Brandon Sosna will be mentioned as Mike Bohn’s possible successor at USC
Purely in terms of on-field results — not internal office behavior or other administrative evaluations — Mike Bohn did improve USC athletics, particularly the football program. Hiring Lincoln Riley undeniably transformed the Trojans from irrelevant to relevant in a very short period of time.
As USC tries to adjust to the reality that Bohn is no longer the school’s athletic director after his resignation on Friday, one basic fact is impossible to ignore: Brandon Sosna, Bohn’s former associate at USC before he left for the NFL’s Detroit Lions, will be mentioned as a possible candidate for the job.
It might be premature to say he’s the favorite, if only because he has to want the job and USC has to want to give him the job. We don’t know yet if either part of that equation has any substance to it. We’ll have to wait and see. If, however, the interest in the job is mutual on both sides, Sosna would then become the favorite.
Let’s discuss this point a little more:
(h/t Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire)
MIKE BOHN AND BRANDON SOSNA HAD CINCY TIES
Mike Bohn’s right-hand man, Brandon Sosna, worked together with Bohn back in their days at the University of Cincinnati. If Bohn hired great coaches (and he did), Sosna had a front-row seat as an observer of how Bohn arrived at these top-tier hiring decisions.
BOHN DESERVES CREDIT
Mike Bohn deserves a lot of credit for Brandon Sosna after the job the two did at USC. When Sosna left for the NFL one year ago, we wrote that “Mike Bohn deserves a lot of credit for what he has achieved as USC’s AD. Brandon Sosna helped Bohn deliver grade-A results.” The idea that Sosna isn’t ready for the top job is, at the very least, a claim which deserves further examination.
SOSNA LEFT FOR THE NFL
Brandon Sosna left for a job in the NFL with the Detroit Lions. With Bohn resigning, Sosna’s name will be a popular choice. It comes down to Sosna wanting to go back to USC, this time as the man in charge.
LUKE FICKELL
Cincinnati Bearcats At Notre Dame Fighting Irish 196
Bohn and Sosna knew what a strong football program looked like before they went to USC. Luke Fickell worked wonders with the Cincinnati Bearcats before moving to Wisconsin. Both Bohn and Sosna are a big reason why:
We noted in 2022 that “the Sosna-Bohn relationship is one reason why Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell was such a prominent and centrally visible name in the 2021 coaching carousel and USC’s head coaching search. Fickell was never offered the job, but his name remained a hot topic in college football coaching carousel conversations until the Trojans landed (Lincoln) Riley on Nov. 28, 2021.”
SOSNA PLAYED KEY ROLE IN LINCOLN RILEY HIRE
Brandon Sosna did a lot of work in the surprising hire (at the time) of Lincoln Riley. Mike Bohn needed Sosna to pull off what was arguably the biggest hire in program history.
CAROL FOLT
This is where the search for the next AD might be complicated — we say “might” because we don’t know the full extent of the problems which led to Bohn’s resignation.
The fact that Bohn and Sosna worked together at Cincinnati and USC could mean that USC President Carol Folt will want a fresh face with no ties to Bohn. In that case, Sosna — even if he wants the USC AD job — won’t be offered the job.
This leads us to the next crucial, central point:
SOSNA-BOHN INTERNAL REALITIES
If Carol Folt finds that Brandon Sosna — to any slight or moderate extent — enabled or otherwise ignored Bohn’s inappropriate behavior, and therefore did not do his level best to create a better, more equitable, and healthier office culture at either Cincinnati or USC (or both), that would sink Sosna’s potential candidacy right there. Anyone following this larger story — USC fans, Los Angeles-based journalists, and national college football observers and commentators — will definitely want to know if Sosna engaged in any problematic behavior. If so, he won’t be USC’s next AD.
If a review or examination of Sosna turn up nothing problematic, there’s a very reasonable chance he’ll succeed his former boss, Mike Bohn.
