Investigators finish Snyder report
No one was at fault in Quin Snyder's resignation in February, according to a report released Thursday about the former basketball coach's departure.
Published March 17, 2006
No one was at fault for former men's basketball coach Quin Snyder's resignation in February, according to a report released Thursday about the coach's departure.
But, the report did criticize the university's response to the coach's exit.
The report stated Snyder knew for more than a year that if certain conditions were not met he would be fired, and resigned with the knowledge that the expectations would not be met.
"In the end ( ... ) the result was fair," the report concluded. "No one was cheated, and no laws were broken. Coach Snyder made a very difficult personal decision, and we believe he made it for all the right reasons."
The only fault the investigators found was in the way the UM system informed the public about Snyder's decision.
"Reaction to media issues in a 'crisis' situation when there's a sudden event like this was a problem, but you can't point at any one person," Jean Paul Bradshaw, one of the two investigators and a former U.S. attorney, said at a news conference Thursday.
The memo from the investigators to UM system President Elson Floyd was dated March 15 and released Thursday morning. The report clarified the events that culminated in Snyder's resignation last month.
According to the report, athletic department assistant Gary Link told Snyder on Feb. 9 that he could either coach the team through the season and then be terminated or resign before the season's end.
The report found that though Link was not ordered to speak with Snyder, a point of contention in previous reports, Link thought Athletic Director Mike Alden already had made up his mind that Snyder would be fired at the end of the season if he did not resign.
"In the event he resigned, Link said that Alden had assured him that (Snyder) would be made whole," the report said, referring to Snyder's severance pay. "Snyder asked is there anything he could do to save his job. Link said no, that Alden had said that Deaton Floyd and (UM system Board of Curators member Don) Walsworth were all on board."
After practice on Feb. 9, the report said, Snyder told Link he would resign. He announced his intention to his staff and players the next day.
The investigation came two weeks later when the UM system Board of Curators expressed doubts that MU Chancellor Brady Deaton's investigation was complete.
At a news conference in Columbia on Thursday, the investigators, Dalton Wright, a prominent Missouri publisher, and Bradshaw explained their report.
"We pledged to be fair and open and to finish with dispatch," Wright said. "Now here we are 24 days later with the results."
The investigators said they had no problems getting access and felt the investigation had been thorough. They said they hoped the results would bring some closure to the situation.
"We interviewed everyone we asked to have access to except Quin Snyder," Wright said.
Through his attorney, Snyder said he did not wish to comment on his resignation.
"There are a number of people at both ends of the spectrum whose minds aren't going to be changed," Wright said. "But most people are in the middle and just want to know who the next basketball coach will be. Hopefully, we can put this issue to bed now and go about finding a new coach."
After a meeting on Feb. 4, 2005, Alden and Deaton made a public statement, at Snyder's request, that Snyder would coach the Tigers through the 2005-2006 season.
"The basketball team was struggling and there were some people - donors and others - calling for Snyder to be replaced at the end of the season, causing a great deal of media interest in Snyder's future," the report stated.
Four days later, Alden told Snyder he expected the team to meet certain goals to be retained as coach, including finishing in the top half of the Big 12 and earning an invitation to the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
According to the report, this was the first time Snyder was told of these expectations.
On June 30 Snyder signed an evaluation that Alden prepared that outlined the goals explained in the February meeting. In a memo to Alden about the evaluation, Snyder did not dispute the goals, according to the report.
"While his memo takes issue with a number of matters raised in his evaluation, Snyder does not take issue with the expectations for the 2005-06 season," the report said.
According to the report, though Floyd was aware of the conditions, "it was clear to Deaton that Floyd had not endorsed them." Alden told the investigators that he believed Floyd supported the conditions. According to the report, Floyd said he expected an evaluation of Snyder's performance at the end of the season.
Bradshaw said at the news conference that the underlying issue was that these expectations were known, but not met.
"The bottom line is, the coach was told before the season that there would be clear expectations in exchange for the university's vote of confidence last year," Bradshaw said. "It became clear that those expectations wouldn't be met, and everyone knew how the book would end. I think it came down to a guy, Gary Link, trying to help his friend get out of a situation. He felt strongly that this would be the right thing for Quin to do."
According to the report, Alden and Snyder always had a strained relationship. Because of this, Link, who "enjoyed a very good relationship with both Alden and Snyder," was used as a liaison.
The report said Alden and Snyder's relationship became more strained after a meeting on Oct. 3. At the meeting, Alden and Deaton refused to commit to making an announcement that Snyder would be retained as basketball coach through the end of his contract in 2008. The report then jumps to the series of events, beginning with the team's loss to Baylor, that ended in Snyder's resignation on Feb. 10.
"Snyder did the right thing for the university, and the university did the right thing by him," Bradshaw said. "No one was cheated, no laws were broken. It just ended the way everyone knew it would."