Cohen's operating budget is in the low-mid $90mil range.
He's a lot more qualified than what is widely known about him, yes. He was at the interview table when Barnhart made hires, when Byrne made hires, and when Stricklin made hires. He's very intertwined with those people -- and was a highly-relied upon consultant throughout those processes.
That said, he's a long way from a guaranteed homerun hire. As is his baseball successor. It could certainly turn into gold -- or it could just as easily turn into a Peter Sirmon kind of deal.
I think the most annoying part of the whole thing -- to me -- is that ever since the Byrne era began with the spurning of Ron Polk, the hiring of Cohen, the firing of Croom, and the hiring of Mullen -- we've spent a ton of time thinking we were on a brand new path toward a bright future. That the "old rules" that governed MSU no longer applied. The last few months have been a ***** slap back to reality on some of that stuff. Midyear AD change -- midyear baseball change(3 weeks from NSD) in a big fundraising time trying to build an unmatched stadium -- zero experience from both guys inheriting those positions -- football tanking -- etc...
