He Said I Said He Said
Not quite a week ago, Mizzou basketball coach Quin Snyder resigned from his position. The only thing mildly surprising was the timing, but even that wasn’t too big a deal considering he had to answer numerous questions less than 24 hours previous about whether he would resign.
However, MU is never an institution willing to let the inane pass by when we have a chance to turn the opportunity into an embarrassment. Despite their denials, part of the problem is MU’s nationally renowned journalism school and the would be investigative reporters it creates. However, their over-zealousness would be for naught if MU would quit giving them opportunities.
To recap, Athletics Director Mike Alden allegedly sent his Special Assistant Gary Link — more commonly known as the radio color guy for Tiger basketball broadcasts — to talk to Coach Snyder. From there, Link either asked how Quin was doing, told him he should resign, or told him he had to resign or be fired and Mike Alden, Chancellor Brady Deaton, UM President Elson Floyd, and a member of the Board of Curators were behind this decision. As a result of that conversation, Coach Snyder resigned the following day, although it took another 48 hours to agree on the terms and 48 more hours to sign the document.
Regardless of which version of that is true, from the moment it was reported someone in the University administration should have stepped forward and said “I did it, I am in the position to make those decisions and here’s what happened. We’re still working on the contractual details but the decision has been made.”
In an ideal world, Link would have never been sent to have that conversation. We don’t live in an ideal world, however, so that may have very well been the best decision for the circumstances. Once Link’s role was public, though, Alden should have stepped forward to protect his employee. If needed, Chancellor Deaton should have stepped forward to protect both Alden and Link, and President Floyd should have stepped forward to protect them all. “The buck stops here” would have been a great thing to hear. They could have then handled their own personnel (or perhaps personal) conflicts internally and confidentially.
Instead, non-denials and grandstanding flow from all directions for days, convincing no one of anything except that there must be more to find. What is the purpose of the President announcing that he’s asked the Chancellor to investigate? Doesn’t everyone involved live in Columbia? Two of them work about 400 yards from his house. Perhaps give them a call asking them to stick around for a few minutes, you’re stopping by on the way home?
If you’re the Chancellor, how long does that investigation take, again given the fact that everyone works about 5 minutes from one another and there are a maximum of 3 people to question? Why would either the President or the Chancellor feel the need to release public statement’s on the matter while they’re still supposedly (and slowly) investigating it?
If you’re on the Board of Curators, do you really need to be involved in personnel decisions? How many coaches work for the UM System and how many of those would you like to be involved in evaluating? Maybe just say “no comment” or “I fully trust the administration of the University to handle personnel matters.” I’d suggest “no comment” as it also discourages people from asking you questions in the future.
This should have been the simplest matter ever. Unfortunate, but simple. The only legitimate questions raised have been whether Alden or Link misrepresented the support he/they had from the University administration and Curators. Again, when it starts to raise questions, someone step forward and say “It was me” and answer every question in 10 words or less and it’s over. By all means don’t leave the lowest ranking employee in the entire situation (Link) as the only one unable to speak.
on a side note, screw ku.