Sunday Sit-down with St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Eli Hoff
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones brought on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Eli Hoff in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down.
The two talked about the ongoing search for a new MU athletic director, after former AD Desiree Reed-Francois left for the same job at the University of Arizona, on Monday.
"I was entirely surprised. I think everybody outside the athletics department looking in was surprised. I think everybody inside the athletics department, too, there's a lot of surprise there, as well," Hoff said. "Not a departure that we would have expected at all and not a destination that you would have expected It's hard to sell this as an upward move for her. I think it's lateral, at best."
Hoff noted that the hole that Reed-Francois left in the department will be a big one to fill, as she led the charge on many projects for Mizzou, including the construction of the new indoor practice facility for football, upgrades to Mizzou Arena and expected changes to the north end zone at Faurot Field.
The athletic department is still in the process of looking for a new leader. Hoff said that person will need to be comfortable working with another person's hires and, possibly, picking up their vision for the department and running with it.
"I don't know if that's an easy sell," Hoff said. "Maybe there's athletic directors who'd rather come in and try to do a total reset, that's what Desiree Reed-Francois came in and did at Mizzou. It's gonna be a challenge there. It's also a challenge of working with the Board of Curators. Obviously, they're looking for a candidate who they can feel like they have faith in and feel like will work with them, so that'll be a factor."
In addition to the search for a new athletic director, Mizzou football is also starting up spring camp. Jones and Hoff detailed the main storylines for the Tigers heading into 2024, as well.
You can watch their full conversation on ABC 17 SportsZone at 9:30 on Fox 22 and 10:30 on ABC 17.
