Southeast will have to return trophy if NCAA penalty stands

Tennessee Tech now is the sole champion of the Ohio Valley Conference for the 2005-06 regular season, but the school will not be the conference tournament champion.

The Ohio Valley Conference is vacating the championship following the NCAA's penalties against Southeast Missouri State, which will vacate the program's wins from 2004-05 and 2005-06.

"Vacate, as opposed to forfeit, only affects the team being penalized," wrote assistant OVC commissioner Kyle Schwartz in a memo to member schools. "So with the vacation of wins from those seasons, that only changes Southeast Missouri State's record."

The other OVC teams will not change the results of those games.

Southeast Missouri State, according to sports information director Ron Hines, will carry records of 0-8 for the 2004-05 season and 0-9 for the 2005-06 season. The ninth loss, following Southeast's run to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship, came against Stanford in the NCAA tournament, though Southeast no longer can mention publicly participation in the tournament.

The university has until July 3 to decide whether to appeal the penalty through the NCAA process.

If the current penalty stands, the university will have to return the conference championship trophy, according to an OVC spokesman, and it is expected to take down the championship and NCAA banners, which were paid for and produced by Southeast.

Former coach B.J. Smith, who guided Southeast to a 79-41 record in four years at Southeast, will be listed officially with a record of 35-41 at the university.