The University of Washington recently hired a new athletic director after Jen Cohen left Seattle for the same position at USC. The Huskies turned to Tulane athletic director, Troy Dannen, to fill their opening. Even though Washington doesn’t join the Big Ten until 2024, Dannen is already firing shots.
Doug Lesmerises reported on X (formerly Twitter) that Dannen made disparaging remarks aimed at Ohio State and Texas. The comments were made in his very first interview as the Huskies AD on Seattle sports radio station 93.3 KJR.
In talking about the new world of college athletics regarding name, image and likeness, Dannen chose to target two of the marquee names in college football who happen to have the largest budgets in college athletics.
“If budgets won championships, Ohio State and Texas would win everything – and they haven’t won much lately,” Dannen said.
New Washington AD Troy Dannen saying in an interview — "If budgets won championships, Ohio State and Texas would win everything — and they haven't won much lately" — is the kind of intra-North attack Kings of the North won't tolerate.
Rip Texas and move on. Let's work on it.— Doug Lesmerises (@DougLesmerises) October 10, 2023
That’s a pretty bold statement to make about a future conference foe. Maybe Mr. Dannen should check the numbers first. Since winning the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship in 2015, the Buckeyes are 95-12 with four Big Ten championships and four more CFP Playoff berths. National championships don’t grow on trees and are not easy to come by … something the new Washington AD should know seeing as the Huskies’ last national championship came in 1991. To say Ohio State hasn’t won much lately seems like a fairly uneducated statement.
But maybe that’s just who Troy Dannen is. Upon leaving Tulane he made the following comments about about accepting the Washington athletic director position. “I want to go someplace where you can win. I love Tulane; you’re not going to win a national championship at Tulane,” remarked Dannen,
“I want to go someplace where you can win. I love Tulane; you’re not going to win a national championship at Tulane. You can win national championships here, and it’s been proven.” – Troy Dannen 🔊5:25https://t.co/e9B6ZKCxcX@GreenWaveFB @TulaneAthletics @UWHuskies_AD
— Tulane Athletics Forum (@goTULANEt) October 10, 2023
The comments as a whole about Ohio State, Texas, and Tulane come across in very poor taste. In fact, maybe Dannen shold head the advice of Abraham lincoln, who once said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
Ohio State will travel to Washington to face the Huskies in 2025 as part of the new look Big Ten.
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