• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Investigator Says Deaton Notes Helpful in Coach's Resignation Probe

Posted on: Friday, 3 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By Joe Walljasper, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Mar. 2--The independent investigators reviewing former University of Missouri basketball Coach Quin Snyder's resignation say they've received complete cooperation from everyone they've interviewed, including broadcaster Gary Link.

In MU Chancellor Brady Deaton's investigation of the matter, Link declined to reveal the specifics of his conversations with Snyder and MU Athletic Director Mike Alden that led to Snyder's resignation Feb. 14.

"Everybody we've talked to has answered every question we've asked without reservation, and we've already talked to" Link, said Jean Paul Bradshaw, a Kansas City attorney conducting the investigation with Lebanon newspaper publisher Dalton Wright. "I've been very impressed with the openness of everybody we've talked to," Wright said.

Yesterday, the Tribune received a copy of the notes Deaton used in his oral presentation to UM President Elson Floyd on Feb. 15. Deaton forwarded the notes to Floyd on Feb. 20, and Floyd passed them on to the UM Board of Curators the next day.

Wright said he found Deaton's notes helpful. "I think it answered some questions, didn't you?" he said. "It provided some insights."

The notes didn't provide enough insight for Board of Curators President Angela Bennett, who called for an independent review last month after Deaton summed up his investigation with a five-paragraph news release. After reading Deaton's more detailed notes, her view didn't change.

"With all due respect to Chancellor Deaton, it validates my opinion that we needed an independent investigation," Bennett said today. "Some of the line of questioning was not neutral. ... He's not an investigator; he's a great academician. So I think what we needed, and I continue to believe what we need, is a neutral review."

In his notes, Deaton said Link considered his conversations with Snyder and Alden "private and confidential" and refused to discuss them. Instead, he confirmed Alden's statements. Deaton did not interview Snyder.

Snyder has said that Alden sent Link with the message that he would not be retained as coach after this season regardless of how the Tigers finished and that Deaton, Floyd and a key curator had approved the decision. Deaton, Floyd and Curator Don Walsworth all have denied approving any such decision.

Alden initially said he sent Link to gauge how Snyder was doing and intended to make a decision on Snyder's future after the season. He later modified his statement, saying he also asked Link to find out whether Snyder wanted to continue coaching.

According to Deaton's report, Alden informed Snyder what he must do to keep his job as early as February 2005: finish in the top half of the Big 12 Conference and make the NCAA Tournament this season. Alden also informed Snyder that if it became apparent that he wouldn't meet those goals, he could resign and "not be hurt financially."

Link's message to Snyder, Alden said, was: "We know how the book is going to end; the question is how do we write the last chapter." According to Deaton's report, Snyder told Link he would be better off resigning.

Deaton said he asked Link whether it was theoretically possible that Snyder could have met Alden's conditions to keep his job, and Link responded, "Impossible! Oh, I guess it may have been mathematically possible, but it wasn't going to happen, and we all knew it."

Bradshaw and Wright conducted interviews Monday and yesterday in Columbia. Bradshaw expects to interview 15 people.

One notable name who has yet to agree to cooperate is Snyder. "The only person we haven't gotten a yes on is Quin," Wright said.

-----

To see more of the Columbia Daily Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbiatribune.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

More News in this Category