Jennifer Cohen, a nationally respected leader in intercollegiate athletics, was named USC’s Charles Griffin Cale Director of Athletics in August 2023.

Since joining USC, Cohen – USC’s first female athletic director – has positioned USC for success in the changed and evolving landscape of college athletics and established USC as the place to be for student-athletes to reach their full potential in all they do.

In 2024-25, Cohen oversaw USC’s historic transition into the Big Ten Conference, during which USC captured its 137th national championship (Men’s Indoor Track & Field) and two Big Ten championships (Women’s Soccer and Women’s Basketball). USC’s Men’s Water Polo program also secured its third straight MPSF Tournament Championship in 2024 before finishing national runners-up.

In Cohen’s first year at USC, USC Beach Volleyball claimed its fourth straight national championship, bringing USC’s all-time total to 136 national titles. Across all programs, 15 Trojan teams finished the 2023-24 year ranked in the national top 25, with 10 teams in the top 10. Individually, USC produced three NCAA champions, 23 conference title winners, and five Conference Players of the Year.

Since Cohen’s arrival, USC student-athletes have also achieved record marks in the classroom. In Fall 2024, USC student-athletes earned the highest cumulative GPA in department history (3.178) for the second consecutive term, with 19 teams posting a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Women’s basketball set a program-best 3.379 term GPA, and four teams – football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and lacrosse – set new highs for the number of student-athletes earning a 3.0+. A total of 339 student-athletes reached a 3.0+ GPA, and 171 earned Dean’s List honors. USC also posted a record Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 94%, with 13 teams earning perfect 100% scores, and set a new all-time high Academic Progress Rate (APR) of 991 in June 2024.

Cohen has strengthened the foundation for long-term success at USC through strategic leadership, campus and community collaboration, ambitious fundraising and strategic hires. Under her leadership, USC secured a $50 million gift to establish the Bloom Football Performance Center – one of the largest athletic donations in university history – and increased the number of cornerstone donors to USC’s Athletics West capital projects, which have already surpassed $174 million in fundraising efforts. She has also helped accelerate growth around NIL opportunities in collaboration with House of Victory, South Bay Athletic Club, and other partners, more than tripling USC’s available pool of funds for student-athlete Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities. She has also elevated the athletic department’s leadership with key hires, including men’s basketball head coach Eric Musselman, football defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, and football general manager Chad Bowden.

In 2024, Cohen was named to the Advisory Council for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, which focuses on strengthening and leading collaboration efforts to align the college athletic landscape and Olympic and Paralympic movements to support Team USA college athletes. USC extended its rich Olympic & Paralympic Legacy at the 2024 Paris Games, winning seven gold medals, two silvers, and six bronzes.

Prior to USC, Cohen served as Athletic Director at the University of Washington from 2016 to 2023. Her tenure included 19 Pac-12 championships, a College Football Playoff appearance, three straight New Year’s Six bowl berths, multiple NCAA postseason appearances across sports, and national titles in men’s and women’s rowing. She negotiated a landmark $190 million apparel deal with Adidas and spearheaded the university’s entrance into the Big Ten Conference. As one of her last acts as the Huskies’ athletic director, Cohen was instrumental in leading Washington’s successful effort to join the Big Ten Conference in 2024.

Cohen hired a number of successful head coaches while leading Washington, including 2023 AP National Coach of the Year and two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year Kalen Deboer (football), two-time national champion women’s rowing coach Yazmin Farooq, two-time Pac-12 Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year Andy Powell, 2023 Pac-12 Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year Maurica Powell, and 2022 Pac-12 Men’s Golf Coach of the Year Alan Murray.

Under Cohen’s leadership, student-athletes thrived in the classroom. During the 2022-23 academic year Washington posted its highest-ever, department-wide NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR), with eight of the university’s teams leading the Pac-12 Conference in GSR.

Cohen joined Washington as an assistant director of development in 1998, before moving to the university’s central development office to focus on fundraising efforts on behalf of the office of undergraduate education. She also spent time with Washington’s regional gifts program before returning to athletics to oversee the department’s major gifts program.

Before arriving at Washington, Cohen held a variety of roles in intercollegiate athletics administration at Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound and Texas Tech.

Among her many accomplishments, Cohen was a finalist for the Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year in 2019.

A native of Arcadia, California, Cohen earned her bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University and her master’s in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration from Pacific Lutheran University. She has also held athletic administrative roles at Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, and Texas Tech.

Cohen has two sons, Tyson (23) and Dylan (20).