USC President Carol Folt didn't want to say how many candidates she considered for the athletic director position before hiring Cincinnati's Mike Bohn.
"We had quite a few. I'm not going to say the exact number, but I talked to a number of people and interviewed several," she said.
Neither Folt nor Bohn were ready to offer any insight into their evaluation of Trojans football coach Clay Helton either, or even the timeline for reaching one. In general, Bohn's introductory news conference Thursday involved a lot of … generalities.
Bohn and Folt said what they needed to and little more during the 25-minute session inside the John McKay Center. That's how these things go.
But Folt did make one point very clear, that what intrigued her most in hiring Bohn was his experience -- not necessarily the totality of what it entailed, but more so what it reflects and what it can mean for USC moving forward.
"You know what, I was really looking for experience. I love his experience. I love the fact that he's really gritty. He's taken some great departments and made them stronger," she said off to the side after the formal news conference. "[He had] experience in the Pac-12, but also has a real perspective because I'm looking for the athletic department of the future -- the one that's going to be not just great today but is going to be great over the next decade."
For those who have been keeping score, the Trojans have been operating with the athletic department of the past for quite some time -- one headed by former USC football players with no prior experience in college athletics administration.
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Folt's appointment as university president last March signaled the start of a sea change for USC as an institution, and she has now applied that to the athletic department by hiring Bohn, who has Midwestern roots, a well-traveled career with stints as AD at Idaho, San Diego State, Colorado and most recently Cincinnati … and no Trojans ties.
It didn't have to be said to be understood that Bohn is everything Lynn Swann and Pat Haden (and even Mike Garrett before them) were not.
"I was really looking for the best person for the job, quite frankly. It meant a lot to me that they have great experience as an athletic director. I loved the diversity and breadth of experience, so that does lead usually to someone that comes from outside because they've been to a lot of places," Folt said. "And if they're a life-long learner like Mike they really do bring those successes and those mistakes into a new way of thinking. So that was phenomenal for me. But it was really to find the right person, but someone that had that kind of breadth and depth and could really agree on what the big issues were."
Leaving aside the issue most paramount to fans -- what becomes of Helton and the future of the football program -- it's clear (and sensible) that there are other issues on Folt's mind. Like cleaning up a turmoil-embattled athletic department (within a turmoil-embattled university of late) and making sure nothing like the admissions scandal is able to fester through the lack of appropriate oversight again.
Folt mentioned "competing for national championships in all of our sports" as the goal, but she also emphasized the word integrity multiple times and her confidence that Bohn delivers that.
While some may see an AD who was forced out at Colorado and who made three mostly unsuccessful football coaching hires there, she sees an AD who has by all accounts led clean programs, found success in a multitude of ways (she noted his leading Colorado's transition into the Pac-12) and who has earned his highest marks most recently (hiring Luke Fickell as football coach at Cincinnati, helping to lead the fundraising efforts on an $87 million arena renovation there, etc.).
"I'm going to take the liberty to say I'm a scientist -- scientists don't do great things by only doing things that work. In fact, that usually means you're not making change. So I love the people -- innovators, researchers, athletes -- that are not afraid to say, 'Wow, that didn't work. I'm going to try something new,'" Folt said. "It's in the way you do that and the learning that you show, your innovation and your integrity. You're not cutting corners to do it. You're just going to do it better."
USC is in its own way saying 'Wow, that didn't work' and -- finally -- trying something new with this AD hire.
Bohn is a particularly stark contrast to Swann. Where fans felt Swann was relatively detached, Bohn's reputation is as an AD who has been very present and engaged in the university communities within which he's worked. And he's hard to miss in a room.
"You're all going to find that he's very energetic," Folt told reporters in her opening comments Thursday, perhaps underselling the point.
Added Bohn: "You will learn quickly I am immensely passionate and energetic. My passion and energy never take a day off, and I am proud of that, I enjoy that. It's been instilled in me from a young man growing up the son of a PE teacher. I can't wait to meet our student-athletes. … My intent is to listen, to learn and to lead, in that order. And ultimately my goal is to deliver a bold, creative and innovative vision for our program that will position USC at the forefront of the intercollegiate athletics landscape for the present and the future."
Most introductory news conferences like this involve grand goals and plans, but Bohn's conviction for it all surely resonated well with USC fans. As we stated in this space last week, Bohn's background and profile should at least earn him the benefit of the doubt to see what that all leads to moving forward.
His track record of coaching hires is hit and miss, but hiring football coaches at Colorado is way different than hiring football coaches at USC with the recruiting reach and historical stature of this program. (Bohn emphasized wanting to "impact" recruiting and stake a claim to Southern California -- again, he played to his audience well). The Colorado ending may raise questions for USC fans, but the Cincinnati ending -- with the Bearcats chasing a second-straight 10-win season under Fickell -- should offset them.
And to Folt's point, many of us find greater success in our jobs through experience and time. It's not a stretch to presume Bohn has advanced in his operation of the position from a decade ago.
"I've learned a lot, I've learned a whole lot. I've had some failures. I've had some phenomenal successes, but again, I know that the formula of trying to be everything to everybody is a formula for failure," Bohn said. "And I think it's important to take things on and lead and I'm really proud of the people that have been in my life and been in my career to set me up for this, and I'm really excited about my teammates that have the ability to help me be successful. I'm excited and I'm looking forward to it."
USC fans should be too -- Bohn represents change, and at this time for this athletic department, well, change is a great start.
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