Washington president Ana Mari Cauce thanked outgoing athletic director Jen Cohen in a release on Monday, saying the school was grateful for her 25 years of “outstanding service.”

Cohen was officially unveiled as the next athletic director at USC on Monday. In a press conference with the Trojans, it was revealed that Cohen would begin in her new role on Tuesday. As such, UW has appointed deputy athletic director Erin O’Connell to serve as the school’s interim AD while it begins a search for a permanent replacement.

Here is Cauce’s full statement:

We’re grateful to Jennifer Cohen for her 25 years of outstanding service to the University of Washington, including the last seven years as the Director of Athletics. We wish her success in her next endeavor, and we thank her for all that she has done to make Husky Athletics a thriving program for our student-athletes and our global community of alumni, fans and supporters. Under her leadership, the Huskies achieved tremendous success on the field of competition, and her commitment to excellence helped enable our student-athletes to develop and succeed in the classroom, as competitors and as people. We appreciate the solid footing on which she leaves the program, and her extraordinary leadership through the challenges posed by the COVID pandemic. I am pleased that Erin O’Connell, Deputy Athletics Director, will serve as interim AD. The UW will be launching a national search for our next Director of Athletics and we look forward to this next phase in our storied athletics program.

O’Connell has been with Cohen at UW since Cohen was hired as the athletic director. In her role as deputy AD, she was responsible for nine sports and oversaw event management, facilities and operations, sports administration/operation, and IT staff.

Prior to joining UW, O’Connell served as the athletic director at Seattle Pacific University from 2009-15. She’s a UW graduate and former Husky student-athlete.