Lincoln Riley shares his thoughts on new USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen
Monday was a big day for the Trojans as USC president Carol L. Folt introduced Jennifer Cohen as USC’s new athletic director. Of course, any athletic director for the Trojans will be closely tied to USC’s football coach. Cohen built a very strong relationship with former Washington head coach Chris Petersen during their time with the Huskies. Now, she’ll work side by side with Lincoln Riley at USC. The head coach joined the Trojans Live radio show Monday night and offered his thoughts on Cohen.
“Jen is fantastic,” Riley said. “Known a lot about her just in this business for the last several years. Friends with a lot of the people that have worked with her. And couldn’t have come more highly recommended. Pretty obvious with the job she’s done there at Washington and not just what she’s done, but how she’s done it.”
Riley called Cohen a “tremendous hire” and said the two already had a chance to connect Monday morning.
“Looking forward to getting to know her well and beginning this partnership, which I think is going to be great,” Riley said.
The two certainly sound like-minded when it comes to the opportunities USC presents. When Riley took over the USC football program, he finished his introductory press conference: “We came here because we believe in what this place can be…To win championships, to get this program to where we all know and believe it should be.” And he ended his opening statement with: “Now it’s time to go to work.”
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Cohen sees the tremendous possibilities ahead for USC athletics as well. She called it a “very, very unique place” capable of housing and producing the best student-athletes in the country. And she, like Riley, sees no reason to ease into her tenure.
“When you have this kind of momentum like we have here, there is no rest,” Cohen said. “We’ve got to put our foot on the gas and we’ve got to accelerate so we continue to elevate.”
Riley and the Trojans have an opportunity to get Cohen a win in her first football game as USC’s athletic director on Saturday. USC opens its 2023 football season at home against the San Jose State Spartans.
