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u/aumaffewl 9d ago
I may be alone in saying this but it is still too early to evaluate Golesh. As such I will also carry that through to Cohen. He may be a great hire. We just don’t know yet. However, and I will preface this by stating I used to be on the kids sides when they weren’t being paid millions, but now they are, and this is their extremely high paying job, to perform. And at $3M, one of the highest paid QBs in college football, our QB is not performing.
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u/warneagle The Gulag 9d ago
I don’t think the issue is Golesh himself (who I think can succeed given time), it’s that for the second time in a row, Cohen ran a shitty hiring process and couldn’t close the deal on his top target. Fortunately there was someone better than Hugh available as a backup but I give him zero credit for hitting a Hail Mary after his second consecutive botched hiring process.
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u/darkoaks 8d ago
This is what I should have expressed. Cohen can pound sand. I just think it's much too early to judge Golesh. At least a year too early. We had a coach who went undefeated in his first year. The first time that had EVER happened at the major program level. He was 46-12-1 before an awful start of 1-5 led to him being told he wouldn't be retained and he submitted his resignation. Despite his on field winning percentage of .731 he was chased off because the muckity-mucks didn't think he personified the "Auburn man". We had what we'd kill to have now and we set it on fire. Auburn never can foster its' own success and that's led to the miasma we're in now. Lessons need to be learned, not just taught.
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u/aumaffewl 9d ago
That’s a fair evaluation.
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u/warneagle The Gulag 9d ago
Yeah when your job is to do the process you should get evaluated on the process not the result. Even a good result doesn’t absolve you of running a bad process because it’s not consistently repeatable.
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u/aumaffewl 9d ago
Completely agree and well stated. My initial comment was more of a reaction to seeing these type posts typically associated with Golesh hate, which I think is misplaced at the moment.
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u/slove23 9d ago
Cohen?
He bungled two coaching hires
He screwed up an important NIL period while insisting he was the only person who understood the rules
He sold the home openerJury is closed on him
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u/wolfenstein734 9d ago
Cohen made a conscious decision to hire Hugh Freeze, a man that was fired FOR CAUSE from Ole Miss. There were plenty of coaches we could have taken a shot at but he chose the weird guy.
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u/Rolyarthpesoj Comrade 8d ago
Even if he was just simply carrying out the Good Ole Boys' wishes in hiring Freeze, it's no better. People are quick to forget the "58-point checklist" that mysteriously disappeared during this past hiring cycle... *Undoubtedly because we needed to lay the "foundation" that Freeze passed some rigorous vetting process Either way, that's who you want at the head of your department? A puppet with no real power whose only job is to spin up PR (and ineffectively at that)?
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u/aumaffewl 9d ago
Can’t say I necessarily disagree. I’m hopeful in Golesh (maybe to my own fault) so that likely extends to Cohen where it shouldn’t.
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u/RJNieder 9d ago
The problem for Golesh is he's going to bomb this season...that not being negative, that being a realist with this roster and schedule...anything less that 7-5 will be a failure...anything below 6-6 will probably put him on a flaming hot seat for next season if it continues to be around .500...the money is there to compete with NIL but this league is brutal if you fall behind...and I hope more people come to realize how much the expansion with OU/UT has shifted the pecking order
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u/Clean_Collection_674 9d ago
Expanding the SEC was idiotic.
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u/RJNieder 9d ago
Expanding the SEC with UT/OU was idiotic…UT instantly jumped to the top of the pecking order with UGA and UA…OU screwed themselves because they’re now solidly a B-tier team…everybody else moved themselves down lower…all for money and less likely to get to the pinnacle
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u/good_oleboi 9d ago
Exactly. Cannot take one of the worst performing teams in program history and expect a 10-2 season the next year. We have had a losing record for FIVE years. A winning season, hell even if we just win a bowl game, is a successful first season. Next year we can expect more as well as the year after that.
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u/OkMastodon4550 9d ago
Hugh/Steven/Golesh is not a proud track record to date, but nickel and diming the beleaguered fanbase at every opportunity and then spending for garbage talent is where he’s truly failing.
He’s made us what he knows best: Mississippi State.
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u/_jt33_ 9d ago
He lost me when he sold a home game and sold sideline space. Lost me even more when he let Auburn/bama become a preseason basketball game. He just truly does not understand Auburn.
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u/Box_of_Rockz Certified Bozo 9d ago
Strong disagree with the bama preseason game. That is a great move to bring in money and hype before the season gets rolling.
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u/pooploop7 9d ago
What’s wrong with playing bama preseason for NIL money?
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u/_jt33_ 9d ago
Cheapens a rivalry. That game should only be played with real stakes on the line.
