Desireé Reed-Francois bolts SEC to usher in Arizona’s arrival to the Big-12
TUCSON — Veteran intercollegiate athletics administrator Desireé Reed-Francois has been appointed the University of Arizona’s new Director of Athletics, pending approval by the Arizona Board of Regents, President Robert C. Robbins announced Monday. Reed-Francois currently serves as the Director of Athletics at the University of Missouri and will begin her tenure in Tucson on March 3.
The terms of the five-year contract include an annual base salary of $1 million in year one elevating to $1.2 million in year five, with an additional $250,000 annual contribution from the University of Arizona Foundation.
Reed-Francois is a UCLA grad where she participated in the sport of Crew. She did her law school work at UA’s James E. Rogers College of Law, graduating in 1997.
Reed-Francois has served as the Director of Athletics at the University of Missouri since 2021, raising the athletics program’s profile over the past several years to include a top 10 football program, she has overseen the department’s first budget surplus in six years; record-breaking successes in fundraising, including securing the largest gift in Missouri Athletics history of $62 million; and implementation of innovative Name Image Likeness (NIL) initiatives.
You can read more about UA’s new athletics leader over at ArizonaWildcats.com.
Copyright 2024 Arizona Athletics. All rights reserved.
David Kelly contributed to this story.
