Looks like Stricklin may not be only former MSU AD to 17 up a hire.

[patdog]

In a stunning revelation that's left War Eagle faithful reeling, insider Josh Pate exposed the Tigers' epic fumble in landing Tulane's hotshot coach Jon Sumrall, who instead bolted for Florida. On the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast, Pate detailed how Auburn's brass, led by AD John Cohen, alienated Sumrall by strong-arming him to retain embattled defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin—a move that screamed micromanagement and eroded the new coach's autonomy from day one.Sumrall, boasting a stellar 41-11 record over four FBS seasons with back-to-back conference titles at Troy and Tulane, initially favored Auburn over Florida's overtures. "They had him locked up," Pate emphasized. "Jon wanted the Auburn job because he wanted to be the Auburn Tigers head coach." But negotiations soured fast. Cohen, desperate to keep Durkin—a polarizing figure tied to past scandals—allegedly extended his contract mid-talks and pitched him as a non-negotiable staffer. "That's not okay," Pate blasted. "It takes power away from the head coach."Compounding the mess, rival recruiters bombarded Sumrall with Auburn's infamous red flags: overzealous boosters, embedded spies monitoring coaches, and a toxic "blender" culture of instability. Financials weren't the issue—Auburn matched Florida's offer with better incentives—but the whispers proved fatal. Sumrall withdrew on November 29, per FootballScoop, as Gators dangled full control and Urban Meyer's endorsement.

 

[ABiggerUglierJoe]

Boy, that footballscoop.com bunch is really on top of things now that they’ve come out of their recent coma.

 

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Cohen micromanaging...I'm shocked.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Oh look, FootballScoop with their fingers on the pulse of EVERY coaching rumor. I tell ya, they never miss anything.

 

[Walkthedawg]

Cohen may have screwed Auburn AND us at the same time. That’s quite a feat.

We don’t get Durkin and Auburn didn’t get Sumrall. The true one two punch of the completely incompetent.

 

[SchrodingersDawg]

 

[OG Goat Holder]

How you gonna tell and defensive coach who to hire for coordinator?

 

[ABiggerUglierJoe]

Forget the coach’s conference championships, Cohen knows best.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Auburn's hiring Cohen and paying him bigly as they supposedly are is one my all time college athletics WTF's .

 

[Pink Floyd.sixpack]

It’s football scoop. Ole Miss propaganda specialists. If cohen and stricklin weren’t the ad at the respective e schools this wouldn’t be out there. When they didn’t chime in on Lane that told the viewing public what they needed to know

 

[Villagedawg]

Right. So he bolted for a program where the general manager of football will not report to him, and, according to the article linked about a thousand times in the past two days about Kiffin-Florida-LSU mess, where he would have probably less autonomy.

 

[DawgNsuds]

how incompetent do you have to be to get out maneuvered by Striklin