A Seattle Times story last April posited that Washington athletic director Jennifer Cohen “just might be the best bargain in major college athletics.”
It was an easy argument to understand. After all, the Tacoma native and lifelong Husky fan was earning an annual base salary of $460,000 on a five-year deal, plus a $60,000 retention bonus. According to a study from AthleticDirectorU.com, that was “the lowest annual guaranteed compensation relative to departmental expenses” of all 65 Power Five conference programs.
Moreover, Washington was winning — on and off the field. Chris Petersen’s football program had just wrapped up its third consecutive season with at least 10 wins, and first-year men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins immediately orchestrated a turnaround of his own, flipping a 9-22 team into a 21-13 contender.