Memphis athletic director Ed Scott has plenty of work to do.

Scott was introduced as Memphis' AD on June 28 but didn't start the job until late July. One of his top priorities is to rebuild the staff of an athletic department that lost several people in the past few months, with some following ex-Memphis AD Laird Veatch to Missouri and some leaving for other opportunities.

Most of those departures were in the works before Scott came to town. But he acknowledged in a Wednesday interview with The Commercial Appeal that the staff makeup gives him a chance to build the department with some of his own hires.

"My mindset in this is, OK. I want folks who want to be here," he said. "I appreciate the work of the folks who were here, because that's part of the reason I took the job, I felt like it was in a really good place. But it also give me a chance to bring in my own staff members, like any coach would want to do or any high level administrator or executive. So from that standpoint, the way I'm looking at it is: I have a chance now to bring in teammates who want to be at Memphis and who want to be a part of my vision. So I see it as a good opportunity and less of a challenge."

And the staff won't look exactly the same. Scott said he plans to split up the job of deputy AD, which had been held by Jeff Crane before he left for South Carolina after serving as Memphis' interim AD.

One role will focus on facilities and operations, specifically working on the renovation projects the university is involved with. There's a $220 million renovation of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium and the newly-announced $7 million Liza Wellford Fletcher Stadium project.

The other role will be focused on revenue, potentially at the senior staff level.

Crane departed late last month. Before that, Memphis lost Michael Schroeder (associate AD for integrated communications and marketing), Josh Moore (assistant AD for marketing and gameday presentation) and Emily Hagans (director of athletic stewardship engagement) to Missouri, where Veatch is now AD. Brad Loos, who had been senior associate AD/chief revenue officer at Memphis, also left for Columbia. Director of integrated communications Scott Burns left for Florida.

Scott said that announcements are expected soon for some of those positions.

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Memphis AD Ed Scott plans to rebuild Tigers athletics staff