Brandon Sosna, Mike Bohn’s right-hand man at USC, won’t comment on possible jump to NFL

Since following athletic director Mike Bohn from Cincinnati to USC in late 2019, Brandon Sosna has played a substantial role in reshaping USC athletics as Bohn’s chief of staff. It’s only natural that another organization might eventually come calling.

Yahoo Sports reported last week Sosna met with the Detroit Lions to discuss a front-office role. Sosna declined to comment on that report Thursday while meeting with reporters to discuss the state of USC’s football program, but he explained that “it would take something pretty significant for me to want to leave here.”

“I think what I would say is that one sign of a healthy and well-respected program is when people are trying to hire your people,” Sosna said. “Whether that’s administrative staff, our coaches in football, our coaches in other sports, if we’re not being talked about, if our staff aren’t being recruited, then we’re doing it wrong.”

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Sosna, 28, was first hired by Bohn in 2015 at Cincinnati, where he immediately rose from the marketing department to be Bohn’s right-hand man. Sosna would eventually be Bohn’s first hire at USC and has since been integral in building much of the department’s staff over his 20 months at USC, in addition to pioneering other major infrastructure upgrades within the football program.

Sosna left a job with Bohn for the NFL once before, joining the Cleveland Browns’ front office, where he was ultimately promoted to the position of contract and salary cap analyst. It was with the Browns during the 2017-18 seasons that he would work with longtime NFL executive John Dorsey, who now serves in a personnel executive role with the Lions.

“Brandon is a unique talent,” Bohn said Thursday. “He’s connected with partners across campus in a way that’s unprecedented. I tip my hat to him.”

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But for all the moves they’ve made in 20 months, Sosna assured he and Bohn “have a lot of work left to do” at USC.

“I’m excited to continue to do my part to make it our personal mission for us to deliver the championship program that Trojan fans have come to expect,” Sosna said.