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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 4:57 p.m., Tuesday, March 31, 2009

CBKB: Coach Anderson passes on Georgia, to stay at Missouri

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, Mo. — 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.