B.J. Smith knows he'll never be looked at the same way again.

An ongoing investigation into violations during his tenure at Southeast Missouri State will haunt him forever, but after two years away from coaching basketball, he's ready to start rebuilding his reputation.

And he wants to do it as the coach of the Casper College women's basketball team.

"I will get an opportunity at some point to be a head coach again, and wherever that place is, it'll be special," Smith said Monday after a day of interviews and a question-and-answer session with boosters of the Thunderbirds. "I miss it, and it's something that I've always felt I'm good at and have enjoyed."

It's hard to argue with his coaching success after a quick look at his resume.

Smith took a junior college program, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, to the national championship game and took a fledgling Division I program, Southeast Missouri State, to the NCAA Tournament.

"No question, B.J.'s resume just pops out," Casper associate vice president and athletic director Bill Landen said. "He's obviously coached at a very high level.

"He's finished as high as second in the nation (at the junior college level). That's a flag we'd like to have here at Casper."

Just how another of Smith's flags was raised brings up more than a few questions.

His tenure at Southeast Missouri State came to a rather abrupt end just a few days before the start of the season in 2006. He had just led the school to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, but came under scrutiny as the program faced the possibility of NCAA violations.

The school issued self-imposed sanctions after the NCAA's preliminary findings included violations including improper transportation of prospective players from airports on official visits, prospects receiving summer lodging without paying rent or paying an inappropriate amount and members of the women's staff observing summer workouts of prospective and enrolled athletes.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions' initial findings determined in December that the program should vacate all 79 wins under Smith and the NCAA Tournament appearance should be taken away.

Smith asked for a full hearing on the case which he said was held in April with results expected in June or July.

"I took full responsibility for everything that happened," Smith said. "At no point did we ever cheat or try to break the rules, but we had some violations that we didn't realize we had."

Smith cited a former assistant coach that caused issues and was later fired and described a situation where an incoming athlete accepted a ride to practice from an enrolled athlete during summer practice, but emphasized that he and those in his program never intended to break any rules.

"There's tons of lessons (and) things where you look back and say you should have done this differently or that differently," Smith said. "I've grown as a person and it wasn't an enjoyable experience, but it'll make me better as a person.

"(And) I'll be surprised if (the final punishment) is not drastically different from what that initial finding was. And then depending on what that is, there could be an appeal process."

Landen, who chairs Casper's coaching search committee, said the group did its homework on Smith and the allegations prior to flying him out for an interview.

Smith applies a lesson he preaches to his athletes to his situation.

"I will absolutely never get back what I've lost as far as reputation and perception - it'll take me years to overcome that," Smith said. "I talk to our kids about learning to handle failure (and) learning to get knocked down and get back up. And this is just one of those life lessons.

"Sometimes you get punched in the nose and you've gotta get back up and do what you do. … If you can't fail, you certainly can't succeed."

Smith hopes he's the choice to help continue a successful run for the T-Birds, but three more candidates are scheduled to make the trip to Casper, starting with Mike Jacobsma today.

Jacobsma, an associate head coach at Colorado School of Mines, will meet the public at 5:15 p.m. at Swede Erickson Thunderbird Gym.

Landen and the committee were impressed with a series of reference checks into Jacobsma.

"When we got to checking some references, we just got some glowing reports," Landen said. "People say all he needs is a chance."

Meanwhile, Smith is just hoping for a second.

Contact sports reporter Eric Schmoldt at (307) 266-0578 or eric.schmoldt@trib.com.

COACHING TRACKER

MONDAY: Casper College officials, boosters and the public met with B.J. Smith, the first of four candidates that will interview for the T-Birds' vacant head-coaching position with the women's basketball program.

THE RESUME: Smith coached Northeastern Oklahoma A&M to the NJCAA title game before guiding Division I Southeast Missouri State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Smith hasn't coached over the past two seasons after his tenure at Southeast Missouri came to an end amidst allegations of NCAA violations. The NCAA has yet to release its final rulings in the case after a full hearing took place in April.

HE SAID IT: "Sometimes you get punched in the nose and you've gotta get back up and do what you do. … If you can't fail, you certainly can't succeed." - Smith

UP NEXT: Mike Jacobsma, associate head coach at Colorado School of Mines, will interview for the position today, with a public question-and-answer session at 5:15 p.m. at Swede Erickson Thunderbird Gym.

Miles City Community College coach Dwight Gunnare will interview Wednesday and Utah assistant Matt Legerski finishes the process on Thursday.