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UW Formally Announces Dannen as New Athletic Director

The former Tulane leader is the 16th to hold the top Husky job.
Dan Raley|
UW Formally Announces Dannen as New Athletic Director
UW Formally Announces Dannen as New Athletic Director

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Washington Huskies

Troy Dannen has been selected at University of Washington athletic director — the 16th leader who will lead 21 different sports — the school announced on Saturday afternoon, a half-dozen hours or so after the news leaked out.

Coming from Tulane, he replaces Jen Cohen, who left in August after seven years on the job to become USC's athletic director.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Cohen included, Dannen won't have to fix something football-related, such as pull the program out of a winless season, remodel Husky Stadium or fire a coach for misconduct.

"Throughout this process, the passion, love and spirit of the UW was evident in every conversation, as was the alignment necessary for comprehensive success," Dannen said in a statement. "We will compete for championships and we will provide an unmatched experience for our student-athletes."

The Iowa native, in fact, shows up in Montlake at a perfect time form someone in his position, with the Husky football team 5-0, seventh-ranked, headed for the Big Ten next season and led by Kalen DeBoer, one of the nation's most fast-rising coaches.

The school intends to introduce Dannen at a Tuesday news conference in Conibear Shellhouse north of Husky Stadium, a day after he reports to work. 

Dannen has been given a lot of credit for Tulane's sudden football emergence, one in which a normally moribund program became the nation's most unsung by winning 12 of 14 games in 2022, including the Cotton Bowl over USC 46-45, and finishing ninth ranked, one spot in the final AP poll behind the UW's 11-2 team from DeBoer's first season in charge.

"He is a visionary and proven leader, and has worked diligently to improve the sport of football," DeBoer said in a statement. "I'm excited to work with Troy and help move the Huskies into the future." 

Dannen also been been credited with 49 of his Tulane athletes becoming All-America selections and 21 Green Wave teams winning conference championships and making 41 postseason appearances. 

His first order of UW business likely will be to make sure Husky basketball is on solid ground and a basketball practice facility designed for both the men and women gets built.

Dannen spent eight years running the Tulane athletic department following eight at Northern Iowa, his alma mater.

"He's a leader in the national conversations about the changing landscape of college sports, which, as we move to the Big Ten, will be invaluable to securing the long-term success of Husky athletics," UW president Ana Mari Cauce said in a statement.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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