How new AD Troy Dannen’s hire at Nebraska came together

The forces that brought Troy Dannen to Nebraska enabled a smooth jump from Seattle to Lincoln for the Huskers’ new athletic director amid a severe time crunch, according to the interim school president who hired him and the mutual friend of Dannen and Matt Rhule who helped connect them.

In a search that lasted less than one week, interim University of Nebraska system president Chris Kabourek first spoke to Dannen about 96 hours after Trev Alberts exited Nebraska as AD for Texas A&M.

Dannen, the athletic director at Washington since October after he spent eight years at Tulane, reached an agreement with Kabourek around 4 a.m. CT on Wednesday. Nebraska announced the hire shortly after 10 a.m.

Kabourek flew to Washington on Wednesday night to retrieve Dannen, who visited the Nebraska football team Thursday and jetted to Memphis to watch the Nebraska men’s basketball team play Friday in the NCAA Tournament.

“There’s a reason I wanted to come here.

This program is going special places.

I'm really honored to be a part of it."@TroyDannen x @HuskerFootball pic.twitter.com/xLXsc77B42

— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) March 22, 2024

“I’m a big destiny kind of guy,” Kabourek said Friday. “I don’t know if the stars aligned, but if you look at Troy’s background, he’s got Midwest chops. He’s got a great background in football. He’s already in the Big Ten room.”

Dannen will be introduced in Lincoln on Tuesday. The 57-year-old Iowa native will have already been on the job for five days.

“I knew Troy was the guy because as we were going through the terms sheet, I said, ‘What do you want your start date to be?’” Kabourek said. “He said, ‘Today.’ He’s hit the ground running. That’s the Midwestern work ethic that Nebraskans are going to like.”

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Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft has no doubts, either, about Dannen’s fit at Nebraska. Kraft has worked closely with Rhule and Dannen previously and said he believes the two form a perfect pair.

“They’ll be great,” Kraft said. “They know each other. Troy is very strategic. He understands how to lay out a plan. In this world, you’ve got to know what’s coming around the corner or you’re going to get caught and left behind. I think this is great for Matt and Nebraska football, but it’s also great for all of the Nebraska teams.”

At Tulane, Dannen connected with Kraft, a fellow AD in the American Athletic Conference. Kraft led the department at Temple from 2015 to 2020. He extended Rhule’s contract with the Owls after Rhule’s third season as head coach at the school in 2015.

Rhule is “like a brother to me,” Kraft said. They talk often. Rhule and Kraft discussed Rhule’s situation at Nebraska after Alberts left unexpectedly on March 13. Alberts, the Nebraska AD since 2021, hired Rhule in November 2022.

An Illinois native and Indiana graduate, Kraft said he also talked with Dannen in the brief time the Nebraska job was open.

“It wasn’t a Washington thing. It was a Nebraska thing,” Kraft said of Dannen, a Northern Iowa graduate. “It was about Nebraska. It was a great move for his family. That I know was the draw, but I know he struggled.

“Sometimes timing isn’t always the best, but that’s a perfect fit for him and the family. Troy is really smart. People will see fast, he’s strategic. He understands the shifting landscape.”

Kabourek said he felt a sense of urgency to hire an AD to maintain the momentum Alberts built at Nebraska. With Nebraska basketball involved in the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments, Kabourek said he went to work immediately after Alberts left to accelerate contract-extension talks with basketball coaches Fred Hoiberg and Amy Williams.

Both coaches signed new deals this week.

“You can guess that those coaches were getting phone calls,” Kabourek said. “People (at other schools) see a void, they see an opportunity. … I really wanted to get it done as early as possible to not distract Fred or Amy from this weekend.”

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Simultaneously, Kabourek negotiated with Dannen. To complicate matters, the Nebraska Board of Regents named a priority candidate for the university system president’s job on Wednesday, Jeffrey Gold, the University of Nebraska Medical Center chancellor. Gold will replace Kabourek in April.

Gold was not involved in the search for an AD, Kabourek said. Kabourek said he felt empowered by the regents to run the search and found an advocate in Gov. Jim Pillen.

“They placed their faith and trust in me to do the job,” Kabourek said. “They did not meddle. They did not tell me to wait (until a permanent president was hired).”

Kabourek used Rhule as a sounding board during his search.

“I certainly wanted Matt comfortable with the decision,” Kabourek said. “But he didn’t tell me who to go get. He was candid. He was always open. He took my phone calls no matter what hour of the day it was. I don’t know if that man sleeps.”

Kraft said he told Alberts after Rhule accepted the job at Nebraska, “Just do what Matt says, and you guys will be fine.”

Kraft’s advice for Dannen will be the same.

“I have learned and continue to learn a lot from Matt,” Kraft said. “I know his relationship with Trev was good, but Matt is cool as a cucumber. (Rhule and Dannen) will get their cadence very quick. I’m just excited for both of them because I know what Matt needs.

“I want him to be uber-successful — until we beat them in the championship game.”

(Photo: Jesse Beals / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)