Arizona poached Mizzou’s athletic director this week, bringing Desireé Reed-Francois over from the SEC in the midst of a financial mess (there was a $240M miscalculation recently, and this is not a situation where that number gets smaller in context). It’s a big hire for the Wildcats, mostly because of how unnatural it is. Arizona is in that financial mess. Mizzou is competitive in football within the best football conference in the country. But Reed-Francois got her law degree in Tucson, Arizona is closer than Columbia to her native California, and the pay is reportedly similar. Also? Maybe Arizona’s not in as bad of shape as we thought. Maybe that’s because of people like Reed-Francois.
When Jedd Fisch left Tucson last month, jumping to Big Ten life at Washington, the appearance was a bad one. Nearly within the week, Wildcats AD Dave Heeke was on his way out, a move primarily attributed to his role in creating the financial mess but also linked with the failure to extend Fisch. Heeke was still there to hire Brent Brennan to fill Fisch’s position, but the hiring felt like a sleepwalk, an automatic move. Brennan might work out, but Washington had made Arizona little brother, and that’s not a power distinction you’d expect to be self-evidently clear.
Weeks later, though, Arizona’s boosters appeared to step up, holding onto Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan despite presumed interest from Fisch in Seattle. Now, a month after the saga, Reed-Francois is coming home. With that move, something underrated in its importance is poking its head above the water:
As George Bailey famously learned, you’re never out of it if you’re loved.
Arizona is a harder AD job than Mizzou. You can spin it in a positive direction—the Wildcats should be one of the better teams in every big or medium-money Big 12 sport upon entry next fall, and Tucson will always be an easy destination for recruiting if the NIL money shows up—but it’s a tough gig. Arizona hasn’t been all that good at anything lately, men’s basketball a bridesmaid and the softball program firmly pushed off the throne by Oklahoma. The football program has finished a season ranked only two times in the last 25 years. And for as fun as trips to Allen Fieldhouse and visits from Houston will be, the only people who talk about college basketball as a calling card—*cough* Brett Yormark *cough*—are those who lack nationally competitive football. We love college basketball at this site. But in the market, relative to football? Basketball is closer to gymnastics than it is to the sport with shiny helmets.
Still, here’s Reed-Francois, riding in from Missouri with a promise to turn Arizona’s finances around and usher the school into its Big 12 era with gusto. Here’s Tommy Lloyd’s buyout jumping via extension while the Wildcats sweep the altitude trip and assert themselves as a 1-seed. There are Fifita and McMillan, preparing for spring practice. If no one’s got Arizona…maybe Arizona’s got Arizona.
The Pac-2 Hired a Commissioner
In other early-week news, Oregon State and Washington State have announced that deputy commissioner Teresa Gould has been promoted to commissioner.
I mostly have questions.
What does the Pac-2 commissioner do, once its conference championships are over in spring sports this May?
Did the Pac-2 need a commissioner, or did Gould see George Kliavkoff leaving and ask if she could have his office?
How much of this was Washington State and Oregon State wanting to make clear that Kliavkoff is no longer involved with their operation?
The Rest
College basketball:
- Yesterday, we offered three ways to beat UConn—two proven, one theoretical. We would describe what Creighton did as “playing clean basketball and making shots.” In other words, we didn’t learn anything that really changes the picture with UConn. A 19-point loss isn’t nothing, but the greater significance within the result was its reminder of something we probably should have thought about by now—Creighton has a very high single-game ceiling.
- Michigan State’s loss to Iowa was something, but probably doesn’t push them dangerously close to the bubble. It’s possible Sparty will miss the NCAA Tournament, but it still isn’t all that likely. Going the other direction, this doesn’t put Iowa back on the bubble, but it earns them a few more looks. Credit to the Hawkeyes for doing so much with Owen Freeman on the bench with foul trouble. That was only Ben Krikke’s third double-digit rebound game of the year. It mattered.
- Wake Forest blitzed Pitt, and keep an eye on the Deacs as the poster child for the debate over whether the NCAA Tournament should prioritize good teams or accomplished ones. Gonzaga embodies that divide to a greater degree, but Gonzaga has the name brand wrinkle Wake lacks, which probably would have sounded pretty wacky 25 years ago.
- Kentucky and Duke each have a dangerous road game tonight, visiting LSU and Miami, respectively. Colorado State’s in Albuquerque as the Mountain West circle of good basketball continues. Providence and Nebraska are each on the road (at Xavier, at Indiana), which is not something bubble teams generally want to be.
The NHL:
- Igor Shesterkin was a wall for the Rangers, Quinton Byfield did something dirty (in the good way) for the Kings.
- The Bruins play in Edmonton tonight. Believe that’s the big one.
Chicago:
- The Blackhawks host the Flyers in a couple hours. Big underdogs, so nothing unusual on that front.
No MLB expansion talk today (lot of open tabs right now), but we’re getting close on launching the full college basketball model, so for NIT fans interested in what led Salt Lake City to pass Portland in the eyes of Major League Baseball…Friday could be a big day for you all.
Anxiously awaiting Friday