New Memphis AD says school is 'ready' to move if another conference sends invitation

New Univ. of Memphis AD Ed Scott said the school would “be ‘ready if an invitation comes’ to another conference,” according to Jonah Dylan of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. During his introductory press conference on Friday, he spoke broadly about Memphis' place in the conference realignment picture and said that he would “love to compete against his former colleagues in the ACC.” Scott said, "There's really two options that everybody knows about: The Big 12 and the ACC.” He added, "I think the Big 12 is pretty firm with their membership right now. I'm coming from the ACC, there's some lawsuits pending the last time I heard. So I don't know what's going to happen there. But I can tell you my job is to position us to be ready if something were to happen in one of those two conferences. I think we fit well in both." Scott indicated that he believes Memphis “would be competitive in both conferences with football and men's basketball,” but noted that the ACC might be the “best conference for Olympic sports now that the Pac-12 is no longer” (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 6/28).

NAVIGATING CHALLENGES: In Memphis, Omer Yusuf noted Scott is Memphis’ first Black AD and is set to begin his new role on July 22. He was chosen after the Memphis “created a six-person search advisory committee” to help President Bill Hardgrave in the hunt for an AD, along with national firm Parker Executive Search. Hardgrave said, “What we needed to find was for our next AD [to be] somebody who wanted to be at the University of Memphis, not for who we are or who we've been, but for who we could be.” Yusuf noted one of Scott’s initial tasks in the short- and medium term his how the House v. NCAA settlement “could impact potential revenue sharing for Power Five conferences as well as schools in the Group of Five, such as Memphis.” He also knows that raising another $27M for the renovations to football’s Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium is “another challenge” to unlock the $50M match from the Fred Smith family. The total $220M renovations at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium are “expected to be completed in time for the 2026 football season” (MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/28).