Southern California, the college football powerhouse, on Wednesday named the Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver and U.S.C. alumnus Lynn Swann as its next athletic director. He will replace Pat Haden, who announced in February that he would step down at the end of June.
“To his new role, Mr. Swann will bring the heart and soul of a Trojan,” President C. L. Max Nikias said in a letter.
It escaped nobody’s attention that the same could have been said of Haden, who was Swann’s teammate at U.S.C. for two seasons.
“That’s no surprise,” said Bill Carr, a former athletic director at Houston and Florida who now consults on athletic department hiring.