COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 Well, that was a surprise.
After less than three years on the job, athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois has left the University of Missouri for the same position at Arizona.
She leaves behind a considerable hole after making several highly regarded hires, bringing in a record $62 million donation to the department, making upgrades to the fan experience and generally building momentum around the university鈥檚 sports.
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A search for Reed-Francois鈥 replacement is set to begin immediately.
The Missouri athletics department is now at a juncture following Desiree Reed-Francois' departure for Arizona, raising questions around administrative oversight and plans for stadium renovations.
MU, as a Southeastern Conference school with a well-positioned football program, will certainly appeal to athletics administrators around the country. Reed-Francois鈥 salary was $1.25 million per year, a figure that gives the university the buying power it should need to attract its ideal candidate.
One potential question mark around the opening is recent turnover in the department鈥檚 top job. Since longtime AD Mike Alden stepped down in 2015, three other administrators 鈥 Mack Rhoades, Jim Sterk and Reed-Francois 鈥 have cycled through the position.
MU hired Reed-Francois through a search process that involved the Parker Executive Search firm. It鈥檚 not yet clear whether the university will again hire an outside group to assist with its hire, nor who will have a say in the hiring process.
As it gets underway, here are seven names to keep an eye on throughout Mizzou鈥檚 search for its next athletics director:
Doug Gillin, Appalachian State AD
Doug Gillin has a couple of important ties to the current state of Missouri sports that make him an immediate logical candidate for the job. For one, he hired football coach Eli Drinkwitz to Appalachian State ahead of the 2019 season, only to see Drinkwitz snapped up by MU a year later.
That鈥檚 not all. Gillin spent two separate stints working in the athletics department, once from 1995-99 as an assistant marketing director and the general manager of Mizzou Sports Properties and again from 2012-15 as deputy athletics director under Mike Alden. His first stretch in Columbia generated valuable knowledge of how licensing, media rights and the like fit into the business side of college sports, and his latter tenure saw MU migrate from the Big 12 to the SEC.
Gillin has been at App State since he left Missouri. With the Mountaineers, he鈥檚 pushed through facilities upgrades including a new end zone facility at the football stadium and upgrades to track and field and basketball practice facilities. He also played a role in luring ESPN鈥檚 College GameDay show to the App State campus in 2022.
Laird Veatch, Memphis AD
Laird Veatch is another Group of Five administrator with past ties to Missouri. He worked in the athletics department鈥檚 fundraising and development divisions from 1997-2002, a time that saw Mizzou generate record growth in donations. At one time, Veatch managed the athletics department鈥檚 Tiger Scholarship Fund program and directed a $102 million capital campaign.
He returned to Mizzou in 2003 to be general manager of Mizzou Sports Properties, eventually receiving a promotion to a regional vice president post with Learfield Sports. Veatch is another candidate who is familiar with the media and licensing landscape, as well as the fundraising world.
At Memphis, Veatch established a strategic facilities master plan that includes a $200 million renovation of the school鈥檚 football stadium. He also made the school one of the quickest to take advantage of the changing name, image and likeness, or NIL, landscape.
Veatch convinced Missouri to pay $1 million in 2023 to move a football game slated to be played in Memphis to the Dome at America鈥檚 Center in 50度灰视频, a financial gain for the school that would鈥檝e normally received just a $250,000 buyout.
Mario Moccia, New Mexico State AD
Hiring Mario Moccia would be coaxing him away from his alma mater, but the New Mexico State AD is another administrator with Mizzou experience. He was a senior associate AD at MU from 1998-2006, when he oversaw external operations, which included the Tiger Scholarship Fund, marketing and broadcast operations.
At NMSU, Moccia spearheaded facility upgrades, securing a lucrative broadcasting rights agreement and a new footwear and apparel deal for the school.
Sarah Baumgartner, Texas executive senior associate AD
Sarah Baumgartner oversees all of Texas鈥 programs as an operations-focused administrator and serves as the school鈥檚 liaison to Nike. She joined UT in 2021 after working as Rutgers鈥 deputy athletics director.
She was part of the Mizzou athletics department from 2006-13, where she worked in fundraising and development and as a men鈥檚 basketball-specific administrator. Baumgartner developed and executed MU鈥檚 fundraising plan based around the school鈥檚 transition to the SEC, which included record amounts of donors and dollars raised.
Wren Baker, West Virginia AD
Wren Baker took the athletics director post at West Virginia in 2022 after a strong tenure at North Texas, where fundraising and ticket revenue skyrocketed. He also guided North Texas to membership in the American Athletic Conference.
Baker was Mizzou鈥檚 deputy athletics director from 2015-16 and was briefly the school鈥檚 interim AD following the departure of Mack Rhoades.
Mark Alnutt, Buffalo AD
At Buffalo, Mark Alnutt has overseen a cultural transition and improvement in on-field products across sports. But his immediate connection to the Mizzou job is his time as a football player at MU, where he was a three-year letter winner. Alnutt also worked as a football program operations administrator and oversaw facility master planning.
Alnutt hails from Kansas City but claims a unique bit of 50度灰视频 trivia as the Southeast Missouri State athletics director who negotiated and organized the first college football game held in Busch Stadium.
He told reporters Monday that his 鈥渇ocus .鈥
Brian White, Florida Atlantic AD
Brian White is another former Mizzou administrator with ties to its football and basketball programs, as well as its media partners. He led the fundraising efforts behind Memorial Stadium鈥檚 new south end zone and managed MU鈥檚 partnership with Learfield.
White spun those skills into successful fundraising and key facilities improvements at Florida Atlantic, too. His first hire, Dusty May, guided FAU on a stunning run to the Final Four last year.
Other names to consider
Jon Sundvold, a former Mizzou basketball player and UM System curator, is a recognizable name but a long shot for this sort of gig. Louisville AD Josh Heird stands out as an administrator well versed in NIL, facilities projects and student-athlete welfare, though he lacks direct Mizzou ties. Cornell AD Nikki Moore was a track and field star for the Tigers and has since found success at Oklahoma and North Carolina before taking on the top job at smaller schools in Colgate and Cornell. Senior Associate AD Marcy Girton is Mizzou鈥檚 interim athletics director in the wake of Reed-Francois鈥 exit and has three decades of experience in college sports, having served as the chief operating officer at Auburn and South Carolina.
The Missouri athletics department is now at a juncture following Desiree Reed-Francois' departure for Arizona, raising questions around administrative oversight and plans for stadium renovations.