Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden Will Step Down

The University of Missouri announced on Thursday that athletic director Mike Alden will step down to become an instructor in the University’s Positive Coaching Program in the College of Education. The move will be effective on August 31 of 2015, and the University has already begun searching for his replacement.

Alden, who was the 18th athletic director in the University’s history, was tied with Chester L. Brewer as the second-longest tenured AD in Mizzou history, trailing only the legendary Don Faurot. Alden’s 17 years (1998-2015) trailed Faurot’s 27, although Faurot had two separate stints, an initial stint from 1935-42 and then a much longer 20-year stint from 1946-66.

Alden’s tenure would generally be considered a positive one, as he engineered a swift transition from the Big XII to the SEC, as well as hiring Gary Pinkel as football coach, who went on to lead the program to its longest period of sustained success since the 1960s. Alden also was responsible for the hiring of four basketball coaches during his tenure, and while the jury is still out on first-year coach Kim Anderson, the first three of Alden’s hires (Quin Snyder, Mike Anderson, and Frank Haith) led the team to the NCAA tournament, while Anderson and Haith both were able to get the Tigers into the AP’s end-of-season Top 10.

As is unavoidable for most people who are responsible for a group of athletes in their late teens and early twenties for nearly two decades, Alden had several unfortunate scandals that highlighted his tenure at Mizzou. In particular, there have been issues with male athletes’ dealings with women at the University.

In 2004, basketball player Ricky Clemons was involved in a situation where he was arrested for domestic assault on his girlfriend, and he later admitted from jail that he had received money from Mizzou’s basketball coaches.