By AP/KWMU/MO Public Radio
Columbia, MO – Former MU men's basketball coach Quin Snyder says he holds no bitterness towards university officials for ending his contract, calling it a business decision.
Snyder made his first public comments Tuesday night, more than four days after resigning.
Snyder says he was told by a "university official" on last Thursday that his contract would be terminated at the end of the year. He wouldn't identify that official, though it has been widely reported to have been Gary Link, a radio announcer on Mizzou basketball broadcasts and also a special assistant to MU Athletic Director Mike Alden.
Snyder says during that short meeting Thursday, there was no confusion about what was said.
"That conversation began with the statement 'you're going to be terminated at the end of the season.'
"For me, it would be difficult to misconstrue that conversation."
Snyder says the university offered him the option of resigning immediately instead of staying for the rest of the season.
As part of a contract settlement, the university will pay Snyder more than $570,000, plus an undisclosed amount of money from a deferred annuity fund set up during Snyder's last contract negotiation in 2002.
University of Missouri president Elson Floyd quickly issued a response. Floyd, who ordered an investigation Tuesday of Snyder's departure, says he was never consulted before the reported conversation between Snyder and Alden's messenger.