MU Extends Athletic Director’s Contract
The University of Missouri Board of Curators unanimously voted to approved a one-year extension for Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francios which extends her contract through June 30th, 2028.
Reed-Francois oversaw an MU Athletics Department which implemented the enhancement and expansion of an in-house ticket sales team with a focus on group and student-ticket sales, a reintroduction of block seating at football games, and revamping the gameday and in-game experiences at football and men’s basketball games.
The Missouri Men’s basketball average attendance rose 62.6% in 2022-23 and football’s 17% growth topped the Southeastern Conference. A record number of 9,000-plus student all-sport passes were sold, which led to a 37% increase in student attendance.
Academically, the Tigers’ student-athletes posted a record GPA in Fall 2021 and recently surpassed it with a 3.32 GPA in Fall 2022. Nine sports programs recorded their highest-ever GPAs in the fall semester. Mizzou increased its graduation success rate to 86, with 10 programs showing growth in the NCAA metric and four – women’s golf, gymnastics, women’s swimming and diving, and tennis – posting perfect scores.
