Missouri is hiring UNLV athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois to be its next AD.
A person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press the school is expected to make the move official soon. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement was being finalized.
Reed-Francois, who has been AD at UNLV since 2017, will replace Jim Sterk, who stepped down two weeks ago.
She will become the second woman hired as an athletic director in the Southeastern Conference and the first at one of the league’s 13 public schools. Candice Storey Lee was named AD at Vanderbilt, the SEC’s lone private school, last year.
Reed-Francois previously worked at Virginia Tech, where she oversaw day-to-day operations of the football program and at Tennessee, where she was the first woman to be the lead administrator of an SEC men’s basketball program.
During her time at UNLV, the school opened a $35 million football complex and negotiated a deal to for the Rebels’ football program to play its home games at Allegiant Stadium, new home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The former rower at UCLA has also worked at Cincinnati, Fresno State, San Jose State and California.
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