Chris Kabourek
University of Nebraska Interim President
Troy Dannen Introductory Press Conference
March 26, 2024

“Good afternoon. My name is Chris Kabourek and I have the extreme honor and privilege of serving as the Interim President for the University of Nebraska system and what a great day we have here to introduce Troy Dannen and his family to Nebraska. I first want to say a few words of thanks to some really important people in the room. First, I want to thank all of the members of the Husker Athletic Department. Our coaches, our staff, our student-athletes and all of you, our friends and supporters. Days like this, it truly takes a village and being a lifelong Nebraskan I couldn’t have done this without all of you. So sincerely, thank you for all your support and everything you do for Husker athletics. I need to thank my family. My wife, Jamie, my three boys, Aidan, Sam and Charlie. I’ve learned when you go through a search like this you need to give it all your time and effort. I essentially went into the bunker for several days and did not come out until we got this done. I missed some baseball games and missed some family time, but you can’t do this job without a supportive family. So, Jamie, Aidan, Sam and Charlie, I love you and thank you for letting me do what I love to do. When you do a search like this you need to have a very close knit group of people in your foxhole that you can trust and lean on and get counsel and advice. So I want to thank the tiger team of people who gave me advice and input. That includes Chairman of the Board, Rob Schafer, Jim Pillen, Jamie Vaughn, our Husker Athletic Director of Compliance, and Coach Rhule. They took my calls any time of the day, night or day, and I couldn’t have done it without each and every one of them. Finally I want to thank someone who I didn’t really know too well until I got in this position. This person has been a voice of calm, steady and capable leadership throughout this whirlwind in our latest chapter of our Husker history. Someone who when we asked him to serve did not hesitate to step up. Someone who did not want the spotlight, but only wanted to support our student-athletes, coaches and staff through this transition. Please join me in a big round of applause for Dennis Leblanc and all that he did. March 13th, quite a day. Most of you know me, I’m a lifelong Nebraskan and bleed Husker red. I was as shocked as anybody in Husker nation when Trev (Alberts) called me to tell me he was moving on to Texas A&M. I sincerely appreciate everything Trev did. He made this place better and I wish nothing but the best for him and Amy in their new journey. I’m a youth coach and a referee, and my team here has been saying this all the time. We can only control what we can control. It wasn’t a time to look in the rearview mirror but to look forward on the path before us. I gave myself about an hour to digest the news after I talked to Trev and then I only did what I know Nebraskans to do. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I know you’ve read a lot about different leadership searches going on at the University of Nebraska. I think it’s really easy to conflate one with the other but each and every search follows its own process. Whether it's the president which takes a very long time like a marathon. Almost like the Daytona 500 when maybe you tune in just to watch the crashes or the last three laps, but what I learned about the athletic industry is that it's a sprint, not only a 40-yard dash but maybe a 10-yard dash, green light and go so I knew we had to move very fast. I knew we couldn’t stand still and it’s thanks to these people in the room. Our staff, coaches, and student-athletes. There is so much momentum within our athletic department in this state. It was no time to hit the pause button. We’re doing great things, from our basketball who had an exhilarating March Madness to baseball and softball who are off to amazing starts. I don’t need to explain what our women’s soccer programs did to what our volleyball program did last fall. And I know what Coach Rhule is going to do for our football program going forward. Not to mention what Dennis and everybody in the athletic department did for our student-athletes and their success in the classroom. I may be in the interim role, but I am fortunate the Board of Regents entrusted me with the full authority of the president to move quickly and be decisive on this Athletic Director search. That’s a good thing because when we have momentum and have success and a leadership transition happens, guess what. People like Amy (Williams), Fred (Hoiberg) and our student-athletes get calls about other opportunities at other institutions. So I’m very grateful for the Board of Regents and their support in Dennis and myself in being decisive and building the right team going forward. I knew right away I had a list of things I knew I was looking for in our next Athletic Director. Someone who had a Nebraska work ethic.  Someone who is smart, strategic, who is aligned with our vision for excellence across the institution. Someone who wouldn’t need a lot of hand-holding or onboarding, who could get right in the room with Big Ten and NCAA leaders and be a leading voice in these conversations about the changing landscape in college athletics. Someone with football experience, football chops, who could be a great partner with Coach Rhule as we bring Husker football back to national prominence. Someone who would fight for our student-athletes and coaches, and maybe most important, someone who wants to be on Team Nebraska. Someone who sees what we have going on here and wants to be a part of it, who recognizes that Nebraska is a special, special place with special people. Who understands what a privilege and responsibility it is to wear the red N and is going to represent the University of Nebraska with pride, integrity and competitiveness. Ladies and gentlemen, in Troy Dannen we’ve found that person. As I said last week, I was overwhelmed by the interest we got from across the country in our position. That affirmed to me that Nebraska is on the map. Nebraska is a power player and I took many many opportunities for phone calls but over and over again Troy came to the top of my list. Troy is someone with deep midwest ties, with football chops. Who wants to compete and win in all facets. When we spoke I saw right away Nebraska would be a good fit for him and his family and vice versa. He grew up on a farm. He knows how to work hard. He’s a fighter. He’s worked at institutions with less resources. He brought academic excellence up and how our vision to get back into the AAU resonated with him. He has Big Ten experience and is deeply engaged in complex issues in Division one athletics. I am a big destiny person. Sometimes the stars just simply align for you and I saw that with Troy. And in searches like these when you sense that you’re the green light. When you sense that you have the right person and that they’re moveable, you have to put the hammer down and go for it, and that’s what we did. At about 4 in the morning last Wednesday, Troy and I reached a deal. I knew it was sealed in my mind that we had the right person because I asked Troy when do you want to start? He’s like , ‘what are you talking about? I’m going to start today. Get me to Lincoln I’m gonna go to football practice. Then I want to go to Memphis and support Fred (Hoiberg) and the men. Then I want to come back and watch softball and baseball games on Saturday, and then we’re going to Corvallis and rooting on the women's team.’ And that’s exactly what he did. That’s the kind of work ethic I know Nebraskans are going to embrace. So, Troy, Amy, Elle and William we are going to bring you up here in a few minutes but we are so glad you’re here and we can’t wait to see what you’re going to do for the University of Nebraska. This is the start of a great chapter of Husker athletics.”