Mississippi State University officially announced John Cohen as their 17th athletic director in a press conference on Friday.
Cohen, who was formerly the head baseball coach at MSU, is the fourth AD in a row MSU has hired from within the university.  MSU President Mark Keenum opened up the press conference Friday and introduced Cohen. 
“We went through a long and exhaustive process,” Keenum said. “We talked to some really outstanding people, some really outstanding people, but we kept coming back to John Cohen.” 
MSU was looking for a new AD after former AD Scott Stricklin left MSU for the same job at the University of Florida. Stricklin and Cohen had a good friendship, something Cohen said could be a bad thing while working together. 
“They say it is really bad business when one of your best friends is your boss. That was not the case,” Cohen said. “I’m going to miss Scott.”
Cohen is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and played baseball at MSU from 1987-1990. While playing at MSU, he helped the Bulldogs win a 1989 SEC Championship and helped them earn a 1990 College World Series appearance. He graduated from MSU in 1990 with a degree in English. He then went to graduate school at Missouri where he got a masters in sport management.
Cohen leaves the baseball program after a run of success. As a coach, Cohen led the Bulldogs to the post-season in five of the last six years, including a College World Series runners-up finish in 2013. 
“I love our baseball program, but more importantly I love Mississippi State University,” Cohen said. “I am looking forward to engaging all of our student athletes, obviously not just baseball.”
Cohen said he knew he wanted to be an athletic director early on. While playing baseball at MSU, he told a story of a conversation he had with a young freshman that may have a familiar name. 
“We had this little sports information guy that couldn’t have weighed 120 pounds by the name of Scott Stricklin,” Cohen said.  “We had a rain delay and Scott came up and asked what was next for me. I said that I would love to make it to the big leagues on day, but I would love to be an athletic director.”
Cohen was hired with a four year,  $775,000 per year, contract.
The role of AD is not limited to just the university where the AD is employed. In a conference like the SEC, Cohen will work with the rest of the schools in the conference. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said he worked with Cohen before and expects success from him. 
“John is a proven leader, an innovative thinker and relationship-builder with unique skills and experiences that will make him a successful athletics director.” Sankey said. “His abilities in leading young people will serve him well in creating a positive environment for student-athletes at Mississippi State.”
Cohen’s promotion comes after receiving the associate AD title last summer. Keenum said a big part of the reason he received that title was how involved Cohen was in athletics outside of baseball.  Keenum said Cohen was a part of conversations with former ADs Scott Stricklin and Greg Byrne to prepare for presentations Keenum had to make to the SEC or NCAA.
“When I would sit down on numerous occasions with Greg, like I have done over the past six years with Scott,” Keenum said. “Most of the time he was in the room and it had nothing to do with baseball, but it was about policies we needed to be focused on as a university.”
With Cohen moving up, MSU was left without a head baseball coach as they finish out fall practices. However, it ended up being a quick hire as MSU named Andy Cannizaro the next head baseball coach at MSU on Saturday. Cannizaro spent the last two seasons as recruiting coordinator and hitting coach for LSU. Before that he was a scout for the New York Yankees for five years. 
“We are thrilled to welcome Andy to the Mississippi State baseball family,” Cohen said. “When you look at all of the characteristics we need in a baseball coach at Mississippi State, Andy is the perfect fit.”
At the Friday press conference, Cohen continued to say that MSU had to keep going in the direction it is. He finished out his opening statement with a conversation he had with an old veteran. 
“He looked me dead in the eyes and said ‘I just can’t believe how far Mississippi State was come’,” Cohen said. All of our people recognize that and we have to keep going in that direction, athletically and in every part of this university.”