26 Days Desireé Reed-Francois
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 9:08 am
We have a new coach and are playing in a new conference, so you might as well throw in a new athletic director. She will have very little effect on the on-field product, but Reed-Francois will have a major impact on the game day experience and the current and future finances of the football program.
Right now she is all positive press reports and promise. In 26 days we will start to see some of the changes she has planned to improve the fan experience at football games. Keep in mind that "improved game day experience" is athletic director code for increasing game day revenue by either increasing attendance and/or increasing the revenue generated from each fan.
On the finance side she certainly seemed to have a positive impact on booster engagement, but that is difficult to actually gauge since it is heavily dependent personal relationships. Reed-Francois and all of the ADs will have their hands full with the new world of NIL. She's young, aggressive and has been very successful at her last 2 stops, UNLV and Missouri, in improving their financial situations, so we should be optimistic for what she can do at Arizona.
Arizona QBs were sacked 26 times last year for a loss of 169 yards. That would have put them in the bottom half of the Big12 where West Virginia led by only giving up 10 sacks 63 yards.