Well, just when us Mizzou fans were getting ready to settle in for a boring offseason, we got quite the jolt on Monday, when news hit out of left field that Desiree Reed-Francois was leaving her athletic director position in Columbia for what most pundits perceived as a lateral move to take the same gig at the University of Arizona.
Based on the reaction, all of Tiger Nation was caught unaware here, and the theories were flying as to what happened behind the scenes to cause this major upheaval in a department that seemed – at least outwardly – to be operating successfully under DRF’s oversight.
As to how this development materialized, my Rock M teammate Josh Matejka had some poignant thoughts about the surprise development that I’d encourage you to read here.
As a Mizzou alum and someone who toiled for over 25 years in the athletic department, I admired the job that I saw Reed-Francois do in her two-and-a-half years here. I thought she represented Mizzou in a first-class manner, and she seemed to leave things better overall than she found them, and I’m grateful for that.
Now, while I do thank her for the efforts and wish her nothing but the best, I also take the attitude that nobody is irreplaceable, and that this is an opportunity to move to even greater heights. Our head ball coach Eli Drinkwitz had those exact thoughts.
Thank you @DRFrancois1 for elevating @MizzouAthletics but @Mizzou future is BRIGHT, & the BEST IS AHEAD! #WhyStopNow #S24P#MIZ
— Eliah Drinkwitz (@CoachDrinkwitz) February 19, 2024
Right on, Coach. Let’s be grateful for what’s taken place the last couple of years, but let’s take that base and build it up further.
On the human side of things, I definitely empathize with the athletics employees – especially those who had no inkling that this was coming. It’s a gut punch when you come to work one day and the rug gets pulled out from under you like this. There’s undoubtedly a lot of people walking around Mizzou Arena and all the athletics facilities in shock wondering what’s next. The tough thing when you go through an athletic director change – and I was around Mizzou for five of them from Dan Devine through Jim Sterk – is the unknown. There will be a lot of staffers uncertain if they’ll have a job going forward when the new boss gets onboarded. It’s similar to when a new coach takes over a program; they don’t want to be told they have to keep assistants around, they want to build the staff with their own people. Job security being in question is a tough way to operate for those left behind, so let’s hope for everyone’s sake that the search for our next AD is well done and efficient.
From a coaching perspective, getting a new AD dropped into your lap is problematic. Any coach is on edge in this situation, especially if their results have been middling of late. The perception was that most Olympic sport coaches at Mizzou had good relationships with DRF so I imagine they were not thrilled by the news. Just like those athletic staffers in limbo, coaching staffs are back to square one related to their long-term security. This is something that can be used against them on the recruiting trails, unfortunately.
The good news is, the most important group here is the one that will feel it the least— the student-athletes. When an AD leaves, there’s just not that much direct impact to the athletes. I was around athletic directors who worked hard to have strong relationships with as many of the kids as they could, and then there were those who were cordial but the athletes never had meaningful interaction. Either way, the athletes play for their coaches, not the athletic director, so their lives aren’t uprooted initially. If wholesale coaching changes follow, well then, that’s another story for later.
From a fan and donor perspective, this type of change is hit or miss. The AD is essentially a figurehead for alumni and fans. It’s a role played by a person who steers the ship for their favorite school’s athletics program, and most don’t care who is in charge as long as things are going well. I don’t have research to back this up, but I am of the belief that there aren’t many fans who choose to attend a football game or turn on a basketball game on the TV based on who is sitting in the AD chair. Donors, however, could be a little different story here. Most will never have direct interaction with the athletic director, only those benefactors at a very high level, but if the outgoing AD was good with people skills and had some close-knit relationships with key donors, that’s something that will have to be massaged by the new hire right away.
So, no matter how you cut it, this is how I see the reality of the role of an athletics director in the Southeastern Conference. Ultimately, job #1 is to win in football. Job #2 is to fundraise to help job #1 succeed. Job #3 is to get everyone aligned internally/externally to pull the same direction to assist with jobs #1 and #2. Job #4 is to win in men’s hoops. Job #5 is pretty much all other duties, including helping the Olympic sports thrive as much as possible, all while maintaining laser-like focus on the success of jobs #1, #2 and #3.
If you’ve got that sort of resume, feel free to send it to 1 Champions Drive. All of a sudden, they’re taking applications.
