[4] Dannen covered softball for a local newspaper and officiated high school sporting events while in college, and later served as the public address announcer for Drake women's basketball for a single season.
He inherited a football program without a head coach following the firing of Curtis Johnson; a week later, Dannen announced the hiring of Willie Fritz from Georgia Southern.
Dannen hired Vanderbilt assistant Travis Jewett to lead the Green Wave program, which made the College World Series in 2001 and 2005 but had missed the postseason for six consecutive years prior to Pierce's arrival.
[6] The Huskies, fast approaching a transition from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big Ten, reached the College Football Playoff National Championship under head coach Kalen DeBoer shortly after Dannen's hiring.
Following the season, Dannen and UW tabled a contract worth $9.4 million annually to DeBoer, who instead accepted an offer to replace Nick Saban as Alabama's head coach.
[1] After nine years working outside the region, Dannen cited his Midwestern roots and Lincoln's proximity to both his and his wife's families as contributing factors to his sudden departure from Washington.