Sources: USC to hire Washington’s Cohen as AD

USC is set to hire Washington’s Jennifer Cohen as the school’s new athletic director, sources told ESPN.

Cohen is one of the country’s most established athletic directors and will become the first women to lead the Trojans’ athletic department.

She takes over at a crucial time for USC, which leaves for the Big Ten at the start of the 2024-25 academic year and is reeling from the controversial departure of former athletic director Mike Bohn.

Cohen brings a strong experience in both football and fund raising, which should pair well with USC as it enters its second season with Lincoln Riley as head coach.

Cohen hired current Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, who went 11-2 last season in his debut and has the Huskies poised as a potential College Football Playoff contender for 2024. Washington is No. 10 in the preseason Associated Press poll.

While at Washington, Cohen was the athletic director when the Huskies reached the College Football Playoff in 2016. She’s a current member of the College Football Playoff Committee and is one of the most respected athletic directors in the country.

She leaves Washington just weeks after the school secured a place in the Big Ten, a move that was part of the dominoes that have resulted in the perilous future for the Pac-12. She’ll leave as both USC and Washington begins the transition to a league primarily based in the Eastern Time Zone.

Cohen’s background at Washington goes back to 1998, when she started in development. She emerged over the years as a prolific fundraiser, eventually overseeing the department’s major gifts program.

Since taking over in 2016, Washington overall has won 17 Pac-12 titles.

Cohen was not the athletic director when Washington hired Chris Petersen in football, but she played a major role in that search. She traveled with then-athletic director Scott Woodward to Boise to meet with Petersen and worked in lock-step with him throughout his successful run.