It all started with Joe Castiglione leaving for Oklahoma. My initial reaction to that news was "wow, I didn't know Joe was that hot of an item." The University of Oklahoma knows athletics and knows how to win. They plucked a shining star right out of our back pocket. Usher in Mike Alden.

Under Alden's leadership, Mizzou pushed out a legendary coach, sold its soul to the Laurie family, hired a kid with zero track record and if you believe the rumors, plenty of baggage, and put into motion a series of events over the next seven years that almost seem destructive on purpose.

It was obvious early on and I wrote some five years ago that Snyder lacked both leadership and coaching abilities and was completely out of his depth. Still, Alden stuck with him, even offering a contract extension in the face of Snyder's shady recruiting and program management that led to NCAA sanctions. Snyder's propensity to take shortcuts and recruit high risk players became his calling card. This pattern began the day he took office and continued through probation.

But Quin is gone. He's no longer the story. Now the story is the board of curators, Elson Floyd and Mike Alden. Let's take the Ricky Clemons fiasco, for example. While Clemons was supposed to be sitting in a Boone County jail, he was at Missouri president Elson Floyd's house riding around on an ATV. It turns out that the wives of Floyd and assistant athletic director Ed Stewart had befriended Clemons. Stewart's wife Amy in a taped conversation with Clemons said "Ed come home, every time he come home, he be like, 'Them crackers shaking. They going crazy. They don't know what to do. They shaking. They can't talk to Ricky.' They're like some crackheads running around there. You're going to take them down. You know that right? You're taking them down. I'm taking great pleasure."

So here you have the wives of two prominent Missouri officials involved in conversations with Ricky Clemons about information that could damage the University and when it comes to light, what does the board and Floyd do about it? Absolutely nothing. The board met with Floyd for all of five minutes and declared the matter closed.

What should have been done about it? Floyd and Stewart should have been fired. While it is true that it was their wives who were involved in the relationship with Clemons, Missouri cannot stand idly by while members of its own staff and/or family who have access to information and key characters undermine the University.

Today comes word that Snyder was told that he woudn't be returning next year not by Alden, but by Gary Link. I have independent confirmation that Alden fired another member of his staff in this same way previously. That to me just serves as corroborating evidence of what we already know about Alden from his track record. He put into play shady characters, couldn't manage the results and then sent an underling to deal with the mess. Today is a day of crisis for the Missouri athletic department. Where's Mike Alden? He has no comment.

Neither the board, Floyd or Alden have demonstrated the leadership needed by the University of Missouri to lead it through this crisis of reputation. Only regime change will fix Missouri athletics.