UNLV Rebels

UNLV hires Reed-Francois to lead athletics department

Published Apr. 17, 2017 1:19 p.m. ET

LAS VEGAS (AP) UNLV has hired Desiree Reed-Francois as its next athletic director, making her the first Hispanic female AD at the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Reed-Francois' hiring, announced Monday, will be effective June 1. She replaces Tina Kunzer-Murphy, who is stepping down at the end of the academic school year to work for the UNLV Foundation.

The 45-year-old Reed-Francois has been the deputy athletic director at Virginia Tech since 2014 and was the interim athletic director at Cincinnati for five months earlier that year. She spent two years as senior associate athletic director at Cincinnati and has a nearly two-decade sports administration career with stops in Tennessee, Fresno State, Santa Clara, San Jose State, California and San Francisco.

Reed-Francois was a rower while attending UCLA.