Five things to know about Desiree Reed-Francois, Missouri’s new athletic director

On the back of last month’s surprising announcement that current University of Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk would step down once his replacement was found, Mizzou made history Sunday.

UNLV athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois will replace Sterk, the school announced, making her the first woman to lead the Tigers’ athletic department and the first woman athletic director at a public school in the Southeastern Conference.

The 49-year-old Reed-Francois had been the Runnin’ Rebels’ A.D. since 2017 and brings a wealth of high-ranking administrative experience, including in the SEC, to Columbia. Here’s some background on the Tigers’ new hire …

She is one of the few women of color among Power 5 ADs

Just six of the 65 athletic directors in Power 5 conferences are women. Reed-Francois’ hiring at Missouri makes her the seventh.

Reed-Francois joins Vanderbilt’s Candace Storey Lee as women athletic directors in the SEC, with those two and Virginia’s Carla Williams the only Power 5 athletic directors who are women of color (Reed-Francois’ mother is Mexican).

Before she was hired at UNLV in 2017, Reed-Francois had been a deputy A.D. at Tennessee, a senior associate A.D. at Cincinnati (where she was briefly an interim A.D.) and a deputy A.D. at Virginia Tech, where she was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the football program.

She has connections to some current and former Mizzou brass

Speaking of her time at Tennessee, she oversaw the men’s basketball program in Knoxville from 2009-13. During that time, she helped hire current Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin in 2011.

In Martin’s three years in Knoxville, he went 63-41 overall with a 32-20 SEC record and a NCAA Tournament appearance. He and Reed-Francois will now reunite in Columbia as he enters his sixth season as the coach of the Tigers.

While at Virginia Tech, she worked under A.D. Whit Babcock, who was Missouri’s associate A.D. from 2007-11.

She has hired new football and men’s basketball coaches

Reed-Francois oversaw new coaching appointments for both of UNLV’s main revenue sports, football and men’s basketball.

The school agreed to part ways with former football coach Tony Sanchez following the 2019 season and Reed-Francois hired Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo. Playing a COVID-affected schedule, Arroyo went 0-6 in his first season in Las Vegas.

On the hardwood, Reed-Francois oversaw the hiring of South Dakota State’s T.J. Otzelberger in March 2019 after firing former coach Marvin Menzies. Otzelberger went 29-30 in two seasons before being plucked away by Iowa State in the offseason. She then went on to promote assistant Kevin Kruger — son of former UNLV and Kansas State coach Lon Kruger.

Reed-Francois’ other hires include appointments in women’s basketball, women’s soccer, softball and volleyball.

Mizzou returns to the Mountain West for an A.D.

Like the outgoing Sterk, Reed-Francois comes from a Mountain West school. Sterk arrived in Columbia from San Diego State in 2016.

Much of Reed-Francois’ background is based in the West. A rower at UCLA from Fremont, California, she held roles in the athletic departments of Cal, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Fresno State and San Francisco before taking the deputy A.D. job at Tennessee.

Before she began work in college athletics, Reed-Francois was a practicing lawyer after earning her law degree from Arizona, in addition to being a legal associate for the NFL’s Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders and the league’s management council. She’s also taught law classes both at Tennessee and Santa Clara.

She increased donors and built a multi million-dollar football facility at UNLV

UNLV generated more than $60 million in donations during Reed-Francois’ time, with donors increasing 70% since 2018. Season ticket sales for football in 2020 also went up by more than 50% from 2018.

A $35 million football complex opened in Oct. 2019, and Reed-Francois organized a joint use agreement with the Raiders to use Allegiant Stadium.

The school instituted more than $70 million of facility upgrades during her tenure.