Missouri Athletics hired former Louisiana athletic director Bryan Maggard as its new deputy athletic director and chief operating officer on Tuesday. It is a homecoming. Maggard spent 22 years at Mizzou before leaving for Louisiana in 2017, and he returns bundled with the retirement of longtime deputy AD Marcy Girton and six internal promotions across the department.
The homecoming plays as a win for Columbia. In Lafayette, Maggard leaves behind an athletic department still facing a criminal investigation into misappropriated funds, with an interim director in his old chair and no permanent successor named.
Mizzou Lures Louisiana’s Athletic Director Home
Maggard will serve as Missouri’s Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing internal administrative operations and acting as the sport administrator for men’s basketball. He spent 22 years at Mizzou before departing, most recently as Executive Associate Athletics Director, and Missouri’s own athletics department says he played a key role in the school’s move into the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
At Louisiana, where he served as athletic director since 2017 and added the title of vice president for intercollegiate athletics in 2021, Maggard’s department won 20 Sun Belt Conference championships and made 23 NCAA postseason appearances over nine years. In the 2021-22 school year, Louisiana became the only program in the country to win conference titles in football, softball and baseball while also winning a bowl game in the same calendar year.
The fundraising numbers matched the winning. Under Maggard, Louisiana generated a record $30 million in donations, including the largest single gift in department history at $15 million. He also chaired the Sun Belt Conference’s group of athletic directors, co-chaired the league’s expansion committee and sat on the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee. In March, the College Football Playoff named Maggard to its 13-person selection committee for a three-year term running through the 2028 season.
Maggard’s hiring record in Lafayette became its own case study in program building. Among his marquee hires:
- Billy Napier, football, who led the Cajuns to a Sun Belt championship before departing
- Matt Deggs, baseball
- Alyson Habetz, softball
- Quannas White, men’s basketball
- Michael Desormeaux, football, promoted after Napier’s exit
“Bryan’s extensive leadership experience, proven record of building championship-caliber athletics departments and deep understanding of Mizzou make him an outstanding addition to our Senior Leadership Team,” Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch said in a press release. “Bryan embraces our vision and knows what it takes to compete for championships. We’re incredibly excited to welcome Bryan, his wife Kerry and their family back to Columbia.”
Maggard framed the move as both professional and personal. “Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics, the University, and Lafayette, Louisiana will forever hold a special place in Kerry and my hearts,” he said in Louisiana’s own announcement, adding that the birth of a granddaughter and the chance to move closer to family made the timing right.
The Department He Leaves Faces a Live Criminal Probe
The exit is not a clean one for Louisiana. A Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s report released in mid-June flagged roughly $77,000 in misappropriated or unauthorized funds across three separate incidents inside the athletic department, including nearly $6,000 in falsified football recruiting expenses. A recruiter allegedly told vendors to mislabel prohibited purchases, such as food and alcohol, as allowable charges, and a supervisor approved the paperwork. The recruiter has since resigned.
That supervisor was Troy Wingerter, the department’s longtime associate athletic director, who was forced to retire after more than 40 years with the program. Wingerter has said no one personally benefited from the questioned spending and has attributed the problems to gaps in training and oversight rather than intentional theft.
The audit also found the university failed to promptly notify state auditors and the district attorney’s office of two other incidents, as state law requires, including $70,245 in unauthorized activity across two university bank accounts. The bank reimbursed the university for that loss. None of the reporting identifies Maggard personally as a subject of the criminal probe, but it opened on his watch and remains active as he leaves for Missouri.
The 15th Judicial District Attorney’s office, led by Don Landry, confirmed it opened a criminal investigation into the recruiting-expense allegations. “The case has been assigned to me, and it is under investigation so I cannot comment,” First Assistant District Attorney Fritz Welter told the Lafayette outlet The Current.
The timeline shows how tightly the scandal and the departure now overlap:
- Jan. 20, 2026: The recruiter at the center of the case resigns from Louisiana’s athletic department.
- June 15, 2026: The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office releases its report, flagging about $77,000 in misappropriated or unauthorized funds.
- Early July 2026: The 15th Judicial District Attorney’s office confirms it has opened a criminal investigation into the recruiting-expense allegations.
- July 21, 2026: Missouri announces Maggard’s hire as deputy athletic director, with the investigation still open and a new interim director already in place in Lafayette.
