A part of Mike Alden cried out. Inside, where only he could hear.</p><p> Never mind the smile on his face, at a recent roasting for charity, as Alden, the Missouri athletic director, took Quin Snyder up the side of his head. Had his nose rubbed in Ricky Clemons.</p><p>He was reminded, along with about 400 people gathered at a Columbia hotel, of the morning three years before when the Missouri Board of Curators gathered to discuss his possible firing, with Alden already having called a news conference to announce he had hired Mike Anderson as basketball coach.</p><p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll always carry those things,&rdquo; Alden said this week while waiting out a rain delay at a golf tournament put on by the Kansas City Tiger Club at Drumm Farm Golf Club in Independence. &ldquo;Those things, those situations, not only changed me professionally. They changed me personally.&rdquo;</p><p> Hey, they were only joking.</p><p> But if you had been there back then, seen how the board of curators and then-systems president Elson Floyd stoked the fire and readied the spit for Alden . . . </p><p> &ldquo;Some of the funny things that were said weren&rsquo;t so funny three years ago,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;Now we laugh at it. But it wasn&rsquo;t laughable then.&rdquo;</p><p> Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel noted the same.</p><p> &ldquo;Everybody took their shots,&rdquo; Pinkel said, like Anderson in attendance but not among the party of roasters that included Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Alden&rsquo;s boss, chancellor Brady Deaton.</p><p> &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have done it,&rdquo; Pinkel said. &ldquo;That says a lot for Mike. That says a lot about his self-confidence. He gave himself up to do it. But he did it for all the right reasons.&rdquo;</p><p> The roasting was for the benefit of the Alzheimer&rsquo;s Association of Mid-Missouri. Alden&rsquo;s father-in-law has Alzheimer&rsquo;s. If making Mike Alden squirm could help prevent another family from aching for their father-in-law or father or mother or sister or brother &hellip;</p><p> But there was one more reason.</p><p> From the dregs of three years ago, Missouri&rsquo;s athletic department has risen to unparalleled, across-the-sports-spectrum success. And these days, Alden will take any opportunity to extol the virtues of Mizzou athletics, even if the preamble is a reminder of how bad it was not that long ago. </p><p> In the last two seasons, MU&rsquo;s football team has won two Big 12 North titles, been ranked No. 1 and won a Cotton Bowl and an Alamo Bowl.</p><p>The men&rsquo;s basketball team won its first Big 12 tournament title in March, roared to an Elite Eight finish in the NCAA Tournament and finished with a No. 9 ranking in the AP voting.</p><p> Wrestling, paced by heavyweight national champion Mark Ellis, had five All-Americans and finished seventh at nationals.</p><p> Women&rsquo;s soccer won the Big 12 title and finished No. 10 nationally.</p><p> Gymnastics wound up No. 13 in the nation.</p><p> Baseball made its seventh straight NCAA regional, this time after a 1-7 start to the season.</p><p> And softball? Well, Missouri won the Big 12 tournament, then upset No. 2 UCLA in the Super Regionals, made its first Women&rsquo;s College World Series in 15 years and finished No. 8 in the nation.</p><p> &ldquo;I was flying out of St. Louis,&rdquo; Alden said. &ldquo;The security guy that checks your driver&rsquo;s license, he says: &lsquo;Mike, I just want to stop and thank you. I&rsquo;m a longtime Mizzou fan. Of all sports. I know you&rsquo;re flying to Los Angeles to watch the softball team.&rsquo;</p><p> &ldquo;How often do you get stopped at an airport and have anybody ask you about anything other than football or men&rsquo;s basketball?&rdquo; Alden said. &ldquo;It is a great statement.&rdquo;