For the record, no one got fired. Instead, someone got hired. Mike Anderson, the men's basketball coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, will move over to Mizzou. Unless the Curators eventually decide to fire Alden, in which case Anderson is free to tear up his contract at MU and look for employment elsewhere.

I graduated from Missouri, and while I don't take an inordinate amount of pride in my old school, I'm a little pissed off by all this. See, in my book all these guys deserve to get the boot.

I feel the worst for Deaton, not least because I've actually met the man a couple times. I knew a number of people in university administration (you'd be surprised the access you can get if you're a mucky-muck at a college radio station), and he seemed more decent than most. I gave him my standard "the university should be for the students" speech, and he managed to call me naive and well-intentioned without being particularly condescending while doing so. Which tells me he has some political skills.

But sadly, it's apparent that he cannot control the beast that is the athletic department. I don't know if this is because he's too nice, or because his office has been slapped down too many times by the president or because...I dunno. In any case, his verdict on the Snyder firing/resignation (for the record, the consensus outside of the administration is that Snyder quit after being told he would be fired at the end of the year--which is exactly what he said from the beginning) and his apparent acceptance of public lies by officials in the athletic department proves that he simply can't handle the job. It sucks that a chancellor must be the bulwark against the money machines rather than a person who tries to make the university--the school, that is--the best it can be. But that's reality, and reality is that he can't handle it.

Floyd should have been fired years ago. He doesn't have the public standing to do his job, and I'm sure he has the skill necessary, either. In any case, he has contributed greatly to the mess in the athletic department, and I can't see how he's done anything of use for the university as a whole.

As for Alden, he shouldn't have lied about what happened with Snyder. His need to come out "clean" on the affair was stupid. Everyone wanted Snyder gone (including, it seemed, Snyder himself), so just apologize for handling the situation like a hyena in heat and move on. Don't lie. When you're in a public position, any lie will eventually bite you in the ass.

I really don't dwell on this stuff much. Missouri is an above-average major state university (not exactly Michigan or North Carolina, but much better than Tennessee or Alabama or North Dakota) with some really great schools (like the undergraduate journalism program, which is probably still the best in the nation). I follow many of the teams (the women's basketball team made the NCAAs this year, and the baseball team features Max Scherzer, who might well go #1 in the MLB draft this spring), but I don't live or die on their success.

In short, I think I'm a typical alumnus. I think my school ought to cut its losses and get rid of the people who keep embarrassing it, whether by intent or incompetence. And I think it ought to spend a lot more energy (and money) making sure that the students are getting the best education possible. 'Cause, y'know, universities should always focus on students first.

Jon Worley plans to travel to Albuquerque this fall to watch the Mizzou football team take on UNM. Not because he's a monster fan, of course, but because his brothers live there.