Snyder admits 'mistakes'

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri coach Quin Snyder apologized Tuesday for his mistakes as the NCAA alleged scores of rule violations by the Missouri basketball program, including a cash payment from an assistant coach to troubled former player Ricky Clemons.

An athletic department source told The Associated Press that one of Snyder's assistants would resign, and a newspaper reported a second would follow.

The NCAA said Missouri's basketball program didn't "adequately monitor" for rules compliance. And it said a member of the athletic staff, whose named was redacted by the school from NCAA documents provided to reporters, "failed at all times to maintain an environment" of compliance with rules from 1999 through last year.

The NCAA's list of formal allegations didn't include a charge known as "lack of institutional control," which can yield severe punishment.

In its 19-page list of allegations, the NCAA laid out 42 examples of violations -- and some of those covered multiple alleged offenses.

For example, the NCAA alleged that 10 coaches affilated with the Amateur Athletic Union or other teams were purchased meals on more than 30 occasions in violation of the rules. It said a department staffer -- named redacted -- who paid for the meals "intentionally misrepresented" the names of those being treated when submitting receipts for reimbursement.

The NCAA's allegations included rule violations between 1999 and 2003 for providing meals and transportation for current athletes and recruits and impermissible contacts with recruits.

Sources familiar with the unredacted NCAA report told The Associated Press that Snyder's top assistant, Tony Harvey, was accused of providing the $250 to Clemons, who played a single season as point guard before being booted from the team last summer amid personal legal troubles.

Harvey has denied giving players money. He told the AP on Monday: "I haven't changed my story." Snyder has previously denied that any coaches gave players cash. But on Tuesday, Snyder said he couldn't comment because of confidentiality of the NCAA investigation.

In a television interview with HBO taped Feb. 21, Clemons replied "yes" when asked whether he had been paid by coaches at Missouri. Clemons, who has moved to North Carolina, said he didn't know the total amount he received.

The AP's sources said another Snyder assistant, Lane Odom, is implicated in several of the redacted sections. For example, Odom provided transportation and overnight lodging at his home for a Clemons relative who traveled to Columbia to visit Clemons while he was jailed last summer after pleading guilty of assaulting and detaining his ex-girlfriend, the sources said. Like other basketball personnel, Odom has declined comment.

Odom plans to resign, an athletic department source told the AP. The Kansas City Star, citing sources it did not identify, said Harvey had been placed on paid suspension and would not return next season. Harvey's attorney declined to comment about The Star's report.

Snyder and athletic director Mike Alden said they could not discuss whether there have been personnel changes in the basketball program or whether changes are planned.

Alden also declined to distinguish which allegations should be considered possible major violations or secondary infractions, in NCAA parlance.

"It would be inappropriate for us to say that until we have the opportunity to make our response to the NCAA," Alden said.

Missouri's response will be made in writing by July 1, and the NCAA Infractions Committee will consider any appeals by Missouri during meetings in Seattle Aug. 13-15. Some of the allegations will be challenged, but school officials said confidentiality rules barred them from discussing which they accepted and which would be appealed.

A decision from the NCAA infractions panel might not come until this fall -- when Missouri is to begin playing in its new, $75 million arena. The distinction between major and secondary violations is significant, because major violations can pack tougher punishments, from bans on postseason play and television appearances to losses of scholarships.

"Mistakes have been made," Snyder told a packed news conference in the university's alumni center. "I take full responsibility for the commission of those mistakes."

Illustrating the seriousness of the situation, Snyder was flanked by Alden; Richard Wallace, chancellor of the Columbia campus; Elson Floyd, president of the four-campus University of Missouri system; and Michael Devaney, an electrical engineering professor appointed by Floyd to head Missouri's in-house investigation.

Devaney said his investigation "did not substantiate any evidence of academic fraud," and none is alleged by the NCAA. Clemons' ex-girlfriend had alleged the athlete received inappropriate academic assistance to get into Missouri.

Devaney said the investigation he led collected 600 pounds of evidence, interviewed more than 100 witnesses, some up to five times, and traveled to 15 states and one other country to gather information. All of this was shared with the NCAA, Devaney said, and the NCAA shared its findings with Missouri.

The professor called Missouri's investigation "thorough and comprehensive," and said the lack of validation for the allegations of academic fraud was most important: "The university is the repository for public trust."