Is John Cohen leaving Mississippi State?

At 11:15 this morning, I received an ESPN notification that Auburn has started having conversations about hiring Mississippi State’s current athletic director, John Cohen. John Cohen stepped into the role of athletic director on November 4th, 2016, after Scott Stricklin moved over to the University of Florida. Before Cohen was the athletic director, he was the head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team for eight seasons prior to 2016.

Auburn University has had its obvious struggles this 2022 college football season. The Auburn Tigers football team is currently 3-4 this season under the leadership of head coach, Bryan Harsin.

Currently, Auburn University’s interim athletic director is Rich McGlynn who stepped into that role in September of this year. I think Auburn knew that it was only a matter of time, interviews, and conversations before they would be looking elsewhere. Now, their attention is on the Mississippi State AD, John Cohen.

The Bulldog faithful and Mississippi State fanbase have their own opinion and thoughts on John Cohen, but under his leadership, the Bulldogs have hired some big names as far as Mississippi State has had in the past. John Cohen has hired a total of fourteen coaches during his time at Mississippi State. Obviously, Mike Leach is the biggest name, but he has also hired Chris Jans as the Mississippi State men’s basketball head coach, Sam Purcell as the Mississippi State women’s basketball head coach, and Chris Lemonis as Mississippi State’s baseball head coach.

Say what you would like about John Cohen, but he hired the guy, Chris Lemonis, that brought Mississippi State its first-ever national championship trophy back to Starkville, Mississippi. Any athletic director to hire a coach that brings the university a national championship can be seen as accomplished.

So, who would the Mississippi State Bulldogs hire as its next athletic director? It will certainly be discussed right here at Maroon and White Nation.