Lynn Swann resigned as athletic director at Southern Cal, the university announced Monday after reports began to surface within the Los Angeles media.
In a story posted to the USC website, university president Carol Folt said through a statement that Dave Roberts, her special adviser, will handle Swann’s duties as the interim AD before a permanent replacement is hired.
“Lynn has been a leader on and off the field at USC for nearly five decades, and he will forever be a valued member of the Trojan family,” Folt said in a letter to the USC community.
Earlier this year, USC was implicated in the national college-admissions cheating, bribery and recruitment scandal that also included the athletics department and involved several other high-profile universities.
Prosecutors indicated that clients of William “Rick” Singer paid more than $1.3 million from 2014-18 to USC accounts under the control of former USC senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel during that time. According to Swann, he and the majority of his department were caught off guard by any allegations.
In announcing Swann’s departure, Folt stated that USC Trustee Suzanne Nora Johnson will lead a search committee that includes other trustees, faculty representatives and two student-athletes, to find Swann’s full-time replacement.
Roberts has been at USC since the summer of 2010, serving as vice president of athletics compliance and in 2017 receiving the National Association for Athletics Compliance’s Frank Kara Leadership Award, “the highest honor that may be bestowed upon compliance professionals,” according to the NAAC.
Swann, 67, became the school’s athletic director in April 2016, and indicated in March that he would not resign as part of the fallout from the scandal.
An All-America wide receiver at USC, he won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
–Field Level Media
