New athletic director Mack Rhoades calls Mizzou job a destination

New Missouri athletic director Mack Rhoades said he felt some nerves Monday morning as the school’s Board of Curators voted to approve his contract.

But he appeared relaxed Tuesday as he led his first “M-I-Z, Z-O-U” chant before beginning his remarks to a crowd of several hundred supporters who gathered at the MU Student Center for his first public appearance as the Tigers’ top athletics administrator.

Rhoades, 49, was hired Monday from Houston as outgoing athletic director Mike Alden’s successor.

“It really is a dream come true,” Rhoades said. “This is a terrific place with special people. I think that’s what makes it so terrific. … You win with people. You can have the best facilities in the world, the biggest budget, but, if you don’t have great people, you’re not going to win. I feel like I walk into a situation where certainly we’ve got really good coaches and a good staff.”

Rhoades, whose family includes his wife, Amy, and three children, Nicolette, Natalie and Noelle, said he plans on Mizzou being his last job.

“We’ve been at a really great place, and it was going to take something special for us to leave … ” Rhoades said. “This place is special. … This is a destination place.

“I am honored and privileged to be your athletics director and wear the black and gold.”

MU chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, who led the search with assistance from international executive search firm Korn Ferry, said the process started the day Alden announced his retirement on Jan. 29 and that Rhoades was on the Tigers’ list from the beginning.

Now Rhoades has an immediate opening on his staff to fill. Missouri deputy athletic director Doug Gillin is set to become Appalachian State’s athletic director on April 6.

Rhoades said he had put some thought into Gillin’s replacement, but “I’m not going to share that right now.”

He mentioned his right-hand man, Houston vice president intercollegiate athletics and chief operating officer Hunter Yurachek, as “a great candidate,” but Rhoades said he hopes Yurachek succeeds him at the University of Houston.

Rhoades helped shepherd Houston through its transition from Conference USA into the American Athletic Conference and transformed the Cougars’ athletic facilities, including a $120 million football stadium that opened last fall.

Rhoades, who previously served as the athletic director at Akron and was an assistant at Texas-El Paso under former Missouri football coach Bob Stull, brings a reputation as an ace fundraiser and a man of the people.

He also stresses excellence at every level of the athletic department.

“We want to build championship programs — not just winning teams, but championship programs that are consistently good each and every year …” Rhoades said. “It’s hard to win. It really is, and everybody has to be on the same page, pulling in the same direction.”

He also acknowledged that he was inheriting a strong situation thanks to the work of Alden, who served as Missouri’s athletic director for 17 years and helped grow the budget from around $14 million to nearly $84 million.

“This is not a fixer-upper,” Rhoades said. “The job that Mike has done here in his 17 years and his staff, it has been tremendous. The challenge is, how do you take something where Mike has continued to raise the bar and take that momentum and continue to raise it?”

Loftin said Missouri targeted a candidate with integrity, who put student-athletes first, would easily gain the respect of coaches and staff and could fundraise. He said Rhoades checked all the boxes.

Loftin said Rhoades, who interviewed several weeks ago, would take over by April 27 and that Alden would step aside at that time, but “I’ve asked Mike to continue being available to (Rhoades),” Loftin said.

Rhoades said he may take over as early as April 21 and also plans to make several two-day trips during the next weeks to meet with staff. Details of Rhoades contract have yet to be released.

He welcomes any interaction with Alden.

Rhoades specifically asked Alden, who said he watched his own introductory news conference from July 1998 this week, to attend to his introductory news conference and plans to use his predecessor as a resource during the transition.

“He’s been one of the best, and is one of the best, athletic directors in the country,” Rhoades said. “Why wouldn’t I want to lean on him and learn from him? … I have great respect for Mike, and I’m excited that he will be around.”

Rhoades will take his time to get the lay of the land before developing a list of priorities for his vision of the future of Missouri athletics. He acknowledged several projects already in the works — like the proposed south end-zone complex at Memorial Stadium and new softball stadium — as things he’ll evaluate in addition to the existing staff and coaches.

“The first several months, I’m going to do a lot of listening and a lot of learning and really formulating my own ideas and my thoughts …” Rhoades said. “I’m going to meet with every staff member individually. I want to get to know them.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 8:08 PM with the headline "New athletic director Mack Rhoades calls Mizzou job a destination."