AD PLAYED A ROLE IN DEAL WITH RAIDERS

cois said. “It sets the tone for the organization as to what’s tolerable and what’s not, and if you have abhorrent behavior, then this is what you can expect. So if anything, it helped accelerate our culture.”

Reed-francois also played a key role in negotiating a favorable joint-use agreement for the new Raiders football stadium, which is set to open in 2020. UNLV will play its home games at the stadium and will retain all revenue from luxury suite sales, as well as club level and non-premium seats.

UNLV’S on-field product also presented challenges. The men’s basketball team improved its record to 20-13 under second-year coach Marvin Menzies, but attendance lagged as the Runnin’ Rebels struggled to attract fans wary of investing in a long-term rebuild.

In 16 home games played at the Thomas & Mack Center, the Rebels drew an announced attendance of 169,929, which works out to an average of 10,621 people per game. That represented a steep decline from just five years ago, when the 2012-13 Rebels (the last UNLV team to make the NCAA tournament) drew 15,196 fans per game.

Reed-francois understands the importance of UNLV basketball to the health of the athletic department. Though final figures for the 2017-18 academic year are not available yet, men’s basketball revenue has historically accounted for more than 10 percent of UNLV’S total athletics budget, which means UNLV needs a healthy hoops program in order to thrive financially.

“We’re going to build a strong foundation,” she said. “I’m not interested in cutting corners. We’re going to graduate leaders. That starts with recruiting. We’ve got to recruit student-athletes who have the aptitude to be a championship player, but they also have to be good citizens and good students and do things the right way. The GPA we just had in men’s basketball, 3.4, is one of the best we’ve ever had. We’re on this upward trajectory, it just takes time to build a basketball program. It’s not going to happen overnight. Marvin is going into Year 3, we’ve increased the win total, we’ve increased the GPA, he’s bringing in good citizens. I also understand we’ve got a revenue responsibility. We’ve got a championship past and wins matter. I get it. No one wants to win more than me.”

One of Reed-francois’s first moves last year was to survey current and former basketball season-ticket holders in an effort to produce a better gameday experience. She said the results were illuminating, with the most common responses asking for more variety in ticket-pricing options, tailgates for home games at the Thomas & Mack Center and more high-quality opponents on the non-conference schedule.

Reed-francois said UNLV basketball is committed to being better across the board, especially in the scheduling department.

“We’re cognizant that the schedule needs to improve, and we’re making some strides,” she said. “I like to schedule about four years out. We’ve got a couple series coming that I think will be appealing.”

Last week, it was reported that UNLV and Cincinnati have agreed to a home-andhome series beginning with the upcoming 2018-19 season.

Reed-francois’ second year figures to be just as busy as her first. She’ll welcome in a new university president, oversee construction on the football program’s Fertitta Football Complex (set to open in the fall of 2019), and continue toward her “Drive for 5” goal of doubling the number of Rebel Athletic Fund annual donors to 5,000.

“I’m really proud of the 3.0 (GPA for student-athletes),” she said. “We’ve had two consecutive semesters of 3.0, we’ve raised money and we’ve broken ground on buildings, we’ve signed the joint-use agreement and all that, but really it comes down to the culture and people, and people buying into our team. We’re going to work hard to make this an athletic department that makes the community proud.”