Pete Thamel: Nebraska finalizing six-year deal to hire Washington's Troy Dannen as new AD

Nebraska has found its new athletics director in the wake of Trev Alberts‘ departure for Texas A&M, ESPN reports. The program will tap Washington athletic director Troy Dannen for the post, according to Pete Thamel.

Dannen was named the Washington athletics director on Oct. 9, 2023, spending only a few months on the job.

Thamel reports that he will have a six-year deal with Nebraska.

He had previously served as the athletics director at Tulane from 2015-2023. Dannen has been a prominent fixture on several high-ranking NCAA committees in recent years, including serving as the chair of the NCAA Football Competition Committee and as an executive committee member of the Football Oversight Committee.

Dannen made a name for himself at Tulane, where the Green Wave football program rose to new levels of success. The program won its first American Athletic Conference championship in 2022 and then won the Cotton Bowl, beating USC in a thrilling game.

The Green Wave also made three consecutive bowl appearances from 2018-20, winning back-to-back bowl games for the first time in the program’s 128-year history.

Dannen was responsible for spearheading fundraising efforts and a handful of capital projects at Tulane, something that will be essential at Nebraska with a $450 stadium renovation in the works.

Trev Alberts explains difficult decision to leave Nebraska

Trev Alberts, the outgoing Nebraska athletics director, was recently introduced at Texas A&M, where he revealed what a challenge leaving his post with the Cornhuskers was.

“Very difficult and emotional, frankly,” Alberts said. “That was a difficult part of this whole transition. I wasn’t looking to leave. [I’ve] been associated with that university for a long, long time, and as I said in the previous press conference, that’s a place that changed my life. Other than my faith and my family, most everything I have today, I owe to the University of Nebraska.”

Alberts had, as he noted, a long connection with Nebraska. He played for the football team’s Blackshirt defense under legendary head coach Tom Osborne where he was an All-American who had his number retired by the program. Following his playing career, he entered an administrative role, becoming the school’s athletic director in 2021.

“So, very challenging, emotional, and difficult. But at 54 years old, you see opportunities, and Texas A&M is a pretty remarkable place with a remarkable trajectory with remarkable leadership. So, as you think about the future and you think about some of these evolving changes, much of which is yet undefined, right? We don’t know where this is going,” Alberts said.

“But part of what is really intriguing to me is, I think, this is a place under General [Mark] Welsh’s leadership that’s going to help to define what the future looks like. And that’s really exciting to me.”

The Texas A&M job opened up after the school’s previous athletic director, Ross Bjork, left for Ohio State.

On3’s Justin Rudolph also contributed to this report.