John Cohen the new AD per Bonner

[DogStuckAtUM.sixpack]

Link

Not a fan of the news. At all.

EDIT: Kudos to Bonner for his reporting on this. He's been spot on the entire time.

 

[patdog]

Hope it works out better than I'm afraid it might. I do think engie made some good points about Cohen probably being more qualified than most former coaches. Also, very interested to see who this big name coach we've supposedly got lined up to replace Cohen.

 

[MSUDC11]

Will judge the AD hire once I know who the new baseball coach is.

You go and hire a huge name, then I'm great with both.

Settle for Gary Henderson and then I think you've made two mistakes.

It's double or nothing for me.

 

[Xenomorph]

iBastard and the Yankee ******* make quite the odd couple... Wonder how that first meeting goes.

 

[rem101]

It won't be Henderson.

 

[FQDawg]

We might as well have brought Larry Templeton back...

This is a perfect example of us settling to be "little ole MSU."

I hope I'm wrong but I feel like this hire will likely undo all the great progress we've made under Byrne and Stricklin.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

Less than a month before baseball signing period...

 

[1msucub]

David Murray just said on H2H yesterday that there was nothing to that rumor, we'd have names in a few days, and an announcement by the end of the month. If it IS Cohen.....I just don't know what to say about any of it.

 

[Xenomorph]

Not trolling.. honestly curious why you think so... How is Cohen similar to LT?

 

[dorndawg]

So now we have an AD with no experience and we've lost our very good baseball coach... Awesome. Wow.

 

[Junction John]

We will be alright. One sport I'm not worried about is baseball.

In fact, all the people who have said Cohen tinkered too much, was too analytical, etc. should be excited. He can put all those powerpoints to good use in the AD office.

 

[JungRebel]

Did Cohen want to retire? He's only 50 years old. I understand wanting to be AD of your university, but it just seems strange that he could give up coaching baseball in the prime of his career.

 

[FQDawg]

It's not that Cohen is exactly like LT...

It's the fact that we had the whole wide world of college athletics to consider and we settle on a guy who has zero administrative experience. And, no, being a baseball coach doesn't count. This is something we would have done in the LT era.

We need someone who can continue the work that Byrne and Stricklin did in marketing and fundraising. We need someone who is willing to continue to push Mississippi State forward. We need outside ideas and experience. Cohen doesn't bring any of that.

We needed to continue to look forward as an athletic department and as a university. This hire is nothing more than us looking down at our feet

 

[OliveBranchDAWG]

On the bright side, we will be the first football team sponsored by Easton**

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Cohen is nothing like LT.

Let's let this play out. I have a feeling that there is a plan in place with regards to baseball. This move would not be made right now if Cohen/Keenum did not have a replacement or two in mind- probably having made contact already.

This has the same feel as when we fired Rick Ray two weeks after the season- it's a move you don't make unless there is a plan in place. Pay attention as names start leaking out within the next day or two, and I would pay extra close attention to Kendall Rogers's reporting...

Also, Bonner did a great job reporting on this. The one bright spot in an abysmal sports section.

 

[EngDawg]

My major concern about Cohen is how someone with the nickname of "Intense Bastard" is going to be able to kiss all of the Cigar Boys' baby's. I've heard rumors that Cohen isn't well liked by many of the big money people.

 

[patdog]

In fact, all the people who have said Cohen tinkered too much, was too analytical, etc. should be excited. He can put all those powerpoints to good use in the AD office.

This is one thing I do like about the hire. Cohen had some great years for us, and some terrible ones. But his constant tinkering and over-thinking infuriated me. I do admit that sometimes it worked, but sometimes it blew up in his face.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

It's the fact that we had the whole wide world of college athletics to consider and we settle on a guy who has zero administrative experience. And, no, being a baseball coach doesn't count. This is something we would have done in the LT era.

We need someone who can continue the work that Byrne and Stricklin did in marketing and fundraising. We need someone who is willing to continue to push Mississippi State forward. We need outside ideas and experience. Cohen doesn't bring any of that.

We needed to continue to look forward as an athletic department and as a university. This hire is nothing more than us looking down at our feet

I understand and share many of your concerns. Let's see how it plays out first though.

 

[Junction John]

OR, we just made a great hire of a brilliant AD, who happens to be a Bulldog, is very knowledgeable and has great contacts in the college baseball world, and who will hire the exact right person to take this team to a NC in 2018.

Honestly, I could see it going either way.

As a bonus, he won't roll over and be the inside spoon for Mullen.

 

[Xenomorph]

Fair enough.. I guess we all hope you're wrong. I'll give the guy a chance since somebody thought he was the man for the job.

 

[rem101]

Here's what I've heard regarding Cohen and AD:
- Byrne was in town meeting with Keenum. His recommendation was Cohen was the man to hire. Not sure why we sought Byrnes advice, but it doesn't bother me.
- We will not hire someone from within the current baseball program to be the head coach (not sure who it will be). Hope we can hold the class together.

