"I'm not talking to him. You tell Mike that I said..."

"Well you tell Quin that he's all..."

The report is out and it "it's clear", as the report often says, that the relationship between Mike Alden and Quin Snyder was dysfunctional, to say the least. There's plenty of blame to go around. Quin wouldn't talk to his boss for months. On the other hand, the boss allowed the situation to fester. If I'm Mike Alden, I don't need a meeting to talk to Quin Snyder. I hunt him down. I do sympathize with Alden, Quin is a teenager in a man's body. However, ultimately the program's well-being is Alden's responsibility.

This part of the report sums up the situation:

"With respect to the events beginning on February 8, it is clear that Alden did not direct or order Link to talk to Snyder. At the same time, it is also clear that Alden and Link both thought that would be a good procedure to follow and Alden approved of it."

Huh? In other words, Link was authorized to talk to Quin about resignation, but not directed to. This is also known as passive-aggressive management. Still, there really is no difference between the first and second sentences. They only co-exist through poor management.

Then it shouldn't be a surprise given the above that the report concludes that the athletic department is always "behind the story" when managing a crisis. It also shouldn't be a surprise that President Floyd and the Board of Curators are making a move to take control of the athletic department away from the Chancellor's office and make the AD report directly to them. That's the logical result of a department that has been poorly managed and allowed to be in perpetual crisis.

The problem is I have no more faith in Floyd and the BOC than I do in Chancellor Deaton or Mike Alden. Floyd issued a statement along with the release of the report declaring himself vindicated (he claims he did not authorize the ultimatum given to Quin), but the facts of the report indicate he was well-aware of Quin's performance requirements and whether he was behind this particular conversation between Link and Snyder is not really important. Floyd took the opportunity to cover his own tail rather than rally the University. Bottom line, we don't need a political animal like the BOC and an egghead like the system president micromanaging our athletic department. If the program needs better management, then hire better managers.

So we get back to my conclusion from some time ago, Missouri needs regime change. The same group will get you the same problems in the future. Save this post and mark my words.