Lynn Swann named USC's next athletic director

ByABC7.com staff KABC logo
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Lynn Swann, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, will replace Pat Haden as USC's athletic director.
Lynn Swann, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, will replace Pat Haden as USC's athletic director.
KABC-KABC

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Lynn Swann has been named USC's next athletic director, university officials announced Wednesday.

Swann, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, replaces Pat Haden, who will step down effective June 30.

Swann, a four-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers, played for the Trojans and was selected with the 21st overall pick of the NFL draft in 1974.

He won a national championship at USC while playing for John McKay in 1972, when the Trojans went 12-0. He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

"To his new role, Lynn Swann will bring the heart and soul of a Trojan," President C.L. Max Nikias said in a statement.

Haden, who has a pacemaker, will start a one-year job overseeing the renovation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after leaving the athletic department.

Haden has run USC's athletic department for 5 1/2 years, taking over from Mike Garrett in 2010 and leading the Trojans through a multiyear stretch of NCAA sanctions against its vaunted football program.

The 63-year-old played for the Rams from 1976-81 before becoming a broadcaster, a practicing attorney and a successful partner of a private equity firm.

USC has won 10 national championships in other sports during Haden's last five years, second only to the University of Florida in that span.

The Associated Press and ESPN contributed to this report