Washington Huskies have reached an agreement to sign Troy Dannen’s replacement.

There could have been a worse time for athletic director Troy Dannen to leave Washington in the dust, but nothing comes to mind. Even Oregon and Washington State, with their heads together and imaginations in command, could not have created anything that matched the reality unfolding on Montlake.

Dannen accepted the same position at Nebraska on Wednesday, just five and a half months after being presented by the Huskies and declaring it to be his “last job.”

Dannen’s time in purple was eventful. The Huskies won the Pac-12 football title, played for the national championship, lost coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, hired Jedd Fisch from Arizona and just fired men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins — all in the 165 days of Dannen’s employment.

Now they must hire a basketball coach without an athletic director. Good luck with that.

What’s next for UW athletics? How will president Ana Mari Cauce manage the searches?

There are three parts to determining Dannen’s replacement: the executive placement company of record, the hiring model, and the prospect pool.

Let us take them one by one.

The search firm

It is common practice for universities to use executive placement agencies during the hiring process, particularly for athletic directors. After all, presidents have no idea which candidates across the country are highly respected and which are not.

When Jen Cohen departed Washington (for USC) this summer, Cauce hired Parker Executive Search to lead the transition.

Parker believed Dannen fit the criterion and added him to a short list of candidates for Cauce to consider.

Obviously, the fit was off on both ends. According to accounts, Dannen was not warmly accepted on Montlake and never felt at ease there.

And, when Nebraska started looking for an athletic director last week, which firm did they hire? Yes, Parker.

At that point, it became easy enough for Dannen to let his Parker pals know he’d listen to any offer that came his way.

Does Cauce plan to hire Parker again as she conducts the Jen Cohen Replacement Search 2.0?