Sources: Mizzou finalizing deal with Veatch for AD
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Missouri is finalizing a five-year contract with Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch to be the school’s next athletic director, sources told ESPN.
An announcement of the deal is expected soon, according to sources.
Veatch has been at Memphis since October 2019 and brings SEC experience from his time at Florida from 2017 through 2019, when he was an executive associate athletic director.
Veatch had a strong tenure at Memphis and leaves the school with a flurry of recent accomplishment that includes a 10-win football season in 2023. Also, in recent days, the athletic department received a pledge from FedEx of $25 million over the next five years, which is expected to be a boon for the school’s NIL efforts.
Memphis also announced a three-phase Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium overhaul that’s set to cost $220 million and to be executed in the coming years. Veatch helped secure money from the state, FedEx and private fundraising to secure the renovations.
Veatch will replace Desireé Reed-Francois, who left for Arizona in February. Veatch is a former Kansas State football captain and worked in athletics from 2010 to 2017, including a stint as interim athletic director.
He also worked at Missouri in various development roles from 1997 to 2002, giving him familiarity with the complications and politics that have emerged as an inherent part of the Missouri job. Veatch will be the fourth athletic director at the school since 2016.
Veatch’s football experience proved attractive to Missouri officials.
And his arrival will come at a time when the Missouri football program is bracing for unusually high expectations, as the football program will be in or close to the top 10 in the preseason polls. The Tigers will have one of the SEC’s most accomplished quarterbacks in Brady Cook and perhaps the top wide receiver in the country in Luther Burden III.
TORONTO — Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, two days after the third baseman left in the third inning because of a mild right ankle sprain.
The six-time All-Star was injured when he stumbled and fell while crossing first base on an infield single. Ramirez went down after being struck in the back by a throw from Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt.
Ramirez was batting third Sunday against right-hander Bowden Francis.
Ramírez sat out Saturday when Cleveland beat Toronto 5-3. He went 2 for 2 before departing Friday, boosting his average to .274. He has five home runs and 15 RBIs in 31 games.
In last Thursday’s 4-3 victory over Minnesota, Ramirez became the first primary third baseman to reach 250 homers and 250 stolen bases.
The Miami Marlins activated catcher Nick Fortes from the 10-day injured list Sunday morning. To make room for him on the active roster, starting second baseman Otto Lopez was placed on the 10-day injured list.
Fortes, the Marlins’ Opening Day catcher, posted six hits in 20 at-bats with two doubles, one triple and one RBI in seven appearances before going on the IL on April 10 with an injured left oblique muscle. The 28-year-old missed 20 games as the Marlins went 7-13 without him. To prepare for Sunday’s return, he rehabbed for two games at Triple-A Jacksonville and went 0-for-6.
Fortes figures to split time with 23-year-old rookie catcher Agustin Ramirez, who has delivered a .256/.293/.615 slash line with three homers and five RBIs in 10 games during his first stint in the bigs.
The 26-year-old Lopez hits the injured list, retroactive to Saturday, with a sprained right ankle. Lopez started the season hot with a .400 average to go with two homers, six RBIs and one stolen base during five games in March. Since then, he has batted .191 (17-for-89) with no homers, five RBIs and two steals.
Rookie Javier Sanoja, 22, has filled Lopez’s spot at second base the last two games and provided two doubles, two runs and one RBI in seven at-bats.
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