Report: USC set to hire Jennifer Cohen as new Athletic Director

USC is set to hire Jennifer Cohen as the Trojans’ new athletic director, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. USC’s permanent athletic director position has been vacant since Mike Bohn stepped down from the position in late May.

Cohen served as the University of Washington’s Director of Athletics since 2016. At the time of her hiring, she was one of just three female athletic directors in the Power 5 conferences. Previously, she primarily oversaw the athletic department’s fundraising efforts. Cohen was named a finalist for Sport Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year in 2019. And in the fall of 2020, she was recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the most powerful, most influential and most outstanding women in sports.

Cohen understands big-time college football, which should make her a solid choice in the eyes of USC fans. In Cohen’s first five years at Washington, the Huskies enjoyed three-straight New Year’s Six bowl game appearances. Washington won two Pac-12 titles and earned trip to the College Football Playoff in 2016. In 2018, the made their first appearance in Rose Bowl since 2001 after defeating Utah in the Pac-12 championship game. Washington suffered a couple of down seasons following Chris Peterson’s departure. But Cohen seems to have hit a homerun with new head coach Kalen DeBoer, who led the Huskies to an 11-2 record in his first season and has them positioned as a potential top-10 team in 2023.

She’s currently a member of the 2023-24 College Football Playoff selection committee.

Cohen also oversaw strong programs in men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s rowing, women’s tennis and softball.

She is also a strong proponent of NIL, the way NIL is meant to be and the way USC student-athletes pursue revenue through NIL. She has stated she is against pay-for-play inducements, but is as supportive as NCAA rules allow her to be when it comes to student-athletes earning NIL deals.

Cohen secured an apparel deal with adidas in 2019 that runs for 10 years at $119 million, which launched July 1, 2019. As a major player in the Washington fundraising department prior to taking over as athletic direct, Cohen found plenty of success.

According to her UW bio: “Cohen and her team led the ‘Drive for Husky Stadium’ campaign, in which the department raised over $50 million in gifts for the renovation of Husky Stadium, which was completed in August 2013. Additionally, Cohen oversaw a $53 million campaign to build the Husky Basketball Operations and Sports Performance Center. She has also led development efforts for a number of other initiatives, including the renovation of Hec Edmundson Pavilion and the Conibear Shellhouse, the construction of the Dempsey Indoor Practice Facility, the Softball Performance Center the Husky Legends Center, Husky Golf Center and various scholarship endowments, including the Boundless Futures Career Development program for Husky student-athletes.”

An Arcadia, Calif. native and graduate of San Diego State, Cohen is familiar with the Southern California landscape and where USC stands both regionally and nationally.