Top Ten Wrongs of the Last Decade #10

#10 Quinn Snyder

This muppet not only holds multiple degrees from Puke but is also the son in law of creepy old vagabond coaching curmudgeon Larry Brown.  Looking at his pedigree it was obvious that he was going to be an insufferable wrong. He went out of his way to live up to that suspicion by coaching the run and gun/ illegally recruited chuckers from Mizzou to a moderate level of success in the early part of this decade. The end of his reign was thoroughly enjoyable to watch as NCAA sanctions and poor on the court performances sent him out of college basketball and into the NBADL.

The lowlights:

· Missouri hired Snyder over two other finalists with mutual interest…John Calapari and Bill Self

· Ricky Clemons – This guy was the ultimate flash in the pan, undisciplined kind of street baller that needs to either be coached up or sent back to the playground to train for a career on the And1 circuit. Instead Snyder rode him to some tournament success before his behavior pulled the entire program down around himself.

In early 03 Clemons was arrested on charges of assault and battery and false arrest against his lady friend because apparently she didn’t want to watch the same movie he did.  When he gets sentenced and has to spend time in jail he talks about how he and other players were receiving payments from the coaching staff. During the ensuing investigation it turned out that he never should have been academically eligible in the first place. Oh and while out on bail he flipped over an ATV at a party being held at the then-university president Elson Floyd’s house. The university was further embarrassed by this guy when a recording of Floyd’s wife’s phone call with Clemons was made public. In the call she advised Clemons to “stay away from them crackers”, referencing his (white) girlfriend. Nice publicity for the University Quinn.

· After the Clemons scandal forced him to clean house/ cover his ass and blame his assistants Quinn went a spectacular 42-42 never making another NCAA tournament.

· After back to back NIT flops Snyder was photographed clearly wasted at Mardi Gras, denied it was him when questioned about the photo, and then later had to acknowledge he was at Mardi Gras yet still tried to deny that was him in the photo, before finally admitting it could have been him.

· While at the Maui invitational coached a game in sandals.