in situations at work where we have had disagreements with our bosses and finally figured out we would have to play by their rules or find another place of employment.

Smith never seemed to get the message.

His most ardent supporters might say he was right in standing up for what he believed in -- not that the issues were quite that cut and dried -- but in the long run, what did it get him?

The final straw apparently came this semester, when Smith was supposed to be teaching a class on coaching basketball yet rarely showed up.

I'm sure university administrators not only considered that a total slap in their face, but more NCAA violations were potentially involved because the class included some Southeast athletes, including several women's basketball players.

Southeast's administration apparently had enough and placed Smith on the aforementioned indefinite leave, which just about everybody knew would ultimately mark the end of his coaching career in Cape Girardeau.

Here's wishing Smith the best as he tries to put his professional life back together, although it might be extremely difficult -- at least for a while -- to land another NCAA Division I head coaching position.

Here's also hoping Southeast finds a new coach who can continue Smith's impressive on-court success -- minus all the soap-opera style extras.

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A fallout from the situation regarding Smith will likely be another tough recruiting year for the women's basketball program.

Although they added impact junior college transfers Missy Whitney and Ashley Lovelady, overall the Redhawks' recruiting was obviously hampered this year when Smith was without a contract for so long before he was finally given a three-year extension.

Now, with Smith's replacement not likely to be hired until after the season, it figures to again be difficult to have a big recruiting year.

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On a more positive note regarding Southeast women's hoops, here's a major tip of the cap to senior center Lachelle Lyles, who put on one of the most impressive performances in NCAA Division I history Thursday night.

If you weren't there to witness it yourself it might be hard to believe, but Lyles pulled down an incredible 32 rebounds during a win at Tennessee State.

That not only broke an OVC record that had stood for nearly 30 years, it was the fourth-best single-game rebounding performance ever among Division I women.

Lyles has said that her goal is to lead the nation in rebounding -- and after Thursday's game, she just might be well on her way.

In one night, she jumped from 10.8 rebounds per game, which had her tied for 12th, to 12.3, which would move her into second.

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Southeast fans probably are wondering why the men's and women's teams will be playing rare Sunday afternoon home games against OVC rival Jacksonville State next weekend.

The Show Me Center is not available Saturday because of graduation. And, according to Southeast sports information director Ron Hines, university policy prohibits teams from playing games during finals week, which is this week.

That left Dec. 17 as the only available option. It remains to be seen how much that will affect attendance for the 2 p.m. (women) and 4:30 p.m. (men) tipoffs.

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Former Southeast All-American Willie Ponder, after being inactive against San Francisco two weeks ago, made his second Rams appearance a big one.

Ponder averaged 31.5 yards on six kickoff returns last Sunday against Arizona, including a long of 40 yards that stands as the team's longest kickoff return of the entire season.

"Willie was a real bright spot," St. Louis coach Scott Linehan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

One of the few bright spots, actually, as the Rams suffered an ugly 34-20 home loss to the lowly Cardinals, dropping St. Louis to 5-7 and on playoff life support entering Monday night's game against the Chicago Bears.

By the way, Ponder is now up to third in the NFC in kickoff returns with a 24.5-yard average. He began the season with Seattle before being released and picked up by the Rams.

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Florida getting the nod over Michigan to play Ohio State for the national championship again renews the controversy over the BCS system.

And it just reinforces the fact that, short of a playoff, there is no perfect formula to decide college football supremacy.

Either way, people really couldn't have much of an argument had either Florida or Michigan finished No. 2 in the final BCS standings. One was probably as deserving as the other, but both couldn't make it.

Which again brings us to the subject of a playoff.

Want to know the biggest reason that, other than the relatively few super-powers that have a realistic chance at winning a national title every year, the majority of college football programs don't want anything to do with a true playoff?

It's because so many of them get to play in bowl games despite being nothing more than mediocre at best.

A whopping 64 bowl berths are available for the nation's 119 Division I-A teams, and by going bowling, it often appears as if a squad had a good season even if that wasn't necessarily the case.

Still, wouldn't it be great if there was at least some kind of a playoff, say between the top four teams at the very end?

How neat would it be if Florida and Michigan squared off in one semifinal, undefeated Ohio State met a No. 4 seed in the other semifinal -- although picking a clear No. 4 this year might be tough -- and the winners squared off for all the marbles.

The semifinals and title game could still be played out as major bowls, and all those other teams could still have their bowl games.

I know the above formula has been discussed and encouraged in the national media for quite a while now -- it's basically the plus-one system -- but it probably makes too much sense for the people who are in charge of making the decisions.

Which means we probably shouldn't expect any kind of a playoff soon.

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The Orange Bowl matchup between Louisville and Wake Forest doesn't appear all that attractive by BCS bowl standards, but it will carry a neat local angle.

Former Southeast Missouri State head football coach Tim Billings is in his first season as wide receivers coach at Wake Forest. Billings resigned last November after six years with the Redhawks.

It's great to see that Billings, who in 2002 led Southeast to an 8-4 record for the program's best season since 1969, bounced back on his feet after basically being forced out at Southeast.

Wake Forest, which has never been anything close to a national power, is one of the best stories of the entire college football season.

The Demon Deacons, picked to finish toward the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference, won their first ACC title in 36 years and will be playing in their biggest bowl game in school history.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.