The board narrowed the search for a new president down to a single candidate.  But after offering the job, the candidate decided to take a something different.

"That candidate advised the Board that he could no longer be a candidate as he was going to accept another employment opportunity in the private sector," said Don Walsworth, UM Board of Curators Chairman.

A source tells the Associated Press that university curators made the undisclosed offer to Terry Sutter, a New Jersey business executive and graduate of the Columbia campus. The rejection came as the Board of Curators convened at the University of Missouri-Columbia for their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday and Friday.

The search began in December, when Elson Floyd announced he would leave the office of president. In January, the board began looking for a new president, hiring Baker and Associates to consult on the search. And now, June sees the start of another new search. But the board says it isn't entirely starting from scratch.

"We have names that we have received in the last two weeks that we hadn't even had a chance to really look at because we were coming down to a conclusion on this one candidate. So we have names of potential candidates right now," Walsworth said.

The board continues to keep silent about the identities of past and future candidates. Chairman Walsworth says he still hopes to have a new president by this fall.