Tulane welcomed the new face of Green Wave Athletics Wednesday afternoon as the search committee for the new Tulane athletic director, headed by Tulane board member Doug Hertz, announced the hiring of Northern Iowa AD Troy Dannen for the position.

Tulane began searching for a new athletic director after current AD Rick Dickson announced in late September that he intends to retire in June 2016, ending his 15-year tenure at Tulane. After a several month-long process, the committee came to a unanimous decision on Dannen.

“We were thrilled by the incredible interest in the Tulane job and overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of applicants,” Hertz said. “But at each stage of the process, Troy’s name kept appearing at the top of everyone’s list.”

Dannen comes to Tulane with eight years of experience as an athletic director. Under his direction at UNI, the athletic department’s cumulative grade point average increased from 2.90 to 3.16 and exceeded the student body average at UNI in each of the last 11 semesters.

In 2014, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics named Dannen the Under Armour AD-of- the-Year for his successes in academics, fundraising, business operations and marketing achievement. 

UNI football had one losing season in Dannen’s eight-year tenure at the program’s helm. Last season, UNI’s men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed team.

Dannen’s first immediate task as Tulane’s AD is searching for a football head coach, as Tulane officially fired Curtis Johnson Saturday. Tulane will have to act quickly, as the college football head coach market is competitive now with 14 Division I coaching vacancies — and more than a few of those spots hold strong promise.

“Troy has demonstrated outstanding leadership and success in every job, at every level,” Tulane President Michael Fitts said. “His dedication to his student-athletes and his goal to win championships in every sport are testament to his enthusiasm and his dedication to his profession.”

For more on this story, look for the front page of The Hullabaloo publication Thursday.