Kalen DeBoer reacts to Washington hiring new athletic director

Washington Huskies head football coach Kalen DeBoer recently shared his thoughts on the school’s new athletic director, Troy Dannen.

Dannen was first linked to the Washington job by reports last week. However, at the time, no deal between him and the school was in place. Now, he’s officially set to take over for Jen Cohen in Seattle.

“Yeah it’s been great,” Kalen DeBoer said during an interview on ESPN. “He comes in, coming from Tulane, and has a Midwest background. So we hit it off pretty good from just myself being from that part of the country. But you can tell he gets it.”

Troy Dannen brings experience to the role at Washington, having been the athletic director at Tulane since 2015. During that time, he’s had a massive impact on the football program, hiring Willie Fritz and winning the 2023 Cotton Bowl. That was the Green Wave’s first major bowl win since the 1935 Sugar Bowl.

Now, the Iowa native is going to be tasked with leading Washington into the Big Ten. Luckily, for Dannen, he is inheriting an excellent football coach for the transition in DeBoer.

“He sat in the athletic director’s chair for many years now and has a lot of experience being around high-end athletics and is a great leader,” Kalen DeBoer said. “You can see that already.”

Troy Dannen replaces Jen Cohen as athletic director at Washington. Cohen, who hired Kalen DeBoer and was in charge of getting the invite into the Big Ten, left to take the same job at USC. For long term success within the program, it’s going to be important for DeBoer and Dannen to quickly get on the same page and vision for the future of the program.

Kalen DeBoer addresses hype surrounding Oregon game

At this point in the season, Kalen DeBoer’s focus is on the field. This week, in particular, he is working to manage the hype surrounding a key game against rival Oregon.

“The thing for us, is we wanted to make sure this weekend was big. So I’m proud of the way our guys have, every week, gone about taking care of business. You know, you saw this as hopefully inevitable. It came to this point. Just a lot of respect for what Oregon’s doing with their season too. So I’m happy that this is a big week because we’ve done everything to make it that,” DeBoer said.

“If we slipped up anywhere along the way, it wouldn’t be what it is. So excited for this opportunity. That’s what it is. It’s a challenge, but it’s an opportunity. That’s what our guys came here to do, be a part of games like this and moments like this. Build the program to this point. So you know, embracing it is how we look at it.”