Auburn AD John Cohen trashes ‘myths’ about booster infighting, attributes origin to Alabama

For the second time as the Auburn athletic director, John Cohen is set to hire a football coach. This one comes with a little more experience under his belt. When Hugh Freeze was brought on by Cohen, he was not too deep into his tenure. Now, Cohen gets another opportunity to find the right man to lead the program.

There is one thing he wants to make clear before starting the process, though. Cohen was asked about outside influences, such as boosters, playing a role in either firing Freeze or possibly deciding who gets hired next. He put those to bed with a stern answer, claiming the “myths” might be coming from Tuscaloosa.

“That’s a little bit of a mystery to me,” Cohen said. “I’ve heard all these myths like donors at Auburn or Board of Trustees members or administrators or power brokers in the Auburn family. That is not been my experience in three years. Not one time have I had a donor or a board member or anybody else who helps guide this great university and say, ‘You need to hire this person. You need to terminate this person. You need to do this.’ … That has not been my experience. I think that’s one of those things that might have been created by other schools in the state of Alabama. That myth is not reality.”

Cohen also said he will be the one to decide to Auburn’s next head coach is. Sure, opinions from the outside will come. But at the end of the day, Cohen gets the final word.

After all, everyone involved has the same goal. They want Auburn to get back to winning ways after a rough stretch throughout Freeze and the short-lived Bryan Harsin era.

“We’re in a tough spot right now,” Cohen said. “We’re going to get to the other side of it. We’re going to give our fans what they absolutely deserve. But we’re not going to get into a world of myths because what you described just doesn’t exist.”

For now, Cohen has put DJ Durkin in charge as the interim head coach. Durkin will be considered for the full-time role, maybe getting a dress rehearsal over the final month of the regular season. First up will be a trip to Nashville to face off against Vanderbilt. Mercer serves as the final nonconference game of the year before hosting Alabama for the Iron Bowl.