New Missouri athletic director Mack Rhoades known for consensus building, fundraising

Houston athletic director Mack Rhoades earned a reputation as a consensus builder during the chaos of a conference realignment and transformed the Cougars’ athletic facilities the last five years through fundraising acumen.

Rhoades now brings his talents to Missouri after he was hired Monday as the Tigers’ 16th athletic director.

“When you look at the up-and-coming guys that are out there, he’s probably the primo guy out of all of them,” said Texas El-Paso athletic director and former Missouri football coach Bob Stull, who worked with Rhoades at UTEP.

“Mack is very bright … and will fit in really well in Columbia. He’s really good with people, so he’s outgoing and builds good relationships. He’s very friendly and very personable. People will like that about him.”

Rhoades, 49, will begin work in the Tigers’ athletic department in late April.

He succeeds Mike Alden, who announced Jan. 29 that he would retire after 17 years as Missouri’s athletic director. Alden’s original timetable called for him to remain as athletic director until Aug. 31 before transitioning to a teaching role in the MU College of Education.

Rhoades formally will be introduced Tuesday at a news conference at the MU Student Center.

“I am delighted to welcome a leader with a track record of enhancing the student-athlete experience and a proven record in fundraising and facility development,” MU chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said in a release announcing Rhoades’ hiring. “We found the right fit at the right time to take Mizzou Athletics to even greater heights.”

Rhoades, who has been Houston’s athletic director since June 2009, also was a candidate when Loftin led the search for a new athletic director at Texas A&M in 2012.

Before Houston, Rhoades worked on Stull’s staff at UTEP from 1998 to 2005 and served as Akron’s athletic director from 2005 to 2009.

“I’m excited to have him aboard,” first-year Missouri men’s basketball coach Kim Anderson said. “I don’t know him personally … but I know of several coaches that have worked with him and administrators. He’s a phenomenal fundraiser — done a great job at Akron, done a great job at Houston. We’re looking forward to working with him here at Mizzou.”

University of Missouri system president Tim Wolfe lauded Rhoades as “a highly respected national leader.”

“His demonstrated excellence in all facets of athletics leadership will help MU continue the unparalleled growth and success it has enjoyed over the last few years,” Wolfe said.

Under Rhoades’ leadership, Houston opened a $120 million football stadium last fall, and a $25 million basketball practice facility is under construction.

Rhoades, who graduated from Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, later earned a master’s in sports management and marketing at Indiana. He also oversaw upgrades to Houston’s golf, baseball and softball facilities. He has helped raise more than $100 million for capital campaigns in the last five years, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“He’s got great vision and great passion for college athletics, but I think what makes him a great leader is how much he cares for people,” said Houston associate vice president and chief operating officer Hunter Yurachek, who worked with Rhoades at Akron then spent four years as Coastal Carolina’s athletic director before rejoining Rhoades’ staff at Houston last year. “You’ll see that his staff will go above and beyond for that vision that he’s created, because he truly cares for each and every person in the department.”

At Missouri, Rhoades inherits a program that recently completed two significant renovations to Memorial Stadium and has one of the top basketball facilities, Mizzou Arena, in the Southeastern Conference.

A new softball stadium is expected to be completed before the 2017 season, and the Tigers also recently upgraded their baseball, golf and tennis facilities.

Discussions also have started about constructing a south end-zone facility at Memorial Stadium with coaches’ offices, a new locker room, a weight room and a training room for football.

“The University of Missouri is a world-class institution, and I am honored to serve as its next director of athletics,” Rhoades said in a release. “Success begins with great people, and I look forward to working with our talented student-athletes, coaches and staff to keep the athletics program among the nation’s elite.

“I look forward to traveling the state to meet the fans who are the heartbeat of the Tigers.”

Rhoades and his wife, Amy, have three daughters: Nicolette, Natalie and Noelle.

Among his other accomplishments, Rhoades helped lead Houston from Conference USA into the American Athletic Conference, which formed from the remaining football-playing schools in the old Big East. Rhoades later served as the chairman of the American athletic directors committee.

“We had a lot to do, and Mack was instrumental in helping me navigate all of that,” American commissioner Mike Aresco said. “He understood the complex issues and was a voice of a reason. He’s a relative low-key guy, but that belies that fact that he’s very dynamic. He’s got real vision. … He’s highly intelligent, he’s resourceful, but he’s also extremely personable.”

Aresco said Rhoades doesn’t shout people down or pound his first on the table.

“He’s just a hard-working guy who just wants to get the right answer and do the job well. I think people will appreciate that at Missouri. … He’s a good collaborator and facilitator … and also generates camaraderie. He’s a natural leader, and he’s inspirational — on his campus and within the conference.”

Stull said Rhoades had a similar effect in helping UTEP from its myriad problems in the late 1990s and is well-prepared for a job at a major-conference school like Missouri, whose $84 million athletic department budget is roughly double Houston’s.

“He’s prepared, and I think most people recognize that,” Stull said. “He was on everybody’s list before, so I think he’ll be a really good fit for Missouri.”

Aresco also doesn’t worry about Rhoades’ ability to adjust to a bigger program.

“He’ll do a great job at Missouri,” Aresco said. “He’ll have resources that he hasn’t had. He’s got a football coach (Gary Pinkel) who’s been extremely successful.

“I’ve read some accounts that this is his first so-called Power 5 (conference) job, but I think the jobs in this conference are every bit as challenging. In some ways, maybe more so, because you’re dealing with fewer resources, but you’re trying to do the same things as the big-five conferences. It’s not easy.”

Loftin led a nationwide search — with help from international executive search firm Korn Ferry — for Alden’s replacement and took fewer than six weeks to settle on Rhoades.

“I hate to see him go, but on the other hand, Missouri and the SEC are getting a great A.D. that they’ll really enjoy working with,” Aresco said.

Rhoades hired Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman off Urban Meyer’s national championship staff as Houston’s new football coach in December and hired former Oklahoma and Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson as men’s basketball coach last April.

Todd Whitting, who Rhoades hired in July 2010, has turned Houston baseball into a national power.

Rhoades’ contract paid him $537,600 annually at Houston. He also had a maximum of $75,000 available in bonuses, according to USA Today.

At MU, Alden made $651,917 with available bonuses of $347,915.

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 10:35 AM with the headline "New Missouri athletic director Mack Rhoades known for consensus building, fundraising."