The University of Memphis’ announcement of Ed Scott’s hiring as its new athletic director came on the heels of a whirlwind week for Scott and the school.

Scott, 44, was officially named senior vice president and director of athletics shortly after noon Wednesday. He arrives at Memphis after spending the past two-plus years as deputy AD at Virginia. Scott, who spent five years as AD at Morgan State, succeeds Laird Veatch who left to become Missouri’s AD on April 23.

While Memphis’ search began soon afterward, the process ramped up quickly near the end, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the process. The sources were granted anonymity because details of the search have not been made public.

Scott was identified by Parker Executive Search along with numerous other candidates. The university paid the search firm $70,000 to assist with the process, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Commercial Appeal through an open records request.

The initial group of contenders were interviewed individually via Zoom last week, sources said. University president Bill Hardgrave assembled a six-person advisory committee to conduct the first round of interviews. The committee consisted of Dave North, chair of the athletics committee, board of trustees, and executive chairman of Sedgwick; Lynda Black, faculty athletics representative for the U of M and professor at the U of M Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law; Michael Cook, chair of the U of M’s campaign committee and founder and chairman of SouthernSun Asset Management; Willie Gregory, director of global community impact at Nike Inc.; Richard Smith, president and CEO, Airline and International at FedEx; and Rick Spell, president of the auxiliary services foundation and president of Spell Restaurant Group.

MEMPHIS AD ED SCOTT: Three things to know

Scott’s Zoom interview was conducted the morning of June 19, sources said. Once that round was complete, the search was narrowed to three finalists: Scott, Memphis’ interim AD (and deputy AD) Jeff Crane, and Tennessee deputy AD Ryan Alpert.

Scott interviewed with Hardgrave on Tuesday morning, and was offered and accepted the job Wednesday morning, according to sources.

Scott will be formally introduced during a press conference at noon Friday.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Inside the search for Memphis hiring athletic director Ed Scott