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Only one job could convince Jennifer Cohen to leave the school that made her fall in love with college athletics. USC was it.
After eight years as Washington’s athletic director, Cohen was announced as USC’s 10th athletic director on Monday, making the 54-year-old the first woman to hold the position at the school. Cohen will take over an unstable USC athletic department that has been without a leader for three months since former athletic director Mike Bohn abruptly stepped down amid criticisms over mismanagement and misconduct allegations.
The Arcadia native will guide the Trojans into the Big Ten, where they will begin competition in 2024, and steer the department through uncertain times in college athletics, where name, image and likeness legislation changes daily, major conferences are shifting and players are enjoying more freedom than ever through the transfer portal.
“Leading USC athletics is not just an opportunity of a lifetime,” Cohen said as part of a prepared statement. “It is a responsibility of a lifetime.”
Cohen addressed a room full of reporters and athletic department officials. Men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield sat in the third row. Women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb stood near the back. Football coach Lincoln Riley, whose season kicks off Saturday at the Coliseum, was not seen in the room, although Cohen said she spoke to him Monday morning.
Getting an athletic director in place before the first football game was a goal for the search committee, USC president Carol Folt said. Folt received hundreds of resumes, she said, vetting candidates and an advisory board and guidance from Parker Executive Search. They were searching for a candidate with a proven track record at a Power 5 school and a “leader that has a strategic vision … to help USC athletics through this historic time,” Folt said in her prepared statement.
“She shares a vision and values, she has that experience and drive, she’s very tenacious, you’ll see, to position an already thriving athletics department for success,” Folt added.
Commentary: Jennifer Cohen’s top task? Making sure Lincoln Riley is happy — and stays in L.A.
Hernández: Where’s the accountability? USC president Carol Folt still silent about Mike Bohn
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: On most days of his childhood, Freddie Freeman and his dad, Fred, would drive to an open baseball field by their house in Orange County with a bucket of exactly 48 balls.
For about an hour, father would throw son batting practice.
And pitch after pitch, bucket after bucket, day after day, and year after year, the swing of a future MLB superstar began to take form.
“My dad didn’t have a book of, ‘This is what we’re gonna do to make you be a major league baseball player,’ ” Freeman said. “It was just, my dad loves the game of baseball, and I love the game of baseball, so … we’re gonna have batting practice, and we’re gonna have fun.”
Indeed, the making of Freeman’s swing — the one that has made the Dodgers slugger a career .300 hitter over 14 seasons, that has led to seven All-Star selections and a 2020 MVP award, and that has him on track to likely one day reach the Hall of Fame — isn’t the typical modern baseball story.
NL WEST STANDINGS
Dodgers, 76-47
San Francisco, 65-60, 12 GB
Arizona, 65-61, 12.5 GB
San Diego, 60-66, 17.5 GB
Colorado, 48-76, 28.5 GB
WILD-CARD STANDINGS
top three teams qualify
Philadelphia, 68-57
Chicago, 65-59
San Francisco, 65-60
Arizona, 65-61, 0.5 GB
Cincinnati, 64-61, 1 GB
Miami, 64-62, 1.5 GB
San Diego, 60-66, 5.5 GB
ANGELS
From Sarah Valenzuela: The Angels’ series opener against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday was postponed, the field at Angel Stadium needing more time to dry after Tropical Storm Hilary rolled through Anaheim on Sunday.
Monday’s game will be made up in a split doubleheader on Wednesday, the team announced, the first game starting at 1:07 p.m. and the make-up game beginning at 6:38 p.m.
Lucas Giolito is scheduled to start Tuesday’s game, with Shohei Ohtani taking the mound in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader and Reid Detmers pitching in Game 2.
AL WEST STANDINGS
Texas, 72-53
Houston, 71-55, 1.5 GB
Seattle, 70-55, 2 GB
Angels, 61-64, 11 GB
Oakland, 35-90, 37 GB
WILD-CARD STANDINGS
top three teams qualify
Tampa Bay, 75-51
Houston, 71-55
Seattle, 70-55
Toronto, 69-56, 1 GB
Boston, 66-59, 4 GB
Angels, 61-64, 9 GB
New York, 60-64, 9.5 GB
TRACK
From Andrew Greif: Draped in the American flag, Sha’Carri Richardson stood late Monday night in Budapest, Hungary, a few meters beyond where she had just blazed through the finish line of the women’s 100-meter final at the world championships. Her gaze was set on the scoreboard high above the stadium.
