Reed-Francois on UA's expectations: ‘We're not in it for participation trophies’

Could a redesigned court be coming to McKale Center? Is the “Cactus Sunset” on the way back?

Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois suggested the possibility of a new-look court at McKale. She declined to provide any additional details.

But remember the lens through which Reed-Francois views UA athletics. She received her law degree at Arizona in 1997 — the year the Wildcats won the national championship in men’s basketball. The McKale Center court had saguaros back then.

While she didn’t want to discuss the floor, Reed-Francois had plenty to say about the ceilings of Arizona’s highest-profile programs: men’s basketball and football.

After providing an overview of her first year as AD in the first half of an exclusive interview with the Star, Reed-Francois delved into sport-specific topics in the second half. They include Tommy Lloyd’s recent comments about the atmosphere at McKale; how the game-day experience can be improved at McKale and Arizona Stadium; and her expectations for UA football in 2025. The conversation has been lightly edited.

Tommy Lloyd made some comments recently about the atmosphere at McKale Center. It was after the game at Kansas, which has one of the best atmospheres in the country, if not the best. What did you make of what he said?

A: “We have an incredible fan base. That was not his intent, to diminish our fans. … We’re always looking to continue to improve our game-day experience. If anything, we’re fully aligned (on that).

“We have passionate fans who care deeply about the Wildcats. We are very thankful for them. We cannot achieve the championships that we all expect without us all (being) united.”

What are some ways that you could improve the game-day experience at both McKale and Arizona Stadium?

A: “For football, men’s and women’s basketball, similar to what we did at other places, it’s a lot of assessment, (including) fan surveys. We also brought in a group called Shine Entertainment. They evaluated our game day.

“We do a lot of walking, a lot of observing, a lot of listening, whether it’s the fan council, the thousands of surveys we do, sending our marketing group to watch professional sports game-day atmospheres — or even going to see, what’s the standard in our conference? I’m constantly wearing out our day-to-day people when I’m on the road, taking pictures. ‘Hey, I really like this,’ or ‘How can we think about this (in) a little bit different way?’ So we always are wanting to tweak that.

“We have short-term and long-term projects. Some are unique for football, some are unique for men’s and women’s basketball. Four things that are common for both: We want to expand storytelling. We need to develop an in-house analytics unit (to assess ticketing needs, pricing and structuring). We need to maximize our premium spaces, even ones that aren’t even considered premium spaces (currently). We need to look at those and see how we can make those special and unique. We also really need to look at concerts, even hosting comedy shows, because we have to pay for all of these initiatives. ... Concert revenue is an untapped market. It’s also great for our community, great for our local businesses.

“On football, the sound is not where it needs to be. The video boards are not where they need to be. Those are a little bit longer term — as is, what are we going to with the west side? This year we’re experimenting with field-level suites. So that’s coming. We have to really look at tailoring to some specific game-day programs.

“We announced the caravan (last week), and I think of our 20 stops, 11 are Tucson. We need Tucson to show up. But then we need to make sure we’re providing a great game-day experience. We’re going to evaluate concessions and ingress/egress. We want to keep looking at making this a must-see event.

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“On the basketball side, we have this terrace I look across (from the other side of Enke Drive) every day when I’m in my office . How can we use that space to make the McKale atmosphere even more engaging pregame, postgame? We experimented with two bands at the end of the season to see how the acts went over. One went over better than the other. We had the sleepover with the students prior to the Duke game. We’re in the memory-making business, and there is a lot we can continue to do.

“McKale is incredibly special. Some of my fondest memories happened at McKale. We have incredible fans, we appreciate them and want to keep making this the most competitive, loud, energetic homecourt in the nation. ... How can we continue to have the best in class in everything associated with Arizona basketball?”

You organized the Fan Advisory Council earlier this year. What have you heard from that group?

A: “They want to feel more connected to our teams. We need to enhance our social-media presence, our email engagement. They want to expand our presence in the new Big 12 cities. They also thought we needed to target the greater Tucson area and create more touch points.”

Football had a disappointing season by any measure last year. A lot of changes were made in the offseason. You talked about giving Brent Brennan the resources that he needs to succeed. Given all that, what is your outlook for this upcoming season and beyond?

A: “We just had two days of Big 12 meetings. In those meetings, it was reinforced how important football is in our conference and nationally. We saw, (last) year, our TV ratings increase by 42%. We had five national FOX-televised contests. It’s important to our local businesses, our university, our student-athletes, all of Wildcat nation and our alumni — everybody.

“Coach Brennan has said it: The results were not what we expect. Coach Brennan made some staffing changes. We provided financial investments. We’re going to provide support for him; we’re all-in on revenue-share. We need to see progress, and we’re going to. We’re going to do everything we possibly can to provide the resources and the support that’s needed so that he can achieve — that we can achieve — the high expectations we all have. We’re not in it for participation trophies.”

You were here when men’s basketball won the national championship. The program has been very good since then — but rarely Final four-good. No national championships. Is that an impossible standard to live up to? Or do you think that’s attainable again?

A: “I’ve heard Coach Lloyd say it to his team: The ‘Block A’ stands for championship expectations and championship standards. This is the University of Arizona, and that’s always the goal.

“Entering the Big 12, we anticipate that this new conference is going to prepare us very well for the NCAA Tournament. And we’re going to continue to provide those resources and all the support possible.

“I remember 1997 as if it was yesterday. I can still remember that feeling of the entire community being outside and just celebrating together. That’s a special memory I will always cherish, and it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re providing that support and that holistic excellence around the program so we can achieve that expectation. That’s what I really want for this community, this university and those young people.”

Multiple coaches are entering the last year of their deals. They include Adia Barnes (women’s basketball), Chip Hale (baseball) and Caitlin Lowe (softball). When are you going to address those contracts?

A: “As I’ve said throughout my time here, at the end of the season, we will get together with the coach. After the fall season, I met with each of our fall-sport head coaches. We talked about the program, the trajectory and how we can support (it). We will do that at the end of the season for our winter sports. We will do that at the end of the season for our spring sports. That’s our process, and that’s what we will do.”