 

[DogStuckAtUM.sixpack]

UPDATE: Sid Salter say: Not so fast. AD search is still going on.

Link.

I reserve the right to edit my original edit about Bonner doing a good job reporting this.*

 

[Junction John]

I think he's thought about being AD as his second career for a while now, and the job just opened up. If he didn't jump on this now, he may be 65 before it opened up again.

 

[Xenomorph]

Shirley that was taken into consideration.

 

[thebushman82]

Sid Salter stated via twitter that Bonner's report is false and the search is still wide open.

 

[Junction John]

That's what I was thinking - this may be the best case scenario, for baseball at least.

And with all the bitching about him that's gone on around here, I can't believe there aren't many more people celebrating this day. They got what they wanted.

 

[DancingRabbit]

Nashville at it again.

UPDATE: Sid Salter say: Not so fast. AD search is still going on.

Link.

I reserve the right to edit my original edit about Bonner doing a good job reporting this.*

nm

 

[Xenomorph]

Is Bonner gonna throw Nashville under the bus if he was wrong?

 

[FQDawg]

I'll be happy if I'm wrong...

I want what's best for Mississippi State and if Cohen is the guy and proves me wrong, I'll happily eat a giant plate of crow. I just don't see anything to be excited about with him.

 

[BigDawg0074]

Word is that Cohen was not hired for the job. Honestly it doesn't make sense to me either but the CL has been right about our AD situation so far.

 

[patdog]

Damn. The Clarion Ledger's sterling reputation for unbiased and accurate sports reporting takes a rare hit. **

Edit to add: Salter's text could just be the administration saying, "Holy ****, we were NOT ready for this to come out so soon. Better have Sid issue a strong denial."

 

[BigDawg0074]

I think State certainly needs a guy that will stand firm against Hevesy's continued employment.

 

[ronpolk]

It's the fact that we had the whole wide world of college athletics to consider and we settle on a guy who has zero administrative experience. And, no, being a baseball coach doesn't count. This is something we would have done in the LT era.

We need someone who can continue the work that Byrne and Stricklin did in marketing and fundraising. We need someone who is willing to continue to push Mississippi State forward. We need outside ideas and experience. Cohen doesn't bring any of that.

We needed to continue to look forward as an athletic department and as a university. This hire is nothing more than us looking down at our feet

I agree that we don't need to lose the marketing aspect that SS brought but that can be found in someone other than the AD spot.

 

[TorchingTime]

So does this mean that Bonner's source on Whisper is wrong?

 

[dawgphd]

If Cohen , do we get a rebate from search firm?

 

[thekimmer]

Not a fan of this....

It does follow an interesting trend in the SEC where two other former baseball coaches became AD's. Skip Bertman at LSU and Ray Tanner at USC. Both were legends on the diamond with multiple NCs to their credit.

However, with that said, this is a new era in college athletics. College athletics is a huge business now and have to be run like one. Marketing, managing technology skills, etc. etc. are a MUST and are not taught to you running BB practice. Sure you can hire people who are good at that stuff but you gotta know who to hire. AD's like Byrne and Stricklin were developed in the same way that coaches are. The learn their craft starting as an assistant and hone those skills over many years and many stops along the way. Being a successful coach does not in any way guarantee you will be a successful AD.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Yeah, I'm not at all excited by this hire, but how do you know that Cohen will not be able to continue the marketing and fundraising efforts of Byrne and Strickline and continue to push Mississippi State forward? I mean, maybe that is exactly what he is going to do.

What you may be thinking is simply that Cohen is a complete unknown as an AD, and you would rather MSU had hired someone who has already proven he can continue the great work of the past 8 years. I would agree with that. But I don't think it is fair to just write off Cohen as incapable of attaining that status, particularly since he seems to have the endorsement of the people who are actually in position to form an opinion on his AD abilities compared to the AD we are losing.

I'm not thrilled, but I'm at least willing to wait and see what happens. I agree with another post in this thread that hiring his own replacement for the baseball team will be an early indicator of his AD acumen

 

[PhredPhantom]

If Cohen is NOT hired as the new AD, will he be willing to stay here as the baseball coach and work under the person that was hired for the job he wanted? Just throwin' that out there.

 

[tired]

For some reason I think Cohen will eventually be a fantastic AD. I think he may have some growing pains but will figure it out & most importantly won't take any **** from the coaches.

 

[patdog]

If Cohen is NOT hired as the new AD, will he be willing to stay here as the baseball coach and work under the person that was hired for the job he wanted? Just throwin' that out there.

That would be a terrible reason to hire Cohen for AD. Hire the best person for the job you can find. If that pisses off any current employees to the point they want to leave, then let them go.