Since his press conference the day after Hugh Freeze was fired, Auburn athletic director John Cohen has made it clear that he will be the one making the decision on who the Tigers’ next coach will be.
“I am the committee,” Cohen said at the time.
However, that doesn’t mean Cohen is shutting everyone out to make this hire. In an interview with AL.com on Tuesday, Cohen reiterated that he will make the decision, but he has “certain people that can answer questions from candidates in a much different way.”
“So, if I have a former player with me and they say, ‘What’s it like to play football at Auburn University? I mean, here’s somebody that can help them with that,” Cohen said. “If they have a question about our third party, and our revenue share stuff, this person over here can answer this question, if they have a question about our personnel in the football building, and our kids, our student athletes, bang, this guy has all that information that he can spun up.
“So, yeah, I mean, there are some folks that are working with me and helping listen. The whole thing about the committee is this, I’m just trying to make the point: ultimately, this is my decision. But nobody with an undertaking like this, nobody with the responsibility of this is not going to listen to people that you respect, and people who have knowledge of the industry.”
When it comes to consulting and taking advice from people on certain candidates, he said in the initial press conference that he’d take information from “industry experts.” Cohen didn’t mention any names in Tuesday’s interview with AL.com, apart from former head basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who now holds the title of Special Assistant to the Athletic Director.
“Bruce is a 65-year-old man who’s been in this industry for a long time,” Cohen said. “So, I think he’s very valuable, and he’s been a great resource for us already.”
Three types of people Cohen mentioned on Tuesday that he’s taken advice from are former Auburn players “from several different decades” (14 to be specific), former players of the coaching candidates and people in the college football TV broadcast industry.
“They have Thursday, Friday meetings with a lot of coaches from around the country before they do the broadcast,” Cohen said when explaining why he’s talking to broadcasters. “That’s fairly typical, and they have some feel.”
The group Cohen talked about leaning on most was former players. Since Freeze was fired, Cohen has mentioned wanting a coach with an “edge” and wanting someone who will push players.
Cohen added that after talking to “many” of Auburn’s current players, he concluded that they too want those same traits in the next coach.
While he said he’s taking input from current Auburn players, Cohen mentioned that players further removed from their college days may have a better feel for how effective a particular coach was for them.
“I go back to the student athlete who might be in the NFL right now, the student athlete who might be 10 years removed from being coached by that person,” Cohen said. “If I can get the former student athlete to say, ‘Hey, you know what, this person really challenged me beyond what I even thought I could do. And as hard as they pushed me, they love me the same amount, and I could feel it.’
“When you get those combination of things, I believe you’re onto something.”
With two weeks until the regular season comes to an end, many coaching searches around the country are beginning to ramp up. Cohen said he still wants to name a coach within 24 hours after the Iron Bowl on Nov. 29, and “would doubt” that Auburn would wait past the early signing period from Dec. 3-5 to make a move.
Before that Iron Bowl matchup with Alabama, Auburn will face Mercer this Saturday in its final non-conference contest. That game is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and will be streaming on SEC Network+.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
