Pat Chun finished his opening remarks with a phrase that drew applause from a crowd of supporters clad in purple.

“Go Dawgs,” he said.

Chun was introduced Thursday as the new athletic director at the University of Washington, leaving behind six years in the same role at Washington State to take the reins of the rival program that will begin life in the Big Ten Conference this fall.

Since the middle of last summer, Chun had been locked in a fight with Washington and the rest of the Pac-12 members that are departing for new conferences at the end of this academic year, amid the collapse of what was the flagship conference on the West Coast. He fought on behalf of Washington State for the survival of its athletic programs as one of the two schools — along with Oregon State — left out in the last round of conference realignment.

“I look at the last six months and it’s just another experience to help shape me,” Chun said.

Chun will take over for Troy Dannen, who surprisingly left Washington after less than six months on the job to take the same position at Nebraska last week. But Chun’s hiring should bring stability after it seemed a little more than a week ago Washington was listing in the wrong direction. The Huskies didn’t have an athletic director. They didn’t have a basketball coach.

And yet, on back-to-back days, Washington introduced new basketball coach Danny Sprinkle and then Chun.