Ahead of Mizzou Football’s opener on Thursday night, Director of Athletics Desiree Reed Francois was in Kansas City on Tuesday to open the weekly Tiger Club luncheons.
A crowd of nearly 100 Tiger fans enjoyed our annual visit from the Mizzou Athletics Director and three other guests from Columbia (Susan McNay -- KCTC’s erstwhile liaison with the Athletic Department -- Alyssa Blair and Loretta Jones). Desiree shared a 3-minute hype video from Mizzou’s Creative team and made some opening remarks before taking questions from Club members, who had just finished a buffet of Kansas City’s finest hamburgers from the Westport Flea Market Bar & Grill.
About Conference Realignment and football breaking away
Glad that we are in the SEC. Will always keep up-to-date on the changing landscape of the College Football scene, but Desiree didn’t offer any prognostications about what the future may hold here.
About the search for head baseball coach Kerrick Jackson
Like a coach is always recruiting, an AD must always have her or his eye on coaching talent. Had watched what Blair DeBord (new head of TSF) and Kerrick had done at Memphis and was impressed. Also leaned heavily on the opinion of Ian Kinsler, who helped out as a member of the search committee.
Are our facilities behind in some sports?
Absolutely. Master planning is in place that will help raise our facilities in sports such as tennis, track & field, soccer, etc.
2024 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships in KC
Would really like for everything to align this year for Coach Smith and wrestling. Says he is the epitome of the type of coach she wants at Mizzou, and would really like to see him win a ‘ship in KC.
NIL
An ever-evolving landscape in college football. Praised Rep. Kurtis Gregory for his help on the new bill that gives Coach Drinkwitz a competitive advantage. As far as tax-deductible contributions to Every True Tiger Fund and straight to NIL, Desiree says she is more like a "recovering attorney" and not a "real attorney" any more, so best to check with a tax attorney on these matters.
Top issues on fan surveys for Football
Apologized for inundating fans with surveys (but really sorry-not-sorry). She is analytics-driven and they read every survey. Top 2 issues on the surveys were food quality and food cost. Wi-Fi was in the top as well. Short term, looking at bringing in a portable DAS system (distributed antenna system) to try and help this year. Also looking in the future for various solutions, including looking into what it would cost to put fiber underneath the stadium.
North End Zone
Would you like to see a beer garden? “First, let me be clear. I don’t know if anyone here is on PowerMizzou. My husband is on PowerMizzou. I am not going to touch the M or the grass. I love that, and I think it is so special.” Says there are 8th graders on the hill, and high schoolers. Those are future Tigers. “We are not taking that away. I love seeing that energy.” For the rest of the NEZ, they are looking at it. What do we need to do to it? She doesn’t yet have an answer. Says the AD started something last year called “How Can I Help You?” Staff members wear orange shirts and hold signs, walking around in assigned sections at games, including the parking lot. They are asking about the fan journey, and that will be another data point in helping determine what comes next.
She likes helicopters for recruiting and fly-overs for games
If you have a copter to donate for recruiting, reach out. If you have contacts for a fly-over, let her know.
Transfer rules
“That’s another reason why it is so important that you hire coaches that genuinely care about building culture and building connectivity.” Any time you have massive change, there are going to be bumps on the road. It will normalize. We’ll get through it.
Can we have more ticket takers at the most highly attended games?
Really engaged the audience in what gates are the worst. Said that they are trying to set it up so that the Mizzou app can tell you that there is not as much congestion at a certain gate.
A crowd of nearly 100 Tiger fans enjoyed our annual visit from the Mizzou Athletics Director and three other guests from Columbia (Susan McNay -- KCTC’s erstwhile liaison with the Athletic Department -- Alyssa Blair and Loretta Jones). Desiree shared a 3-minute hype video from Mizzou’s Creative team and made some opening remarks before taking questions from Club members, who had just finished a buffet of Kansas City’s finest hamburgers from the Westport Flea Market Bar & Grill.
About Conference Realignment and football breaking away
Glad that we are in the SEC. Will always keep up-to-date on the changing landscape of the College Football scene, but Desiree didn’t offer any prognostications about what the future may hold here.
About the search for head baseball coach Kerrick Jackson
Like a coach is always recruiting, an AD must always have her or his eye on coaching talent. Had watched what Blair DeBord (new head of TSF) and Kerrick had done at Memphis and was impressed. Also leaned heavily on the opinion of Ian Kinsler, who helped out as a member of the search committee.
Are our facilities behind in some sports?
Absolutely. Master planning is in place that will help raise our facilities in sports such as tennis, track & field, soccer, etc.
2024 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships in KC
Would really like for everything to align this year for Coach Smith and wrestling. Says he is the epitome of the type of coach she wants at Mizzou, and would really like to see him win a ‘ship in KC.
NIL
An ever-evolving landscape in college football. Praised Rep. Kurtis Gregory for his help on the new bill that gives Coach Drinkwitz a competitive advantage. As far as tax-deductible contributions to Every True Tiger Fund and straight to NIL, Desiree says she is more like a "recovering attorney" and not a "real attorney" any more, so best to check with a tax attorney on these matters.
Top issues on fan surveys for Football
Apologized for inundating fans with surveys (but really sorry-not-sorry). She is analytics-driven and they read every survey. Top 2 issues on the surveys were food quality and food cost. Wi-Fi was in the top as well. Short term, looking at bringing in a portable DAS system (distributed antenna system) to try and help this year. Also looking in the future for various solutions, including looking into what it would cost to put fiber underneath the stadium.
North End Zone
Would you like to see a beer garden? “First, let me be clear. I don’t know if anyone here is on PowerMizzou. My husband is on PowerMizzou. I am not going to touch the M or the grass. I love that, and I think it is so special.” Says there are 8th graders on the hill, and high schoolers. Those are future Tigers. “We are not taking that away. I love seeing that energy.” For the rest of the NEZ, they are looking at it. What do we need to do to it? She doesn’t yet have an answer. Says the AD started something last year called “How Can I Help You?” Staff members wear orange shirts and hold signs, walking around in assigned sections at games, including the parking lot. They are asking about the fan journey, and that will be another data point in helping determine what comes next.
She likes helicopters for recruiting and fly-overs for games
If you have a copter to donate for recruiting, reach out. If you have contacts for a fly-over, let her know.
Transfer rules
“That’s another reason why it is so important that you hire coaches that genuinely care about building culture and building connectivity.” Any time you have massive change, there are going to be bumps on the road. It will normalize. We’ll get through it.
Can we have more ticket takers at the most highly attended games?
Really engaged the audience in what gates are the worst. Said that they are trying to set it up so that the Mizzou app can tell you that there is not as much congestion at a certain gate.
