April 1, 2003

CAPE GIRARDEAU - B. J. Smith, head women's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University, has announced the hiring of a third assistant basketball coach for his coaching staff.

The new coach is Franqua Bedell who comes to Southeast after serving as assistant girls basketball coach at Northside High School in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Bedell, who likes to be called Coach Q, has eight years coaching experience and helped guide the Northside High School team to a record of 27-4 and a national ranking in USA Today.

"I am very happy to add Coach Q to our coaching staff," Smith said. "He has great experience in working with students and he has worked with some highly successful programs. He will be involved with our camps and recruiting as well as on the court coaching."

Bedell, who has a bachelor's degree in education from the University of the Ozarks and a Master's in Education from Hardin-Simmons, has served as an assistant men's basketball coach at both Ozarks and Hardin-Simmons. He also worked for a year as an academic advisor at Abilene Christian.

"I'm excited about joining Coach Smith's staff at Southeast," Bedell said. "This is an up and coming program and I'm ready to pitch in and help Southeast move to the top of the Ohio Valley Conference."

Bedell joins Lisa Pace and Rick Karr as assistant women's coaches at Southeast.