Auburn announced the hire of John Cohen as its new athletic director on Halloween, 2022. He finished his first year at Auburn on Tuesday.
He begins every day at Beard-Eaves Memorial Colesium at 6:30 a.m. in an Auburn T-shirt, shorts and his running shoes. He walks up to the concourse of the old basketball arena and begins to run laps, listening to a book or a podcast. He’ll check his emails and respond to texts before his real work day begins.
So he gave out his cell phone number. As he began reading off the digits, a student in the back of the room interrupted him.“John Cohen,” he responded. Then Cohen pointed to Pearl. “He doesn’t have that problem.” His one-year anniversary marks the end of a busy first 12 months that included a football coaching search the moment he walked in the door, a stadium renovation and dozens of minor early adjustments to Auburn’s athletics programs.John Cohen speaks at an all-staff meeting. He reached his one-year anniversary as Auburn's athletic director on Tuesday.There is a certain magic to growing up in an SEC college town, Cohen said.
Mississippi State coach John Cohen, right talks with a game official during the 37 minute interruption in electrical power during the seventh inning of an NCAA Super Regional baseball tournament game in Starkville, Miss., Friday, June 10, 2016. He coached at Mississippi State for eight years and toward the end, began to help in the athletics administration departments in Starkville.
Athletics Director John Cohen during the game between the Tuskegee Golden Tigers and the Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Thursday, Nov 3, 2022. Zach Bland/Auburn TigersIt wasn’t a perfect position, but a place Cohen felt he could mold. And all the while doing so at a school he called a giant in his own home state.
“I think they were nervous,” Nelle Cohen said of their families. “They weren’t intimidated by Mississippi State, so they could cheer for Mississippi State and still be Alabama fans. But when they heard Auburn they were like, ‘Okay now I’m scared, because I know how competitive John is.” And a few weeks later, Auburn played the Iron Bowl in Cohen’s hometown. John and Nelle Cohen told their families they could come to the game with them, but they couldn’t wear crimson.
Cohen said he made over 100 phone calls — including to the police officers who work with Freeze — in hopes of assuring he made the right decision. That answer won’t be known for years. Hobart has played a key role in the changes to fan experience at Jordan-Hare Stadium this season as well as finalizing plans for theA trademark of Cohen’s athletic departments is a push for more premium seating. This is a plan often met with criticism for hurting the average fan’s ability to go to games on a smaller budget.
But on seemingly any Auburn social media post about stadium changes or improvements, most of the comments are about getting an upgrade from the small, video-less north endzone scoreboard.General view of Jordan-Hare Stadium during the first half of an NCAA football game between Georgia and Auburn on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. There are still new light shows at the football game Hobart hasn’t been able to use yet.
The John Cohen at Auburn is looser, still under the weight of a passionate fanbase but free from the ties the former Mississippi State baseball coach can’t pull back in Starkville.
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