Breaking New AD - Troy Dannen, Formerly of UW

That may be the shortest “interim” role in the history of D1 athletics. RIP Dennis.

lol i can't hire an entry level candidate that quickly

Wow - he was hired at Washington 5 months ago.

Can someone tell me how to feel about this?

This is a FANTASTIC hire. He is largely responsible for turning around Tulane’s football program alongside Willie Fritz. Tons of fundraising experience (helped get increased salary and commitment for football there). Hired Jedd Fisch at Washington.

Phenomenal. Well done.

Per the ESPN article -

While in the American Athletic Conference, Dannen built a relationship with Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, who worked at Temple from 2013-16.

Per Washington’s website:
Troy Dannen was named the University of Washington’s 16thDirector of Athletics on October 9, 2023.

Dannen is a leading national voice in intercollegiate athletics, currently serving his fourth year as Chair of the NCAA Football Competition Committee and as an Executive Committee member of the Football Oversight Committee.

From 2021 through 2023, Dannen served on the NCAA Constitution Committee and then the Division I Transformation Committee, as one of a small group of chancellors, presidents, Directors of Athletics, commissioners and Faculty Athletic Representatives across all three NCAA divisions tasked with charting a future path for college athletics. In 2022, Dannen was a finalist for Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year award, and he received the Distinguished American Award by the Sugar Bowl Chapter of the National Football Foundation.

Dannen joins Washington after serving as Director of Athletics at Tulane University since 2015. While at Tulane, Green Wave student-athletes earned 49 All-American honors, won a national championship, 21 conference championships and earned 41 postseason appearances.

In 2022-23, Tulane football won their first American Athletic Conference football championship, and won the Cotton Bowl over USC, ranked 9th in the nation at that time. Men’s basketball won 20 regular season games for the first time in two decades. Men’s tennis advanced to its sixth NCAA tournament in seven years, both bowling and beach volleyball finished ranked in the Top 20, and baseball won the conference championship.

Tulane’s football program participated in an unprecedented three consecutive bowl games from 2018-20, winning back-to-back bowl games for the first time in 128 years of football at the University.

In the classroom, Tulane student-athletes excelled at a high-level. At the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, over 68% of Green Wave student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or better, with a 93% Graduation Success Rate and a record-setting department Academic Progress Report of 992, with seven teams earning a perfect 1000 APR score.

Dannen spearheaded fundraising efforts and numerous capital projects at Tulane. He helped secure the largest unrestricted gift in Tulane Athletics history, an endowment gift which funds the operation of a new sport (sailing), and a $10 million lead gift for capital renovations, which is the second largest gift in department history. In addition, marketing and licensing revenue grew four-fold, and in 2022-23, Tulane football, basketball and volleyball set ticket sales and revenue records. Under Dannen’s leadership, the Green Wave Club Annual Fund grew by 40% in terms of donors, and 45% in terms of dollars.

Increases in fundraising and major gift donors positively impacted capital project development and completion. A $13 million renovation to the Reilly Natatorium, home of the swimming and diving program, as well as $8 million in renovations to locker rooms and the Wilson Center sports medicine center were completed in 2023. Dannen also oversaw construction of a new dining facility, weight room, basketball and volleyball locker rooms. Tulane also completed a $2.4 million academic center renovation and a $5 million television and digital production center.

Dannen came to Tulane after serving eight years as the Director of Athletics at the University of Northern Cockeye (UNI) from 2008-15. During his tenure, the Panthers enjoyed success at both the conference and national levels, as UNI was recognized with 39 All-Americans, 13 Coaches of the Year and nine Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Players of the Year. UNI football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and softball combined to reach 15 NCAA tournaments and 20 postseason berths during that stretch. For his efforts, Dannen was recognized as NACDA’s FCS Athletic Director of the Year in 2014.

Prior to his time at UNI, Dannen served as the Cockeye High School Athletic Union’s Executive Director for seven years.

Dannen graduated from UNI in 1989 with a degree in Communications. He is married to Amy, and together they have four children: Elle, Emily, Holly and William.

Safe to assume he signed off on the Hoiberg raise & extension.

Welcome to the Big Ten, Washington

Did we just upgrade?

alright we’re fucking back

I've known Troy for a long time. He's good friends with some family. Super cool guy. This is a destination job for him. I think we lucked into this one - wouldn't surprise me if he reached out himself.

He's more of an administrator than Turd and not as much a politician/fundraiser but he's uber-effective and makes great, innovative hires. Fourtune 500 executive type

I'm a huge fan of the hire personally and I think he'll win the press conference.

Not even a week yet since Turd left, we filled the role with an experienced AD.

Tonkasker said:

I've known Troy for a long time. He's good friends with some family. Super cool guy. This is a destination job for him. I think we lucked into this one - wouldn't surprise me if he reached out himself.

He's more of an administrator than Turd and not as much a politician/fundraiser but he's uber-effective and makes great, innovative hires. Fourtune 500 executive type

I'm a huge fan of the hire personally and I think he'll win the press conference.

Click to expand...

So what you're saying is that you're now insideher?

Tonkasker said:

Click to expand...

I’ll believe that when I see it. Every Nebraska hire is a home run to the fans, i.e. Frost, Fred etc.