AD Alden will speak to curators this week

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Five weeks ago, University of Missouri-Columbia athletics director Mike Alden emerged with his job barely intact after a closed meeting of university curators.

Now it's again time for Alden to face the curators for the University of Missouri's four-campus system -- and this time he will have some company.

The agenda for the curators' Thursday and Friday meeting at the University of Missouri-St. Louis includes a session on intercollegiate athletics billed as "board development." Unlike the March 26 meeting -- which came hours before Alden introduced Mike Anderson of Alabama-Birmingham as Missouri's new basketball coach -- this week's discussion will take place in public.

Some curators, including John M. Carnahan III, of Springfield, previously has suggested that Alden and his peers at the other three campuses report directly to University of Missouri system President Elson Floyd, rather than their respective chancellors.

"We're not taking charge of the athletic departments," Carnahan said. "That's a sore point. But we are going to look at them to tell us what's going on."

At a minimum, Carnahan said, curators need updates on campus sports business at most or all of their meetings, which take place every two months. He wants to compare the Missouri system's sports management structure with those in other states, such as Texas and Illinois.

Carnahan also wants the curators, a group of both Democratic and Republican political appointees, to scrutinize athletic finances to determine possible cost savings through consolidation.

Carnahan acknowledged that he and his colleagues remain concerned about Alden's handling of the mid-February resignation of Quin Snyder in the middle of his seventh season as the Tigers men's basketball coach.

The curators' concerns aren't limited to the Columbia campus. In St. Louis, outside lawyers hired by the university system continue to challenge a $1.275 million jury verdict won by Missouri-St. Louis baseball coach Jim Brady, who successfully sued the school in an age discrimination complaint. The verdict by a St. Louis County jury is under appeal.