Will Stay On In New Coliseum Renovation Role
San Marino resident Pat Haden will retire from his role as athletic director at USC effective June 30, 2016, it was reported today by President C.L. Max Nikias.
Haden has agreed to a one-year term to guide USC’s renovation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Beginning July 1, 2016, and ending June 30, 2017, he will maintain an office in the Bovard Administration Building, working with Nikias as he heads a fundraising initiative focused on renewing the venerable stadium, home of Trojan football.
In the summer of 2010, Haden stepped away from his longtime role as a trustee of the university in order to take the helm of USC Athletics, at a time when the department faced unprecedented pressure – externally and internally. USC Athletics had received NCAA penalties of unprecedented harshness only weeks earlier; and its physical and academic infrastructure urgently required improvement to bring it in line with the university’s overall dramatic progress in recent years.
“Pat has accomplished USC’s objectives here through his distinct blend of integrity, energy, wisdom, and character,” said Nikias. “He moved into Heritage Hall on August 3, 2010, the same day I stepped into the USC presidency. And during a time in which intercollegiate athletics has been undergoing unpredictable transformation at a national level, Pat developed and executed a blueprint for how athletics and academics can reinforce one another at an academically elite private research university with a public-minded mission.”
Nikias also said the university has retained a search firm to determine Haden’s successor.
Upon being named athletic director in 2010, Haden asked staff members to contact The Tribune for his first official interview.
