Mike Bohn isn't a big-name athletic director hire for USC, but that in itself is significant.
The consensus hope among Trojans fans during this nearly two-month search for a new AD was that USC would not repeat its recent history of filling the position based on stature and past accolades on the playing field rather than, you know, experience actually running a college athletic department.
The hope was that USC would not make a convenient hire by simply finding someone else with past ties to the university.
The hope was that new university president Carol Folt would hire someone with a fresh vision to reset the course of USC athletics into the future.
Well, at the very least Trojans supporters are getting their wish on the first two criterion -- the third and most important piece will be judged in time -- with reports Friday that Folt and her search committee have decided to hire Cincinnati AD Mike Bohn.
No, USC didn't pry Gene Smith away from Ohio State or bring longtime Florida AD Jeremy Foley out of retirement to make a big national splash. Early in the process, national college football reporters noted that USC's initial interest in other big-name ADs was not reciprocated. That it took two months to find a replacement for Lynn Swann indicates that the search committee likely covered a lot of ground in this process.
That can be taken a couple ways -- either USC had to really work down its list or it was simply exhaustive in its due diligence.
Either way, most fans probably had to take to Google to learn about Bohn, who also previously served as AD at Idaho, San Diego State and Colorado.
The fact that Bohn was previously fired from Colorado -- a fellow Pac-12 program of far less national stature than USC -- won't excite fans. But that he was by most metrics succeeding at Cincinnati should.
Bohn's track record of coaching hires from his previous stops leaves a lot to be desired, but his most recent football hire has been an overwhelming success. Luke Fickell led Cincinnati to an 11-2 mark last season and has the Bearcats off to a 6-1 start this season.
By most accounts, Bohn has made himself a presence in the community at his previous jobs and has been credited as an aggressive fundraiser at Cincinnati (he also aggressively defended his fundraising at Colorado while noting he was surprised by the university's decision to make a change at AD). He most recently spearheaded Cincinnati's privately-funded $87 million renovation to Fifth Third Arena (home of the Bearcats basketball teams).
Ultimately, though, his USC tenure will be judged on a couple very specific metrics. Can he put the athletic department back on track after the recent Operation Varsity Blues admissions scandal raised serious questions about the leadership and lack of oversight within the department under Swann's watch? And can he make an impact in returning USC football back to national contention?
The spotlight and scrutiny will be on Bohn immediately as he must decide what do with football coach Clay Helton and the direction of the program. He walks into a tough situation in that regard with a large segment of the fan base having already spent months selling itself on the notion of the Trojans hiring Urban Meyer.
It's a unique situation where the fan base has already fired the head coach and hired a new one before the new athletic director has made either decision.
For those reasons, the evaluation of Bohn will begin immediately and it's certainly premature to presume how it will all play out.
But foundationally, the Trojans fulfilled the intent of their search.
"Now you've got to be basically someone who can manage a multifaceted corporation," interim AD Dave Roberts said earlier this week. "That's what athletic departments are. We've got between the lines, marketing, fundraising, strength and conditioning, nutrition, you name it we have it. So you've got to be someone who is experienced in leadership, management, delegation. ...
"You've got to be able to manage, hire, fire, recruit, retain. You've got to communicate really effectively. Those are the some the traits that you've just got to have if you're going to be a top drawer AD in these days."
Whether Bohn can prove to be a top-drawer AD for USC is yet to be determined, but for the first time since Mike McGee left the post in 1993, the Trojans at least have someone in the position with experience doing the job and someone without USC ties who can bring a fresh vision to the operation.
Bohn may not have been a name at the forefront of fans' wish lists these last couple months, but he nonetheless represents the foremost traits most would have hoped for in a hire.
That should buy him some benefit of the doubt in the meantime.
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