USC is on the market for a new athletic director with just over a year to go before the school joins the Big Ten with crosstown rival UCLA.
Mike Bohn, who became Trojans AD in 2019 after five successful years at the University of Cincinnati, resigned last week after the L.A. Times asked him and USC about internal criticism of his management of the athletic department.
Sources told the Times that Bohn made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female colleagues — including remarks about their dress, hair, and weight — that staff members said made them feel uncomfortable.
No full-time replacement or interim AD has been selected yet to lead USC as it finishes its time in the Pac-12, the conference it has called home since 1959, when it was originally formed as the Athletic Association of Western Universities.
USC will need strong leadership over the next 18 months as it moves to the Big Ten and begins sorting through the intricacies of traveling from Southern California primarily to the Midwest for away games within its own conference.
Additionally, USC was named in a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board’s Los Angeles office alleging it has wrongly classified football and basketball players as “student-athletes” rather than employees.
As for who could replace Bohn, Sports Illustrated listed Washington State’s Pat Chun and Colorado’s Rick George as two of the top five names the Trojans could consider.
