Mizzou names new athletic director

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

It's official, Mizzou has a new athletic director. On Sunday, the school announced that UNLV AD Desiree Reed-Francois will be taking the helm of Mizzou Athletics.

Reed-Francois will not only be MU's first female athletic director, but also the first female director of any public institution in the SEC.

"This is a transformational day for Mizzou Athletics," UM System President Mun Choi said in a press release. "Desiree Reed-Francois brings an unsurpassed passion for student-athletes and bold, visionary skills that will propel a championship culture at MU. As a proud member of the SEC, we are energized to go into the next era of Mizzou athletics with Desiree Reed-Francois at the helm."

Reed-Francois will come to Columbia with more than 25 years of experience in college athletics. Most recently, she spent more than four years as UNLV's athletic director. This will be her second athletic director job, but she has more than two decades of experience in collegiate athletics.

Reed-Francois has spent time at a number of division one schools, including Virginia Tech, Cincinnati and Tennessee.

According to her UNLV bio, she was the first woman to oversee an SEC men's basketball program during her time with the Volunteers from 2009-13. Reed-Francois' time in Rocky Top coincided with Mizzou basketball coach Cuonzo Martin. He was the head coach of the Vols from 2011-14.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators will meet on Tuesday to approve the contact, then an introductory press conference will be held in the coming days.