The Quin Snyder era at the University of Missouri is over. Snyder resigned as MU’s head basketball coach Friday afternoon, a day after telling reporters that the idea of stepping down had not been brought up by anyone in the athletic department. He also indicated that he had no intention of quitting. Athletic Director Mike Alden told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch earlier this week that no decision on Snyder would be made until after the season.
According to reports, Snyder told his players of the decision on Friday afternoon. Snyder was in his seventh season at Missouri and had a 10-11 record in 2005-2006. After a stunning 89-86 overtime win over Kansas on January 16th, the Tigers lost each of their last six games. The last loss was a 90-64 blowout at Baylor on Tuesday. In the last six losses, Missouri has been beaten by an average of 19 points per game. In his six-plus seasons, Snyder became the fastest MU coach to win 100 games and took the team to the NCAA Tournament in his first four seasons – that included a run to the Elite 8 in 2002. But MU failed return to the tournament in 2004 and 2005. In both of those seasons, Missouri dropped opening-round games in the NIT.
Snyder’s time at Missouri was also known for controversy. His recruitment of guard Ricky Clemons proved to be the first ripple of discontent. Clemons was accused of attacking a female acquaintance and eventually pleaded guilty to some counts. He was sentenced to 30 days in a half-way house. After violating his probation during a July 4th ATV wreck in 2003 at MU President Elson Floyd’s home, Clemons’ scholarship at MU was revoked. Soon after, Clemons said in interviews that the Missouri coaching staff gave him money. Soon after, an NCAA investigation began. While major violations were never found by the NCAA, several minor recruiting violations were uncovered and MU was put on two-years probation, which prevented MU coaches from recruiting off campus. That recruiting ban was lifted last fall. Assistants Tony Harvey and Lane Odom were fired and replaced by Jeff Meyer and Melvin Watkins were hired.
Assistant coach Melvin Watkins will take over as interim head coach. Snyder was introduced as MU’s 15th head basketball coach on April 7, 1999, after spending five years as an assistant at Duke, where was also a player. He had no head coaching experience. [Photo by Bill Greenblatt, UPI]
