Investigation finds more to story than Alden tells

~ Gary Link gave details of the message he delivered to former coach Quin Snyder.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- An outside investigation of the Missouri basketball program concluded athletics director Mike Alden did not send a radio announcer to fire former coach Quin Snyder -- but the message delivered on Alden's behalf was far more specific than previously acknowledged by the embattled administrator.

According to an 11-page report released Thursday, Tigers broadcaster Gary Link, who also is a special assistant to Alden, told a pair of investigators enlisted by the university that "Alden gave him no directive or order to talk with Snyder" on Feb. 9, hours after Snyder told reporters he would finish out the season.

Snyder wound up quitting the next day, with six regular season games remaining and a season record of 10-11 and 3-7 in the Big 12 Conference. Snyder did not speak with the outside investigators but previously said he believed Link was sent by Alden to deliver the hatchet.

Link's version of events in the report was generally consistent with the details offered by Snyder at his Feb. 14 farewell press conference. Alden, though, repeated to investigators an earlier statement that he merely asked Link to "see how Snyder was doing."

Kansas City attorney Jean Paul Bradshaw II and Lebanon Daily Record Publisher Dalton Wright, both Missouri alumni, were brought into the fracas by University of Missouri system President Elson Floyd after several university curators complained that an earlier inquiry by University of Missouri-Columbia Chancellor Brady Deaton into Link's role was inadequate.

As Missouri begins the task of hiring Snyder's replacement, the report sheds light on a tense relationship between Alden and the coach -- a relationship that colleagues said "was rocky from the start" of Snyder's seven-year tenure at Missouri.

Snyder "would resist public appearances and other activities in which Alden thought he should participate," the report concluded.

By October, before the start of what would become Snyder's final season, the coach avoided his boss as much as possible, "canceling or not appearing" at meetings after Alden and Deaton rejected Snyder's request for a public show of support and a commitment to honor his contract through 2008.

And once Snyder decided to resign after the conversation with Link, he refused to return any of Alden's numerous phone calls, the report noted.

"It is clear they have completely opposite personalities and very different life experiences," the report said of Snyder and Alden.

The inquiry also noted deficiencies in the university's "crisis" management of the events surrounding Snyder's departure, which they said created negative and "incomplete versions" of media coverage that "did not accurately convey what had happened."

Snyder officially left Missouri on Feb. 14 with a seven-year record of 126-91 that included NCAA tournament appearances his first four years. He received a $574,000 contract buyout that was approved by university curators. His total compensation package at Missouri, including incentives, was worth more than $1 million a season.

Snyder's departure, though messy, was not unexpected.

Alden first encouraged the coach to consider a midseason resignation more than a year ago, according to both the report released Thursday and notes from Deaton's investigation into Link's role.

Link had earlier told Deaton he would not "divulge the contents" of his conversations with Snyder and Alden, citing confidentiality. This time, he cooperated with the follow-up inquiry.

Link confirmed earlier accounts that he spoke with Snyder on Feb. 9 -- two days after a 26-point thrashing by Baylor, Missouri's sixth consecutive double-digit loss -- after conferring with Alden.

Link said he went into the meeting with Snyder knowing the coach would not have a job after this year because Snyder would almost certainly fall short of the standards set by Alden before the season.

Alden had told Snyder he needed a winning season, a finish in the top half of the Big 12 and an NCAA tournament appearance to avoid losing his job.

Snyder already was on thin ice after the program was placed on NCAA probation in 2004 for three years after more than a year of scrutiny focused on questionable activities surrounding former point guard Ricky Clemons.

The school avoided a ban from postseason play, but was prohibited from off-campus recruiting for one year.

According to the report, Link said Alden told him "that Snyder would not be the coach next year" and that Deaton, Floyd and Curator Don Walsworth, a prominent basketball booster, "were all on board."

On Thursday, Floyd continued to deny any involvement in Snyder's departure. In a written statement, he noted the report he commissioned "validates Chancellor Brady Deaton's finding that failure to communicate was a significant factor in this entire episode.

"It further confirms that Curator Don Walsworth and I neither endorsed nor authorized seeking Coach Snyder's departure before the end of the 2005-2006 basketball season," the statement read.

Missouri (12-16, 5-11) finished the season in next-to-last place in the Big 12 and missed the postseason for the first time since 1997.