Fresno State Athletics
Reed-Francois Named Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Student Services
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Sept. 4, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - Desiree Reed-Francois, who for the last year has been the Associate Athletics Director at Santa Clara University, was named Fresno State's Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Student Services, Athletics Director Scott Johnson announced today.
Reed-Francois begins her duties at Fresno State later this month.
"We are thrilled to get a person of Desiree's abilities," said Johnson. "She will be a great addition to our department. She brings valuable hands-on experience in compliance and academic services. Her legal background is an added bonus. With our recent NCAA allegations, the compliance area is one we are looking to strengthen. Desiree will lead our compliance and compliance education efforts, while strengthening our student-athlete services."
While at Santa Clara, Reed-Francois was responsible for the administration of compliance, student services, legal affairs, the Athletics Advisory Board, and she supervised three sports. She oversaw the Academic Affairs division, which produced an NCAA Top Eight Award winner, and worked to develop appeal hearing procedures, a gender equity plan and an academic resource policy. She is scheduled to teach Sports Law for the Santa Clara University Law School next spring in addition to having taught at the Lincoln Law School. Reed-Francois developed staff seminars, and assisted with the Stanford University Sports Law Summit.
"I'm excited to join a tradition-rich institution like Fresno State," said Reed-Francois. "I'm excited about this opportunity. I want to be a part of Fresno State's quest for academic and athletic excellence. I'm looking forward to working with the outstanding coaches, staff members and Bulldog student-athletes."
Before joining the Santa Clara staff, Reed-Francois was the director of compliance at San Jose State from 1999-02, where she was responsible for providing NCAA rules interpretation and guidance, plus establishing procedures for monitoring financial aid, recruiting, eligibility and amateurism. She implemented a comprehensive rules education plan for the coaches, staff and student-athletes. She drafted and created procedures including appeal hearing procedures, exit interview policies, a compliance manual, a drug testing and counseling policy and a camp and clinic rules manual. She assisted in a variety of athletics department functions, including the Silicon Valley Football Classic and the 1999 and 2000 NCAA College Cups.
Reed-Francois worked as a litigation attorney for two years from1998-99. Before that, she was a compliance assistant at the University of California at Berkeley for one year and spent a year as a legal associate for the National Football League's Management Council. In 1995, she was a legal associate for the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, handling collective bargaining grievances during the club's relocation.
A 1994 graduate of UCLA, she was a member of the Bruins' rowing team. She earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona in 1997.
Reed-Francois is a member of the Stanford University Sports Law Symposium Committee, the NCAA Committee on Initial Eligibility and the State Bar of California Committee on Ethnic Minorities. She has been a guest speaker at several Bay Area universities, including the Stanford Law School.
Her husband, Joshua, is the Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing at San Jose State.