“I’m not going to move again, God willing and president [Ana Marie Cauce] willing, this is going to be my last job,” athletic director Troy Dannen told University of Washington staff and members of the media at his introductory press conference in October after coming over from Tulane University.
After less than six months on the job, Dannen has decided to move again to take the athletic director position at the University of Nebraska according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Nebraska lost athletic director Trev Alberts to Texas A&M last week, and Dannen’s departure for Lincoln is just as sudden after he was in Palm Springs, California on Monday at a fundraising event with football coach Jedd Fisch.
During his brief stint at Washington, Dannen was unable to get a contract extension done with Kalen DeBoer, who departed for Alabama shortly after the national championship. However, he moved quickly and made what was considered to be the best possible hire in Fisch and appeared to make good on one of his primary goals, investing heavily in the football program as the school moves into the Big Ten.
Sources: Nebraska is finalizing a six-year deal to make Washington athletic director Troy Dannen the school’s new athletic director. The hiring of Dannen gives Nebraska an immediate replacement for Trev Alberts, who left for Texas A&M last week. pic.twitter.com/q9SRkTK7hk
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 20, 2024
Dannen also fired basketball coach Mike Hopkins and leaves the athletic department in an extremely unfortunate position right as the coaching carousel starts to pick up.
Washington is rumored to be the favorite to land Utah State’s Danny Sprinkle as the next head coach, one of the fastest-rising coaches in the country, but without an athletic director, that could throw off the school’s plans to revitalize the basketball program.