In seven months, University of Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois has almost totally rebuilt the UA’s departmental structure, hiring eight associate/assistant ADs from Missouri’s front office — Reed-Francois’ old school — and a new ticket manager from the Arkansas Razorbacks.
She has also put together a seven-person staff for the purpose of corporate sponsorships, stadium naming rights and brand management. Last week she hired a former Mizzou colleague who will be responsible for contracts and NIL management.
Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois talks with former UA president Robert Robbins just before the Arizona women’s basketball team tipped off against UCLA last season on March 2 at McKale Center.
It strongly suggests that the administrative model used by previous UA athletic directors was either inefficient or outdated, or both, and that the UA needed new blood. Or all of the above. She’s not finished; there’s more to come. Reed-Francois is now advertising three key positions for her financial staff:
- Associate athletic director for budget and finance.
- Assistant athletic director for financial reporting and analysis.
- Financial analyst (to ensure accurate financial reporting).
This now sounds more like a Power 4 athletic department of the 2020s, rather than the good-old-boy network of a previous generation, drowning in debt and doing little about it. One thing seems certain: Reed-Francois is doing something about it.
This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook. Looking for more? Find updates and Greg's archive at Tucson.com/Hansen.
Last year, Arizona’s once-powerful athletic department plunged all the way to No. 48 in the Learfield Director’s Cup, an across-the-board measurement of an athletic department’s on-field success (or lack thereof). On Friday, in the first Big 12 Conference championship of 2024-25, Arizona’s women’s cross country team finished 16th of 16 teams. The men were ninth of 13.
Under the get-things-done Reed-Francois, that’s probably not going to cut it anymore.
