Firm hired for MU’s AD search employs wife of men’s basketball coach; questions raised over potential conflict of interest

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri has started a national search for a new athletic director.

MU announced on Tuesday that it had put together a search committee of 11 people and hired  TurnkeyZRG, a firm specializing in leadership recruitment in college athletics, to assist with the search.

TurnkeyZRG has a long list of clients that includes the NFL, the United States Olympic Committee, NASCAR, The Big 10 Conference, the South Eastern Conference, and the Boston Red Sox.

Jocelyn Gates -- the wife of Mizzou’s men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates -- is currently listed as a Vice President of College & Coaching Practice for the firm. The search comes after former athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois announced she was leaving to take the AD job at Arizona.

The new athletic director that is hired will be overseeing Dennis Gates's job security at the University of Missouri. ABC 17 News asked the university if it was aware of the potential conflict of interest when it chose to hire TurnkeyZRG. 

“Turnkey/ZRG has confirmed that Jocelyn Gates would not be involved in any part of the Mizzou Athletic Director search,” MU spokesman Christian Basi said.

Don Heider, the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, argues that even if she is not a part of the search, it still looks like it could be a potential conflict of interest.

“It is a conflict of interest and it’s not because she’s going to head the search and pick one of her husband’s friends to be his boss. We know that’s not going to happen but the problem is there is the appearance of a conflict because of her interest in the University because she’s married to the basketball coach and so really in these cases when you're making such an important hire that’s going to affect the university for a number of years to come and could have an impact on the basketball coach and other coaches you don’t want even the appearance of impropriety of any kind,” Heider said.

Jocelyn Gates was previously the Senior Associate Director of Athletics with the Ohio State Dept. of Athletics before taking a position with TurnkeyZRG in June of 2022. She recently assisted the Atlantic Coast Conference hire a new Chief of Staff.

According to the University’s Neptostim Policy, “no employee of the University shall hire or appoint an individual who is related by blood or marriage within the fourth degree by consanguinity or affinity to the employee making the decision to hire or appoint. No exceptions shall be made to this rule.” 

Hiring TurnkeyZRG to assist with the search is not in violation of this policy. However, Heider argues that the school should have factored the appearance of a conflict of interest into their decision to pick a firm. He added that while it’s helpful that Gates is not going to be a part of the search, the decision to use TurnkeyZRG could still affect the perception of the new AD who is hired. 

“There’s always the chance that somebody, for instance, a candidate who doesn’t get the job is going to make accusations that there is some kind of favoritism there," Heider said. "You don’t want to start a search like this. You don’t want the hire starting out with any questions raised before they hit the door. You want them coming in with a clean bill of health, a good track record and no clouds looming over them.”

Heider said safeguards can be put into place such as putting a faculty or staff member who has no vested interest in the search not from athletics, who is willing to serve on the search committee to monitor the process to make sure everything is done correctly.

“No matter who they hire now, people are going to look at it with a raised eyebrow,” said Joshua Dickhaus, who is the acting chair and professor of sports communication at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Dickhaus – who teaches an “Ethics in Sports” course -- said that the firm should have been transparent with the university during the hiring process, but added that the University of Missouri likely didn’t know there was a potential conflict when they selected TurnKey.

The University stated in its release that the school is looking to continue building a “championship culture” after a banner year for Mizzou athletics highlighted by a Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State. 

“We’re seeking a leader who will support our coaches and student-athletes to achieve their championship goals,” University of Missouri President Mun Choi said in the release. “Our fans and supporters in Missouri and beyond deserve the very best from Mizzou Athletics.”

The 11 members of the search committee will include: 

• Bob Blitz, curator, and chair of the search committee
• Robin Wenneker, chair of the UM Board of Curators
• Todd Graves, curator
• Jeff Layman, curator
• Pam Bruzina, faculty athletics representative
• Ryan Rapp, executive vice president for Finance and Operations
• Mike Kampeter, civic leader
• Richard Miller, alumnus
• Don Walsworth, alumnus
• Mark Menghini, General Counsel (Ex-officio)
• Tim McIntosh, Human Resources (Ex-officio)

Dennis Gates is currently in his second season at MU. During his first year, he guided the Tigers to a 25-10 record and a second-round appearance in the NCAA tournament, the program's first since 2010. The Tigers have taken a step back this season, going 8-21 in their first 29 games.