Richardson, 23, had appeared to already know she won as she crossed the line, pumping her arms. But it seemingly did not set in until she saw the scoreboard, with a championship-record 10.65 seconds next to her name. Richardson began to sprint backward, toward the line, as photographers encroached.
In 2021, Richardson transcended track and field’s niche fandom by winning the U.S. Olympic trials with speed, an auburn-colored weave and an outspoken personality, only for her berth in Tokyo rescinded because of a marijuana violation. In 2022, her comeback tour did not even advance past the semifinals of the U.S. championships.
In 2023, competing in her first world championships, she earned the title as Fastest Woman in the World. The victory finally delivered on her world-class potential that had been held back, she said in May in Los Angeles, often because “it just was me that was standing in my way.” And her performance backed up her preferred line she has repeated while describing herself this year — that “I’m not back, I’m better.”
LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES
From Eric Sondheimer: There was still hope for El Segundo in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday night in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Down by two runs to Texas, El Segundo got two runners aboard after hit batters with two out. Up to the plate came Louis Lappe, El Segundo’s power-hitting infielder. In the first inning, he had hit a towering solo home run to center field.
But Texas relief pitcher Easton Ondruch came through. He got Lappe to ground out, enabling Texas to come away with a 3-1 victory and send El Segundo into a loser’s bracket game on Tuesday. The team from Needville, Texas, just outside of Houston, was led by DJ Jablonski, who struck out five in 5 1/3 innings and also hit a home run.
El Segundo’s pitching staff will now be severely tested if it expects to reach the U.S. championship game Saturday. El Segundo will need wins on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1950 — Althea Gibson becomes the first Black tennis player to be accepted in competition for the national championship.
1957 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Pete Rademacher in the sixth round to retain his world heavyweight title at Sicks Stadium in Seattle.
1965 — In the third inning of a game against Los Angeles, pitcher Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants hits catcher John Roseboro of the Dodgers in the head with his bat. A 14-minute brawl ensues and Roseboro suffers cuts on the head. Marichal thought Roseboro threw too close to his head when returning the ball to Sandy Koufax.
1984 — Evelyn Ashford sets the world record in the 100-meter dash with a clocking of 10.76 seconds in a meet at Zurich, Switzerland.
1987 — Brazil snaps the 34-game winning streak of the U.S. men’s basketball team with a 120-115 victory in the Pan Am Games. Oscar Schmidt scores 46 points to lead Brazil. Cuba wins a record 10 of 12 gold medals in boxing and beats the U.S. 13-9 in the baseball final.
1989 — Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers becomes the first pitcher to strike out 5,000 batters in a 2-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Ryan fans Rickey Henderson swinging on a 3-2, 96 mph fastball for No. 5,000.
2004 — American sprinter Justin Gatlin wins the coveted Olympic 100m gold medal in Athens in 9.85 ahead of Francis Obikwelu of Portugal & American Maurice Greene.
2007 — The Texas Rangers becomes the first team in 110 years to score 30 runs in a game, setting an American League record in a 30-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of a doubleheader.
2008 — Usain Bolt helps Jamaica win the 400-meter relay final in 37.10 seconds for his third gold medal and third world record of the Beijing Games. Bolt becomes only the fourth man, and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, to win all three Olympic sprint events. Bryan Clay wins the decathlon, the first American to win the 10-discipline event at the Olympics since Dan O’Brien at Atlanta in 1996.
2018 — Ohio State suspends football coach Urban Meyer three games for mishandling repeated professional and behavioral problems of an assistant coach, with investigators finding Meyer protected his protege for years through domestic violence allegations, a drug problem and poor job performance.
2018 — The NCAA ditches the RPI for its own evaluation tool to select teams for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Evaluation Tool will rely on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and quality of wins and losses. NET will be used for the 2018-19 season by the committee that selects schools and seeds the tournament.
—Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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