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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Nebraska is finalizing a six-year deal to make Washington athletic director Troy Dannen the school’s new athletic director, sources told ESPN.
The hiring of Dannen gives Nebraska an immediate replacement for Trev Alberts, who left for Texas A&M last week. It also gives the school an experienced athletic director who brings a strong football background and both Midwest ties and immediate familiarity with the Big Ten.
Dannen came to Washington in early October and oversaw a busy few months. He replaced Kalen DeBoer with Jedd Fisch as football coach in the wake of Washington’s College Football Playoff run and fired basketball coach Mike Hopkins.
Nebraska moved quickly in the wake of Alberts’ sudden and unexpected departure to Texas A&M, with interim president Chris Kabourek leading the search.
Dannen is an experienced administrator with a strong background in football. He hired Willie Fritz at Tulane and helped that program grow from a long stretch of futility into a consistent winner. Tulane has gone 23-5 the past two years, including a Cotton Bowl victory over USC.
Dannen was hired at Tulane in December 2015 and helped grow a program that had reached one bowl in the prior 14 seasons into a consistent winner. Tulane went to a bowl in five of the past six seasons there.
While in the American Athletic Conference, Dannen built a relationship with Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, who worked at Temple from 2013 to ’16. They’ll work closely together as Rhule enters his second season in Lincoln.
Nebraska officials prioritized Dannen’s Midwest ties and strong football background, as he has worked on the NCAA football oversight committee, NCAA football competition committee and also the NCAA transformation committee. He has also been a part of Big Ten meetings since starting at Washington, giving him insight into the workings of league. Dannen was the athletic director at Northern Iowa for eight years before coming to Tulane in 2015.
“He’s an Iowa guy who understands the values of Nebraska,” a school source told ESPN. “He’s also a sitting athletic director who understands the Big Ten and doesn’t need to get caught up in the Big Ten.”
The move comes at a difficult juncture for Washington, as Dannen leaves after just six months. He just led the search to hire Fisch and is amid a search to hire the replacement for Hopkins. The school is deep into the search, and sources said this move is not expected to change its timing or direction.
A source close to Dannen said the decision was “deeply personal,” as both his and his wife’s entire family are in Iowa.
Dannen will be Nebraska’s fourth athletic director since 2013, as the school has struggled in football over that span and failed to compete consistently at the top of the Big Ten.
Nebraska officials see Dannen as the type of leader who brings the breadth of experience to help Rhule lead football back to prominence.
“We want to be relevant in the conference and relevant nationally,” said the school source. “He doesn’t have to get caught up to speed. He’s been on the football oversight committee. He’s a power player in college athletics.”