Update: Monday, Aug. 8 – 8:15 p.m. ET
San Diego State has confirmed that Jim Sterk is leaving the university to accept the athletic director job at Missouri. Sterk’s first day at Missouri will be Sept. 1.
In a statement, SDSU president Elliot Hirshman thanked Sterk for his time with the university and appointed Jenny Bramer to the role as interim AD.
“Jim has made extraordinary contributions to the success of SDSU’s athletics teams,” Hirshman said. “I am grateful to Jim and his family for their service to the university community and wish them great success in their new endeavor.”
Original story: Monday, Aug. 8 – 4:30 p.m. ET
Missouri has apparently found its new athletic director.
According to multiple reports, the Tigers have identified San Diego State’s Jim Sterk as the man to fill the vacancy left when Mack Rhoades left Mizzou for Baylor in July. The news was first reported by MissouriNet and has yet to be confirmed by the university.
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Sterk has been leading San Diego State’s athletic department since 2010. Before that, he served as athletic director at Washington State (2000-2010) and Portland State (1995-2000). He has also worked in collegiate athletics at Tulane, Seattle Pacific, Maine and North Carolina.
SDSU programs have seen success in an array of sports, including 32 conference titles (28 in the Mountain West) since 2012-13, under Sterk. Sterk was recently named a National Association of College Directors of Athletics’ Athletic Director of the Year. He also serves as a member of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee.
Sterk, 60, is a native of Nooksack, Washington. If the hire comes to fruition (the UM Board of Curators has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening), he replaces Rhoades, who left Columbia after only a year on the job. That year was a rather eventful one as he faced a boycott from the Tigers football team in support of a student who was on a hunger strike amid protests on campus.
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Longtime Mizzou football coach Gary Pinkel also resigned during Rhoades’ tenure after revealing a cancer diagnosis. Rhoades hired defensive coordinator Barry Odom to fill Pinkel’s position.
Rhoades also faced a protest from the Mizzou softball team amid allegations of mistreatment against softball coach Ehren Earleywine. A Title IX investigation into Earleywine was recently completed and concluded that Earleywine did not violate any Title IX laws.
For more Missouri news, visit PowerMizzou.com.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
