Veteran sports lawyer Desireé Reed-Francois has been appointed the University of Arizona’s new Director of Athletics. Reed-Francois was previously AD at the University of Missouri.
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 will have the opportunity for additional incentive compensation based on the department’s athletic and academic success, as well as retention bonuses after four and five years of employment with the University.
Any retention bonus or buyout expenses for Reed-Francois will be fully covered by donor funds, according to the university. Donor funds were also secured to cover the full payout costs of the University’s previous athletic director.
“Reed-Francois brings proven business expertise and financial acumen to the Director of Athletics position,” according to a press release. “She is an accomplished fundraiser and relationship builder and has transformed two collegiate athletic departments into high-performing, cost-effective operations. Reed-Francois also has deep ties to the University of Arizona, where she earned her juris doctorate from the James E. Rogers College of Law 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, postseason berths across multiple sports, and enhancements to student-athlete welfare and support. In addition to hiring six head coaches, 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; five straight semesters of record student-athlete GPAs; attendance growth in football and basketball; the opening of the Stephens Indoor Football Practice Center; significant upgrades to the game-day experience for fans; the growth of the Missouri brand across the state and country; and implementation of innovative Name Image Likeness (NIL) initiatives.
Prior to her tenure in Columbia, Reed-Francois served as the Director of Athletics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2017-2021), revitalizing the department. During her time with the Rebels, she completed or implemented more than $70 million in facility upgrades; hired seven head coaches, including three who earned conference Coach of the Year honors early in their tenures; oversaw the completion and opening of a $35 million on-campus football training complex; and successfully negotiated a joint-use agreement with the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders with the opening of the new $2 billion Allegiant Stadium.
Prior to ascending to the director’s chair, Reed-Francois served several institutions in leadership roles, including as the Deputy Athletics Director at Virginia Tech, as a Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of Cincinnati and as the Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of Tennessee. Additionally, she has worked at Fresno State University, Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, the University of California Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. She also has experience at the professional levels, working with the then Oakland Raiders and the National Football League Management Council.
Reed-Francois currently is the Vice Chair of the Lead1 Association Board of Directors and serves on the organization’s executive committee, as well as on the boards of Women Leaders in Sports, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches. Reed-Francois recently served as Vice Chair of the NCAA Baseball Selection Committee and formerly was a member of the College Football Playoff Committee’s operations committee. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) and has been a presenter at NACDA, NACMA, Women Leaders in Sports, and Sports Business Journal’s annual conventions.
Reed-Francois was a rower at UCLA, where she graduated with a degree in political science before earning her JD at Arizona. She is a member of the State Bar of California and has taught law classes at the University of Tennessee and at Santa Clara University.
