Former UT administrator Desiree Reed-Francois starts job at Cincinnati

Former Tennessee senior associate athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois has been named senior associate AD and senior women’s administrator at Cincinnati.

Her first day at Cincinnati was Monday, according to a university release.

Reed-Francois’ job at UT was eliminated May 1, 2012, as part of a restructuring initiated by new athletic director Dave Hart. Reed-Francois, who made $111,211 at UT, was the highest-paid of the 15 athletic department employees who were laid off.

Reed-Francois is a graduate of UCLA and the University of Arizona College of Law. She worked previously at San Jose State, Santa Clara, Fresno State and the University of San Francisco.

At UT, Reed-Francois was the sports administrator for men’s basketball and the swimming and diving program during a tumultuous time for both programs. Men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl was suspended and eventually fired in March of 2011 for NCAA infractions. Longtime swimming coach John Trembley was fired in January of 2012 after officials found inappropriate emails on his computer. Trembley was not charged with any crime.

Reed-Francois was also part of the search team that hired new men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin.

Cincinnati said her responsibilities would include oversight of the women’s basketball and volleyball programs in addition to the sports communications and media relations department.

Evan Woodbery covers Tennessee athletics. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/TennesseeBeat.