UNLV AD Desiree Reed-Francois reportedly in line for UCLA job

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Miranda Alam / Special to the Sun

UNLV Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois talks about the search for a new football head coach at the Fertitta Football Complex at UNLV in Las Vegas on Monday, Nov. 25, 2019.

Fri, May 8, 2020 (10:06 a.m.)

The UNLV athletic department has been in a state of semi-constant turmoil for most of the past decade, with coaches, athletic directors and administrators shuttling in and out on a seemingly yearly basis. Now the San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Desiree Reed-Francois could be leaving the school to become the next athletic director at UCLA.

Reed-Francois is “near the top of the [UCLA] search committee’s wish list, if not the preferred candidate,” according to Jon Wilner of the Mercury News. Wilner reports that the hire could be finalized soon and that an announcement could be made next week.

Reed-Francois was hired as UNLV’s athletic director in the summer of 2017 after serving the previous three years as deputy AD at Virginia Tech. During her time at UNLV she has fired basketball coach Marvin Menzies and football coach Tony Sanchez and replaced them with T.J. Otzelberger and Marcus Arroyo, respectively. She also revamped the corporate structure of the athletic department and negotiated a 10-year broadcasting rights deal with Learfield.

It’s no surprise that Reed-Francois would emerge as a leading candidate for a Power 5 job; she’s young and highly organized and her résumé is impressive. The only blemish from her time at UNLV appears to be a joint-use agreement with the Las Vegas Raiders that looks like it will leave the Rebels with the short end of the stick when it comes to using Allegiant Stadium, but a portion of that blame can be placed on the previous administration for poor negotiations.

Reed-Francois is a Bay Area native who earned her undergraduate degree at UCLA while competing as a member of the Bruins' rowing team.

Reed-Francois did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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