When Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz signed a contract extension in November, it came with increases to his assistant coach and support staff salary pools. Support staff jumped from $1.2 million total to $3.5 million.

On Friday, MU announced it will be increasing the size of its football support staff, bringing in Marcy Girton to serve as a senior associate athletics director for football administration and special projects. Girton joins the Tigers fresh off a stint as a senior advisor for College Sports Associates, a search firm.

“We were looking for a highly respected leader with a track record of excellence for this new position, and Marcy stood out during the search process,” MU athletics director Desireé Reed-Francois said in a release announcing the hire. “Her previous experience in the SEC, working with coaches, familiarity with NIL and work at all levels of college athletics, along with her unique perspective of being a former student-athlete and coach, makes her the ideal person to provide a high level of support for our football program and Department as a whole. We are pleased to welcome Marcy to our team and to the Mizzou community.”

According to the news release, which confirmed reporting by Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports, Girton will handle administrative oversight of the football program, along with special projects for the athletics department. She becomes the third support staffer to come to Missouri this offseason, joining assistant AD and director of football external relations and recruiting Brad Larrondo, along with assistant director of recruiting operations and communications Addison Hill.

Girton worked at Auburn from 2016-2022, largely as chief operating officer. When athletics director Allen Greene left AU in August, she was briefly the interim AD on the plains.

“I sincerely appreciate the opportunity provided to me by Desireé to join the Mizzou Athletics Family,” Girton said in the release. “There’s palpable excitement and momentum surrounding the upward trajectory of the Department and it is a great time to be a Tiger. Desireé is a phenomenal leader and I look forward to contributing to enhancing the outstanding efforts already under way.”

Before working at Auburn, Girton had stints as a deputy AD at Texas A&M and chief operating officer at South Carolina. She was also an associate AD at TCU and Western Carolina.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football brings in Marcy Girton as senior associate AD