Appearing on a local radio show three days after he was named the new athletic director at the University of Washington, Troy Dannen commented that big budgets don't win games, people do. He went on to add, "If budgets won championships, Ohio State and Texas would win everything — and they haven't won much lately."

Dannen's comments seem rather disingenuous given that Ohio State has obviously been one of the most successful CFB programs historically and especially over the past two decades, winning a national championship as recently as 2014, with 4 CFP appearances in the last five years. Washington has one CFP appearance total and hasn't won a natty since 1991, and a shared one at that. Their last Pac 12 championships came in 2016 and 2018, and 2000 (a three way tie) before that. Dannen came over from Tulane, which does not exactly have a rich history of success in football. Could he be talking about athletics in general? Ohio State is usually one of the highest ranked schools in the Learfield Director's Cup standings, finishing third in the nation last year, with multiple national championships to boot (Texas finished 2nd and Washington 21st).

With Washington set to join the Big Ten next season, Dannen seems intent on stirring up the waters. Can't wait until the Buckeyes and Huskies meet in 2025, and beginning next year in all the other sports. I understand wanting to rally your fan base, and even Woody said that you win with people. But man, show a little class and humility. You can probably make your point without calling out certain schools, especially one in whose conference you are about to join, and has been the alpha dog of said conference for years.

https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/college/football/2023/10/10/washin...