Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois has already made a dozen significant hires in her high command, but the most critical acquisition is now in process.
UA AD Desireé Reed-Francois has shown she won’t sit idle in a rapidly changing NCAA landscape.
With help from the Parker Executive Search Firm, Reed-Francois has advertised for a chief development officer (CDO) to lead the 12-member fundraising staff that she inherited from former AD Dave Heeke.
Given the unprecedented financial demands on Power 4 athletic departments, this will be a hire that demands the success of previous Arizona CDO’s such as Chris Del Conte, Tom Sanders, Bob Logan and Bob Davis, all of whom kept the UA in the black, which no longer seems possible.
Utah was the most recent Big 12 school to hire a CDO. In October, Utes AD Mark Harlan hired Patrick Nowlin, the No. 2 man in the Notre Dame athletic department from 2021-24, who also spent nine years as a chief fundrasier at Oklahoma.
Former coaches need not apply in this new age of college athletics. It’s all about revenue generation and innovation.
