Anderson to stay at Missouri

[April 01, 2009]  COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri men's basketball coach Mike Anderson passed up a sizable raise offered by Georgia to instead sign a new seven-year contract with the school he helped lead to the brink of the Final Four.

The announcement Tuesday night caps a whirlwind couple of days for the university and for Anderson, who had also been linked to the coaching vacancy at Memphis created by John Calipari's move to Kentucky.

The university said financial details of the new deal will be announced later. Anderson, who was hired in 2006, previously earned a base annual salary of $850,000.

"We are excited Coach Anderson is going to be at the University of Missouri for a long time," athletics director Mike Alden said. "He's done a tremendous job rebuilding our basketball tradition and is poised to lead our program to new heights in the coming years."

A person familiar with the contract negotiations who requested anonymity to avoid contradicting the university's public statement said that Anderson will earn a base salary of $1.3 million. Anderson's Missouri predecessor, former Duke assistant Quin Snyder, earned a base salary of $1.015 million before he was fired three years ago.

The deal comes after Georgia reportedly discussed paying Anderson a base salary more than $2 million a year, according to a person with knowledge of the offer.

"We hired a coach who probably left $700,000 on the table," Missouri curator Don Walsworth said. "We have a proven coach who has appeal to the citizens of Missouri. He's all about honesty and integrity."

In his third year with the Tigers, Anderson led a team picked by his coaching colleagues to finish seventh in the Big 12 Conference to a school-record 31 wins, the Big 12 tournament title and its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2003. The Tigers advanced to the West Regional final before losing to top-seeded Connecticut.

In the tournament's third round, Missouri defeated favored Memphis 102-91. The triple-digit scoring total marked a record for points allowed by a college team coached by Calipari, whom Anderson previously competed against in Conference USA while at Alabama-Birmingham.

Missouri curators must still approve the contract under a provision added to university rules after several of the political appointees objected to buyout language in Anderson's initial contract.

That provision calls for a $500,000 annual buyout for Anderson were he to be fired without cause before his current five-year deal expires.

Snyder, who left Missouri with six regular-season games remaining after saying he was forced out by Alden, received $574,000 to leave.

Brady Deaton, chancellor of the university's flagship campus in Columbia, credited Anderson with restoring fan and alumni pride in a once-storied program that had lost its way in Snyder's final years.

"He's an exemplary coach and has reflected the values of our university in an exemplary way," Deaton said. "Many other universities in the nation see the same qualities that we did. That did not surprise us."

Missouri has also seen a recent resurgence in football, collecting double-digit victories in consecutive years for the first time in Tiger history while also advancing to the Big 12 championship game the past two seasons. The school responded by rewarding coach Gary Pinkel after the 2007 season with a new five-year deal that boosted his annual salary to $1.85 million.

"Now we have stability in our football and basketball programs for many, many years," Walsworth said.

On the basketball court, Missouri loses seniors DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons and Matt Lawrence, three starters who combined for nearly half of the team's scoring average of 81.5 points this season.

But Missouri will have starting guards J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor returning as seniors next season. They will be joined by three backcourt players who earned valuable experience as freshmen: Miguel Paul, Marcus Denmon and Kim English.

The Tigers add at least two newcomers in the 2009-10 season: 6-foot-10 forward Keith Dewitt from Charis Prep in Wilson, N.C., and 6-foot guard Michael Dixon from Lee's Summit West near Kansas City.

And with two more scholarships available, Missouri remains in the hunt for 6-foot-10 center Jarrid Famous, a star recruit from Westchester (N.Y.) Community College who would give the team one of its most significant low-post players in years.

[Associated Press; By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.