USC hires athletic director Jennifer Cohen from Washington

President Carol L. Folt has announced Washington athletic director Jen Cohen will be taking on a new role in the same position at USC. The school is holding a news conference on campus at 1 p.m. PT Monday to introduce its new athletic director.

USC is hiring athletic director Jennifer Cohen from Washington, to fill the vacancy left by former AD Mike Bohn's abrupt departure in May.

Cohen took over as Washington's AD in May of 2016 but has been working at the university in various roles since 1998.

She is originally from Arcadia, California, and is a 1991 graduate of San Diego State University, later earning her master's degree in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration from Pacific Lutheran University in 1994. Prior to Washington, she also worked in athletics administration at Pacific Lutheran, the University of Puget Sound and Texas Tech University.

Her most high-profile hiring of a head coach came after the 2021 football season when she hired Kalen DeBoer from Fresno State, leading to an 11-2 record in his first year.

Cohen also helped Washington's move to the Big Ten in 2024, which was announced earlier this month. She will now take the reins on executing USC's formal transition to the Big Ten in August of 2024.

Bohn, who was hired in the fall of 2019, officially resigned from USC in May soon after the Los Angeles Times asked questions to Bohn and USC a day earlier “about internal criticism of his management of the athletic department,” and that the university had hired a law firm earlier this year to conduct a review of the department.

The Times reported that two sources with knowledge of the situation said Bohn made inappropriate comments to female colleagues “about their dress, hair and weight” that left them uncomfortable.

Over the week, The Times reported that it had confirmed three USC athletic director candidates who had been vetted, including Minnesota AD Mark Coyle, Florida State AD Michael Alford and Florida Atlantic AD Brian White, while noting it was not a complete list.

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