COLUMBIA, Mo. — The search for Missouri’s next athletics director has taken its first concrete steps forward.
The University of Missouri has hired Turnkey ZRG, an executive search firm, to aid in finding a new top administrator for the school’s athletics department and named an 11-member search committee to lead the process.
Heading the committee is Bob Blitz, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ attorney and member of the UM System Board of Curators. He is also the chair of the board’s Mizzou Intercollegiate Athletics Special Committee, a newly created group to oversee and monitor the MU athletics department.
Also representing the curators are Robin Wenneker, the Board of Curators chair, Todd Graves, a curator and former federal prosecutor, and Jeff Layman, a curator and former finance chairman of the Missouri Republican Party.
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Mark Menghini, the UM System’s General Counsel, and Tim McIntosh from its human resources department will be ex-officio committee members. Pam Bruzina, Mizzou’s faculty athletics representative and Ryan Rapp, the UM System’s top fiscal officer, round out the university-affiliated members.
Three prominent alumni donors, Mike Kampeter, Richard Miller and Don Walsworth, will also sit on the committee. Kampeter is the president of Diamond Pet Company, Walsworth is a former Board of Curators chair and the CEO of the Walsworth publishing company, and Miller is the CEO of Mpix.
Seven members of the new search committee were part of the last such group, which hired Desiree Reed-Francois in 2021: Bruzina, Rapp, Layman, Graves, Kampeter, Miller and Walsworth.
The search committee has two women and does not appear to have any people of color participating.
As for the search firm hire, Mizzou has not worked with Turnkey ZRG before, having used Parker Executive Search for the hiring of Reed-Francois and some of its coaches.
The terms of MU’s agreement with Turnkey ZRG were not immediately available.
Turnkey ZRG to executive searches that uses data to score candidates on a variety of factors to provide clients with a digestible ranking for their ultimate decision. The firm is based in New Jersey.
Current postings for college sports administration positions show Turnkey ZRG has also been hired by the likes of Iowa, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Miami and the NCAA.
Though she is not expected to be involved with the MU search, Jocelyn Gates, the wife of Mizzou men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates, is a college and coaching-focused vice president for Turnkey ZRG.
At Saturday’s men’s basketball game, both UM System President Mun Choi and Wenneker declined to answer questions about the search for a new athletics director and Reed-Francois’ departure.
Reed-Francois left the university two weeks ago. While MU’s initial statement following her exit said the AD search would begin immediately, it now appears likely to continue through a significant portion of March.
The Board of Curators’ special committee focused on oversight of the Mizzou athletics department met for the first time last week, voting immediately after roll call to move into executive session out of the public eye.
Questions remain regarding how that committee will function and to what extent it will monitor athletics department operations. A document proposing its creation suggested that “accountability to the Board and the State through this new committee is more important than ever,†which further creates questions around how job candidates will view such a step from university leadership.
What will happen with Reed-Francois’ contract buyout is also up in the air, given that Arizona, her new employer, has asked her to find a way to reduce or eliminate any money owed to MU — though it would be up to Missouri as to whether it grants that request, should it arrive.