Girton Retires After 43 Years in the Business
Maggard’s arrival fills a chair Marcy Girton is vacating. Girton, Missouri’s deputy athletic director, chief operating officer and senior woman administrator, will retire in mid-August after more than four decades in collegiate athletics, including just over three years at Mizzou.
Girton joined the department in 2023 and helped guide it through Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) compensation and revenue-sharing changes that have reshaped how schools pay athletes. She served as sport administrator for football and softball, and in 2024 she stepped in as interim athletic director during Missouri’s search for a permanent replacement following Desiree Reed-Francois’ sudden departure, a search that ended with Veatch’s hiring.
“I am so appreciative of the incredible opportunity to have spent 43 years in collegiate athletics,” Girton said in a press release announcing her retirement. “The greatest joy of this journey has been the privilege of working alongside outstanding student-athletes, coaches and staff who continually strive for excellence. I am especially thankful to conclude my career as a Missouri Tiger.”
Six Promotions Reshape Mizzou’s Org Chart
Girton’s departure also triggers a structural change. Missouri will launch a national search for a newly created third deputy athletic director position, the Deputy Athletics Director/Chief of Olympic Sport Leadership, who will work with head coaches across the Tigers’ non-revenue programs on recruiting, scheduling and budgeting strategy. Whoever fills it will also become the department’s senior woman administrator (SWA), a role NCAA governance expects each athletic department to designate so a senior woman has a voice in departmental decisions.
Alongside the search, six staffers were promoted into an expanded senior leadership structure:
| Name | New Title | Portfolio Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Gruenwald | Executive Athletics Director, Senior Counsel for Athletics | Legal affairs and compliance |
| Michael Schroeder | Executive Athletics Director, Chief Brand Officer | Brand and marketing strategy |
| Dave Matter | Senior Associate Athletics Director, Strategic Communications and Creative Media | Communications and creative content |
| Katie Martinez | Associate Athletics Director, Olympic Sport Leadership | Olympic sports support |
| Connor Jordan | Associate Athletics Director, Strategic Revenues | Revenue generation |
| Josh Moore | Associate Athletics Director, Marketing and Fan Experience | Fan engagement |
“As college athletics continues to evolve, we’re intentionally strengthening our sport leadership structure to better support our coaches and student-athletes,” Veatch said. “Investing in sport leadership is another important step in building an organizational structure that positions Mizzou Athletics for sustained excellence.”
Clemson, Notre Dame and Missouri Are Building the Same Org Chart
Missouri’s new titles, a chief operating officer, a chief brand officer, senior counsel for athletics, echo a pattern showing up across the sport. Professional services firm PwC has tracked the shift directly, writing that college sports programs are now hiring professionals for roles typically associated with professional leagues, from general managers to chief revenue officers.
Executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates has pointed to Clemson’s internal commercial arm, Clemson Ventures, and to Notre Dame and South Carolina restructuring their front offices around business and legal expertise. The firm argues athletic departments now require counsel who can manage complex contracts, collective agreements and regulatory ambiguity, precisely the case Missouri is making by elevating Gruenwald into a dedicated senior counsel role.
The driver is money. Revenue sharing with athletes, born out of the House v. NCAA settlement, has turned athletic departments into operations that need finance, legal and brand functions built like a business rather than a booster club. Missouri’s reshuffle is a small, specific data point in that larger shift, not an isolated org chart tweak.
What Happens to Louisiana’s Athletic Department Now?
Louisiana has named Trey Frazier, a deputy athletics director and executive director of the Ragin’ Cajuns Athletic Foundation, as interim athletics director. A national search for the next vice president for intercollegiate athletics is expected to begin in the coming months, university officials said, while the criminal investigation into department finances remains open.
Louisiana is not the only program in the state juggling athletic-department turbulence this year. Its flagship counterpart, LSU, spent part of the year dealing with the governor’s intervention in its football coaching search, a reminder that both of the state’s major athletic departments have had their leadership authority tested in the same year.
For Frazier and whoever eventually takes the permanent job, the challenge is inheriting a program with real momentum, Sun Belt titles, CFP-ranked seasons, a record fundraising run, while answering for a financial mess that predates them. The DA’s office has not said when its investigation will conclude.
