Report: Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen 'in discussions' to become new Auburn AD

Auburn is reportedly closing in on a new athletic director. The Tigers are “in discussions” with Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.

Auburn has been searching for a new AD since Allen Greene announced his decision to part ways with the university in August. Since then, Rich McGlynn has served as Auburn’s interim athletic director until the school found a full-time replacement for Greene. It appears Cohen is in line to be that choice.

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Cohen, who graduated from Mississippi State and played baseball there from 1987-90, has served as the Bulldogs’ athletic director since 2016 after he coached the baseball team from 2009-16. Prior to that, he coached at Kentucky from 2004-08 and has a career 605-399-2 record.

During his time in Starkville, Cohen hired Mike Leach to lead the Bulldogs’ football program. He will likely have to make another big coaching call once he takes over at Auburn.

The biggest question at Auburn this year is the future of head football coach Bryan Harsin. His future has been up in the air throughout this season, and the feeling is his seat got hotter once Greene left. The Tigers brought a 3-4 record into Saturday’s game against Arkansas on The Plains.

The last 18 months have been tumultuous for Harsin and the football program. In February, the university launched an inquiry into the program and Auburn Live’s Justin Hokanson reported Harsin’s future was “in question” after just one season. But the university opted to keep Harsin in place following the investigation.

Recently, multiple Auburn players announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal. Three players — A.D. Diamond, Tar’Varish Dawson and Landen King — all announced they plan to enter the portal when the window opens in December.

In August, the NCAA voted to adopt transfer portal windows, meaning players can’t enter until those dates. For football, that date is Dec. 5 because that’s the day after conference championships, and players have 45 days to enter the portal after that. If they don’t enter by then, they’ll have to wait until May 1.