Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch announced as next Missouri AD
Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch is leaving to become the next athletic director at Missouri, two sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Commercial Appeal.
Missouri officially announced Veatch's hiring on Tuesday morning.
Veatch joined Memphis as its athletic director in October 2019. He came to the Bluff City from Florida, where he served as executive associate athletics director for internal affairs. He has history in Columbia, Missouri, over two different stints in jobs associated with the school, including three years as the assistant athletics director for development (2000-02).
He'll replace Desiree Reed-Francois, who left Missouri for the athletic director job at Arizona in February. Veatch was a reported candidate when Missouri initially hired Reed-Francois in 2021.
University of Memphis president Bill Hardgrave announced Tuesday that senior deputy athletic director Jeff Crane will serve as interim athletic director "as we explore our options in the coming weeks."
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"I want to thank Laird Veatch for his leadership, vision and dedication to the University of Memphis and our student-athletes. It has been a pleasure to work alongside him, and we wish him the best," Hardgrave said in a statement shared on social media. "Tiger Nation, as you are aware, we have tremendous momentum within our university and athletic department. You can rest assured we will maintain that positive trajectory through this leadership transition. This position deserves the best and brightest leadership talent in college athletics. Our next leader will share the vision of where we are heading as we continue to build our promising future in Tiger athletics."
Veatch served as AD at Memphis during a turbulent time for college athletics. He had to shepherd the Tigers' program through an IARP investigation into the men's basketball program, new NIL laws and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Kansas State football captain also made a number of coaching hires, most notably football coach Ryan Silverfield just a couple months after he started the job at Memphis.
The next Memphis AD will have plenty on his or her plate. The university recently finalized a deal to take ownership of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium and plans to begin a $220 million renovation soon.
FedEx also announced a landmark $25 million NIL partnership with Memphis on Friday. It became Veatch's last act as athletic director.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis AD Laird Veatch is leaving for Missouri
