John Cohen

[Bothrops]

Not heart broken about losing Cohen, never been a huge fan of him as our AD. His track record is not so great in the major sports. Cannizzaro was a bad hire (I originally gave Cohen a pass on this one until I got some additional insight that changed my perspective), NML was a disaster, JoMo wasn't good (even if it was a great hire on paper, he botched the firing after the egg bowl so we waited until after the bowl game), he ran his mouth during the second baseball search. The jury is still out on the new basketball hires (I hope both do very well). IMO all coaching hires are crapshoots BUT he really hasn't hit on the first one in any sport. As far as raising $$; my enthusiasm to give is lower than it has ever been. I gave up my football tickets 2 years ago (had same seats for a decade+). I still give but not as much and as enthusiastically as I used to.

All that being said it is concerning to me that we are losing our second alumnus AD to another program. My question is why? Cohen took a substantial pay cut to become AD; so hard to believe it's money. Cohen does t strike me as a guy that believes MSU/he can't compete, so it isn't that. Auburn is. Dumpster fire in football, and known for being run by boosters. Plus it's little brother to Bama. So it isn't like he's leaving for a no-lose
Situation. So shy leave?

All I can figure is:

1. Cohen has some things he wants to pursue to better the program and his upper leadership is stifling him so he's leaving
OR
2. He feels
That he's tied to Leach and that he is not going to be successful here and wants to get out while he can.


What do y'all think "

Good post.

Few things,

Auburn is a mess in football, but one correct hire can clean that up extremely fast. It's not like here, where that isn't going to happen. Auburn basketball is where MSU basketball should be, currently, or at least should have been at some point over the last decade. Instead, they have the new building, and a recent final 4, while we are attempting to revamp a campus eyesore to gain support/attendance back that has evaporated. Auburn baseball is competitive, a step down from here, but you can bet a new emphasis will be placed regarding the program under Cohen. Those are some realities and selling points.

The negatives are very real as well. The football program will need a successful, sitting head coach from a P5 program that checks all the criteria. A big recruiter, a successful, proven scheme of offense, someone that can handle booster clubs on the merit of results and won't capitulate to big money assholes that don't know what they're talking about. A significant network of coaching connections. Real knowledge of the SEC landscape, not bullshit talk from some yankee or west coast journeyman. And a big recruiter that understands real rivalries.

If they can pull that off in football, Cohen will be successful, if they don't, he won't.