Four Women Who Have Been Appointed Athletic Directors at Colleges and Universities

Desiree Reed-Francois was appointed director of intercollegiate athletics at the University of Missouri. She will be the first woman to hold the position and the first woman athletics director at a public institution in the Southeastern Conference. Since 2017, she has been serving as athletics director at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Earlier, Reed-Francois served as the deputy athletics director at Virginia Tech and as a senior associate athletics director at the University of Cincinnati.

Reed-Francois earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a juris doctorate from the University of Arizona College of Law.

Alecia Shields-Gadson was promoted to director of athletics at Delaware State University. She joined the Delaware State staff as senior associate director of athletics for compliance and senior woman administrator in 2016. In 2020, she was named deputy athletics director. Prior to joining the Delaware State staff, she was an athletics administrator at Coppin State University in Baltimore.

Shields-Gadson, a  native of New Orleans, earned a bachelor’s degree in English and communications from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a master’s degree in athletic administration and secondary education/physical education from Alcorn State in Mississippi. Currently, she is enrolled in the doctoral program in educational leadership at Delaware State University.

Jacquelyn Jeanne “JJ” Antoine has been named as the director of athletics for Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Since 2018, she has been serving as the assistant director of athletics and senior women’s administrator at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Antoine earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree in physical education, with a concentration in athletic administration from Springfield College in Massachusetts.

Tammy A. Bagby was appointed director of athletics at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. She has been serving as head coach of the women’s basketball program at the university.

Bagby, who played professional basketball in Europe, is a graduate of Langston University in Oklahoma, where she majored in early childhood education. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from West Chester University in Pennsylvania.