College Football Playoff

Troy Dannen is in his second year as athletics director at the University of Nebraska. His first year in Lincoln was quite a success as the Husker baseball program won its first Big Ten Tournament title, the men's track and field team captured the Big Ten Outdoor crown, and the women's track and field team posted its second straight top-10 NCAA finish, placing ninth. Husker athletic teams have continued to excel at a high level in 2024-25, highlighted by a Final Four trip for the volleyball team and a national runner-up finish by the wrestling program, the best in school history.

Dannen has been a leader in charting the course for a new era of collegiate athletics, serving from 2021-23 as a member of the NCAA Constitution Committee and the Division I Transformation Committee. He also previously served as the chair of the NCAA Football Competition Committee and was an executive committee member of the Football Oversight Committee.

Dannen came to Lincoln after serving as athletics director at the University of Washington. He helped guide the Huskies' transition to the Big Ten Conference and oversaw a Husky football program that reached its first College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2024. Prior to Washington, Dannen was the athletics director at Tulane University from 2015-23. Under his leadership, Green Wave student-athletes earned 49 All-America honors, a national championship and 21 conference championships. In 2022-23, Tulane football won its first American Athletic Conference football championship en route to a Cotton Bowl victory over Southern California.

Dannen began his career in collegiate athletics with an eight-year stint as the athletics director at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) from 2008-15. Prior to his time at UNI, Dannen served as the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union's Executive Director for seven years, overseeing 400 high schools and 10 sports. He grew up outside Marshalltown, Iowa, and graduated from UNI in 1989 with a degree in communications.