President Mark Keenum officially introduced the man who “knocked it out of the park,” John Cohen as the 17^th athletic director for Mississippi State University today.
“We went through a long, arduous, exhaustive process. We talked to some outstanding people but we kept coming back to John Cohen,” Keenum said.
Keenum said Cohen has been involved in the entire program while serving as head baseball coach. He said Cohen contributed to many policy meetings, including those that had nothing to do with baseball.
Cohen said he was grateful for the position and wanted to thank every person in the room, including Scott Stricklin, who recently resigned from the position of athletic director to take the same position at the University of Florida.
“I want to thank Scott Stricklin. They say it is really bad business when one of your best friends is your boss. That was not the case. I’m going to miss Scott,” Cohen said.
Cohen then presented his wife, Nelle, with her own cowbell to ring in front of all in attendance.
“I want to thank my family. The other day Nelle was saying we have given away so many cowbells to people. ‘I have all these cowbells in the house but none of them are mine.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She says well nobody has given me one,” Cohen said.
Cohen said his first priority is finding a baseball coach, but was not able to comment on who that would be.
“You are not going to go get a coach as good as John Cohen. You are going to get one better than John Cohen,” Cohen said.
He said his second priority is to communicate and make himself available to everyone in the athletic department.
Cohen added Mississippi State is going to win a national championship in baseball, and will compete for a national championship in all sports. He said he loves the baseball program, but more than that, he loves Mississippi State University.
The new athletic director said a part of him will miss being in the dugout, but he is excited for the opportunities the new position offers. Cohen also said construction of Dudy Noble will begin following this season.
More information on the background of this story can be found here.