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When John Cohen was named Mississippi State University's 17th director of athletics on November 4, 2016, he wasted little time putting his stamp on the department. Since that time, the former MSU head baseball coach and two-time Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year has overseen arguably the greatest era in Bulldog athletic history.
Since the spring of 2018, State has claimed five SEC team championships, representing the most in a two-year span in school history. Under Cohen’s watch, 34 teams have advanced to postseason play, including a school-record 13 during the 2018-19 athletic year. That occurred just a year after the Bulldogs produced a then-school-record 12 postseason squads during the 2017-18 athletic campaign.
Cohen’s third athletic year in charge was a historic one. MSU captured three SEC team championships during 2018-19 as women’s basketball and men’s tennis defended their respective crowns. Vic Schaefer’s program also secured its first-ever SEC Tournament championship before going onto an Elite Eight appearance and finishing as high as No. 4 in the national polls.
State combined to win 151 games in the sports of football, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and baseball, representing the highest total in the SEC and among the best in the nation. In addition, five teams finished in the Top 25 of their respective polls, including three in the Top 10.
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. The Diamond Dawgs earned a national seed (No. 6), hosted regional and super regionals at the new Dudy Noble Field, clinched a share of the SEC Western Division title and finished as high as No. 3 in the final polls.
Cohen has hired nine head coaches during his tenure, including head football coach Joe Moorhead, who became just the second MSU head coach to win eight or more games on the field in his debut season and the first since College Football Hall of Famer Allyn McKeen in 1939. Football reached a bowl game for a school-record ninth consecutive year and finished No. 25 in the final Coaches poll.
In addition, the Bulldog men’s and women’s basketball programs both appeared in the NCAA Tournament during the same season for the first time since 2008-09.
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. During that same campaign, MSU claimed multiple SEC championships in a single athletic year for the first time since 1996.
Matt Roberts, the SEC Coach of the Year, guided the men's tennis team to its first SEC Tournament championship since 1996. Schaefer, the 2018 National Coach of the Year, led the women's basketball program to its first SEC regular season title with a perfect 30-0 regular season and a second-straight NCAA national championship game appearance.
As a result of the Bulldogs’ unprecedented athletic success, CBS Sports named MSU the 14th-best athletics program in the country and fourth overall in the SEC for 2017-18. The top four Director's Cup finishes in school history have occurred in the last four years with three under Cohen’s watch.
Success has carried into the classroom during Cohen’s tenure as Bulldog scholarship student-athletes have produced four consecutive semesters with a 3.0 cumulative grade point average or higher. In the spring of 2019, MSU scholarship student-athletes posted the highest spring GPA on record with a 3.09. State also scored the fourth-highest NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) among SEC institutions with an 89 percentile in the fall of 2018.
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. The ballpark has drawn rave reviews as the best in all of college baseball and features the Left Field Lofts, a revolutionary experience with luxury two-bedroom suites offering exquisite views of the new Dudy Noble Field.
Cohen approved construction of a new $3.6 million football gameday home locker room and recruiting center inside the north end of Davis Wade Stadium. The 11,100 square-foot locker room, which opened in September 2018, includes custom-built player lockers, separate coaches and staff locker rooms, an expansive athletic training room as well as an equipment room. In July 2019, state-of-the-art updates were completed in the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex locker room, which serves as the daily headquarters for MSU football.
The Templeton Athletic Academic Center underwent a major renovation in the summer of 2018 with modern wall graphics and displays. In addition, ground was broken in the summer of 2019 on the $8 million dollar MSU Tennis Pavilion with expected completion set for the spring of 2020. The 48,815-square-foot facility will feature six indoor courts, elevated spectator seating, LED lighting and more.
Planning is already underway for a major renovation and modernization of Humphrey Coliseum, which will make the historic venue one of the elite 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.”
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. State also unveiled a football season ticket price reduction in several sections of Davis Wade Stadium.
Cohen’s vision launched the Hail State Family Fan Experience survey, an initiative to best serve Bulldog fans based on their feedback. The plan has been responsible for numerous enhancements at venues, including improved sound at Davis Wade Stadium, boosted cell service for major carriers and cash-only quick-serve concession kiosks.
Cohen, who spent more than two decades coaching college baseball, was named MSU’s head baseball coach in July of 2008. Nine years later, Cohen’s official role in administration began when he assumed the role of associate athletic director in addition to head baseball coach. The following November, he took charge of an athletic department that has since achieved new heights in athletic, academic, facility, and fundraising achievement.
Success shouldn’t come as a surprise as it was never far removed from him during his 12-year run as a head coach in the SEC. His teams were successful both on the field and in the classroom. At MSU, he led the Bulldogs to a College World Series finals appearance, an SEC regular season championship and an SEC Tournament championship. In the classroom upon his arrival in 2009, 133 players were selected to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, including three straight SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year winners from 2013-15.
