John Cohen (born September 21, 1966) is an American former baseball player and coach who is currently the 16th athletic director for the Auburn University Tigers.
John Cohen guided the Bulldog program to record-breaking success since being announced as the school's 17th director of athletics on November 4, 2016.
[4] A nationally respected leader within intercollegiate athletics, Cohen serves on the prestigious 10-member NCAA Division I Baseball Committee as part of a four-year term that began on September 1, 2019.
He is one of three active SEC athletics director to hire an eventual national championship winning head coach in any sport.
Men's basketball turned in a runner-up finish at the 2021 NIT, earning a bid in postseason play for the third straight year.
Baseball finished ranked among the top 10 and saw a program-record three student-athletes picked in the first two rounds of the 2020 MLB First Year Player Draft.
MSU captured three SEC team championships during 2018–19 as women's basketball and men's tennis defended their respective crowns.
[4] The Bulldogs combined for 151 victories in the sports of football, men's and women's basketball, softball and baseball in 2018–19, representing the highest total in the SEC.
[4] In the summer of 2018, Cohen identified one of top recruiters and player development coaches in the country to serve as the Diamond Dawgs’ 18th head baseball skipper.
Chris Lemonis became the winningest first-year head coach in SEC history as MSU won 52 games en route to its second consecutive College World Series appearance in Omaha, Nebraska.
[4] The 2017-18 athletic year saw State become the only school in the nation to win a bowl game, reach an NCAA Final Four – men's or women's – and the College World Series.
[4] Since becoming athletic director, Cohen has been the driving force for numerous state-of-the-art facility projects on campus, including the new $68 million Dudy Noble Field, which opened in full capacity in the spring of 2019.
[4] Cohen approved construction of a new $3.6 million football game-day home locker room and recruiting center inside the north end of Davis Wade Stadium.
[4] The Templeton Athletic Academic Center underwent a major renovation in the summer of 2018 with modern wall graphics and displays.
[4] Planning is already underway for a major renovation and modernization of Humphrey Coliseum, which will make the historic venue one of the elites in all of college basketball.
Expanded concourses, enhanced sightlines, new dining options and a luxurious club level are some of the many features that will be coming to the new-look “Hump.”[4] Cohen has been instrumental in providing a “championship-level fan experience” at all of MSU's athletic venues.
For the first time in school history, State drew over 1 million combined fans in the ticketed sports of football, men's and women's basketball and baseball during the 2018-19 athletic year.
In the summer of 2018, MSU announced significant price decreases on all food and beverage at concessions for all home venues that continues today.
The plan has been responsible for numerous enhancements at venues, including improved sound at Davis Wade Stadium and boosted cell service for major carriers.
Cohen also had the privilege of being a part of a College World Series as a player, head coach and now three times as an athletic director when the Diamond Dawgs reached Omaha in June 2018, 2019 and 2021.