Missouri confirms hire of San Diego State's Sterk as AD

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) The University of Missouri said Tuesday it has hired San Diego State's Jim Sterk as its new athletic director on a seven-year contract.

He will be paid a base salary of $700,000 and will start no later than Sept. 1. Interim Chancellor Hank Foley said Sterk was exactly what Missouri needs as it replaces Mack Rhoades, who left for Baylor.

Sterk has spent the past six years at San Diego State, helping the school to what Missouri said was the most successful five seasons in SDSU's athletic history - 32 team conference championships and the fourth-highest combined winning percentage in the country in football and men's basketball.

The 60-year-old Sterk was also the AD at Washington State and has held positions at Portland State, North Carolina, Maine, Seattle Pacific and Tulane. The former football and basketball player is a 1980 graduate of Western Washington and received his master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University.

Sterk was recently honored as the AD of the year by National Association of College Director of Athletics and was selected to the Division I Men's Basketball Committee.

San Diego State has hired Jenny Bramer as interim AD.