As a baseball player at MSU, Cohen was a key player on the Bulldogs’ 1989 SEC championship team and 1990 College World Series team. He graduated from MSU with a degree in English in 1990 and received a master's degree in sports management from the University of Missouri in 1994.
Following a six-year stint with Missouri as a graduate assistant and assistant coach, Cohen was the head coach at Northwestern State University from 1998-2001. Cohen spent two seasons as an assistant baseball coach at the University of Florida before becoming the head coach at the University of Kentucky in 2004, a position he held for five seasons before returning to his alma mater. Cohen guided the Wildcats to the program’s first SEC championship in 2006 with a remarkable worst-to-first finish in his third season.
While winning 284 games as a head coach at MSU, Cohen demonstrated a keen ability to develop players and coaches. During his tenure, 138 MSU baseball players were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Ten of his former Bulldogs have reached the Major Leagues, including Nate Lowe (Tampa Bay Rays) most recently in the spring of 2019. His influence can be seen throughout the SEC as four of his former assistants are now or have been head coaches — Brad Bohannon (Alabama), Gary Henderson (Kentucky/Mississippi State), Nick Mingione (Kentucky) and Butch Thompson (Auburn).
Cohen is the only coach in SEC history to win an SEC championship, SEC tournament championship, and advance to the College World Series both as a player and head coach. He and Ron Polk are the only two baseball coaches in SEC history to lead multiple schools to SEC titles. His 2013 Bulldog club advanced to the CWS championship series for the first time in MSU history. Cohen also had the privilege of being a part of a College World Series as a player, head coach and now twice as an athletic director when the Diamond Dawgs reached Omaha in June 2018 and 2019. His 2012 club produced an SEC record-tying eight Major Leaguers.
Cohen was recently appointed to the prestigious 10-member NCAA Division I Baseball Committee. He is serving a four-year term that began on Sept. 1, 2019.
Cohen and his wife, Nelle, are active members of the Starkville community. The couple has two children, Jordan and Avery.
Personal Information
Birthdate: Sept. 21, 1966
Hometown: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Wife: Nelle Cohen
Children: Jordan Baker and Avery Lawson
Education
High School: Tuscaloosa Academy, 1985
College: Mississippi State, 1990 (English)
Graduate: Missouri, 1994 (Sports Management)
Professional Experience
1992-94: Graduate Assistant, Missouri
1995-97: Assistant Coach, Missouri
1998-2001: Head Coach, Northwestern State
2002-03: Assistant Coach, Florida
2004-08: Head Coach, Kentucky
2009-16: Head Coach, Mississippi State
July 2016-November 2016: Associate Athletic Director, Mississippi State
November 2016-present: Director of Athletics, Mississippi State
What They’re Saying About John Cohen Being Hired as Director of Athletics ...
"We conducted an exhaustive national search and in that process interviewed some of the nation's very top athletic department administrators. But after reviewing those outstanding candidates, it became clear to me that John Cohen's undeniable record of aggressively pursuing championships both as an MSU player and head coach positioned him best to continue the dynamic legacy of growth and accomplishment that MSU athletics has enjoyed in recent years. John understands that trajectory and has been an integral part of it – and he can move the Bulldog family forward united."
- Dr. Mark Keenum, Mississippi State University President
"Congratulations to Mississippi State University and President Keenum on their selection of John Cohen as the Bulldogs' next athletics director. I have worked with John for many years dating back to our shared experiences in the Southland Conference and I look forward to working with him in his new role. John is a proven leader, an innovative thinker and relationship-builder with unique skills and experiences that will make him a successful athletics director. His abilities in leading young people will serve him well in creating a positive environment for student-athletes at Mississippi State."
- Greg Sankey, Southeastern Conference Commissioner
"John is one of the brightest and most creative individuals I've ever been around. His integrity, along with his ability to anticipate challenges and identify solutions, will serve Mississippi State well. Bulldog student-athletes, coaches and staff will have a passionate advocate in John, and I look forward to seeing MSU Athletics thrive under his leadership."
- Scott Stricklin, former MSU Athletic Director/current University of Florida Athletic Director
"John Cohen is a wonderful hire by President Keenum and Mississippi State. John is someone whom both Scott and I depended on heavily outside of his role as baseball coach to offer guidance on almost any major decision we made regarding MSU. He is someone that I still call on today because of the respect I have for him. I am very pleased for everyone that loves Mississippi State!"
- Greg Byrne, former MSU Athletic Director/current University of Alabama Athletic Director
“John has a great passion for college athletics and the student-athlete experience. He is a driven leader with a special connection to his alma mater.”
- Rob Mullens, University of Oregon Athletic Director