Rachel Blunt Named To Mizzou Athletics Senior Leadership Team

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri native Rachel Blunt has been named the University of Missouri’s Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development and Championship Performance, Director of Athletics Desireé Reed-Francois announced. 

Blunt, who joins the Tigers after serving as the Deputy Athletic Director/Administration and Senior Woman Administrator at Central Michigan University, will be a member of the senior leadership team and oversee Mizzou’s holistic student-athlete championship experience. 

She will have administrative oversight of all student-athlete facing departments, including academics, career and leadership development (Mizzou Made), nutrition, sports medicine and strength and conditioning. 

“We were looking for a determined, compassionate and innovative leader who would shape our holistic student-athlete championship experience and Rachel Blunt is an outstanding fit,” Reed-Francois said. “She was born and raised in Missouri, has a track record of putting student-athletes first and is someone of high character whose own life and career path was impacted by her time as a collegiate athlete. Our search committee did an outstanding job during the hiring process and their teamwork is appreciated. We look forward to welcoming Rachel and her family home to Mizzou.”

“I want to thank Desireé Reed-Francois and the members of the search committee for affording me the opportunity to serve Tigers’ student-athletes in this transformative position,” Blunt said. “I am extremely passionate about the holistic student-athlete championship experience because of the impact it had on my life. Mizzou has great momentum and it’s an exciting time to join the flagship institution in my home state. My family and I are fired up to join Mizzou Athletics and we cannot wait to return home to the Show Me State.”

Blunt spent the past five years at Central Michigan in a variety of roles. Most recently as Deputy AD/SWA, she oversaw external communication, marketing, student-athlete services and compliance and sat on the athletics executive leadership team. She was the sport administrator for the men’s and women’s basketball, football, women’s lacrosse, softball, women’s gymnastics and women’s soccer programs.

From Aug.-Sept. 2020, Blunt was CMU’s Interim Zyzelewski Family Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics.

She joined CMU in 2016 as Associate AD/Institutional Support Services, overseeing all aspects of the Chippewas’ Leadership Academy and was promoted to her current position in March 2021.

Prior to joining the CMU staff, Blunt was the Assistant AD/Compliance at Southeast Missouri State University from 2013-16. She started her career in compliance as a graduate assistant in 2009 and joined the University’s full-time staff as an assistant compliance director in 2012. She also served in administrative capacities at Tennessee-Chattanooga. 

A native of Dexter, Missouri, Blunt played four years of basketball at SEMO, helping the Redhawks to back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Championships in 2007 and 2008. She has two degrees from SEMO, earning a bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2009 and a master’s in finance in 2011.