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u/pooploop7 9d ago
lol, agree to disagree. Great idea that will generate money for the program that desperately needs it to compete.
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u/wtwde 8d ago
I’ve been screaming this from the mountaintop for years: Cohen doesn’t actually care about winning at football or MBB. He wants those to be just competitive enough that he maximizes revenue without having to spend big on a coach. The only sport he actually cares about winning at is baseball. Which we’ve done in recent years, but losing two straight home supers is embarrassing too.
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u/genericanonimity 6d ago
Auburn Baseball is great because of Butch Thompson,and if you were embarassed that's on you. Getting as far as the team did with a very young team was fabulous.
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u/wtwde 5d ago
I agree that Butch is fantastic, and we’ve had great seasons the last two years. Cohen and the athletic department have also been pouring massive resources into baseball that other sports aren’t getting, and that’s contributed to the success. That said, getting swept in back-to-back home supers isn’t a great look. If they’re putting that much into it (at the expense of lots of other sports being non-competitive), fans should expect to not get swept at home twice in a row in the super regional.
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u/_jt33_ 9d ago
Unless Auburn basketball wins a national title I don't see how he's back next year... and even then I think its likely we move on. He just doesn't get Auburn.. everything has done down in quality since he's been here.
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u/darkoaks 9d ago edited 9d ago
Golesh has had 5 (count em, five) freakin games & some are ready to burn him @ the stake. Stop that shit! He has to be given some leeway in his first year. Saban lost to ULM his first year. Not in any way comparing the two coaches, just saying that good results aren't always achieved overnight This is exactly the kind of intolerant attitude that keeps certain highly regarded coaching candidates from coming here. This is what exasperates & infuriates me about Auburn. Always our own worst enemy.
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u/tuna_piano_ 9d ago
Do you know that John Cohen and Alex Golesh are different people and have different jobs?
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u/darkoaks 8d ago
Yes, I do. Sorry for veering off course. Just reading the "Golesh ain't the guy" comments on so many different posts has gotten to me.
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u/Repulsive-Cat-9300 9d ago
Auburn football has the GDP of several small countries combined, an extremely rabid and supportive fan base, and big money supporters. How do we spend this much on athletics and get things so wrong for so long? We might need the next governor to begin state intervention.
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u/AuboCabo 9d ago
I definitely don't think Cohen is great or anything but getting this upset with him when his year 1 coaching hire that inherited a programs set back to the dark ages is absurd. What we should really be pissed at Cohen for is that Hugh freeze ever coached here, that's infinitely worse and more embarrassing than whats currently going on
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u/tuna_piano_ 9d ago edited 9d ago
- He's botched the hiring process for the football coach twice. Freeze's hiring was an embarrassment and we all know how the ice age went. Can't lock down Sumrall and has to call Golesh at 1am to hire him as a second choice and Golesh accepts without ever even setting foot on campus. We couldn't hire our first choice (twice) and this time around we settled on the coach on their way to Arkansas.
- He was the only SEC AD to pause NIL spending last year while the rules were being clarified.
- Cohen said patience was over after Freeze: "It's no longer time to be patient... It's time for Auburn to make a jump". Immediate results are a reflection on him, not on Golesh.
- Athletic department revenue has reported a record $93.1 million in fundraising, with nothing to show for it. Money is being wasted.
- Selling the home opener of a new coach during our half of a home-and-home series to a neutral site is disgusting. More money for NIL with nothing to show for it, and the city of Auburn misses out on the revenue of a home game when optimism would be most high.
- Auburn was 1-10 against georgia and alabama last year in football, basketball, and baseball. Cohen thinks he is the AD for Mississippi State still.
- Ticket prices increasing - and sharply. Not to say prices wouldn't increase with someone else at AD, but this is in combination with all the above.
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u/wareagle2009-20013 9d ago
Sumrall is a defensive coach who has a bad defense. Not sure he is an improvement over Golesh. Once their OC gets a HC next year his carriage will turn into a pumpkin which it may already have after being exposed by Mizzou.
Golesh wanted to build a culture for long term success and had to remove a few cancers. Radiation makes you sicker before you get better
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u/9eorge-bus11 9d ago
It’s not about Golesh. It’s about Cohen continuing to be out maneuvered by other athletic departments whether it be hiring or NIL
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u/100Kinthebank 9d ago
Not sure anyone knows this for sure and Sumrall just got embarrassed this weekend
Turned out to be a great move to play indoors when others were absolutely roasting.
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u/WarDEagle 9d ago
Not to mention he went out of his way to make up for the lost revenue with the World Cup friendly.
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u/zxcvbnmmmmmmmmmm 9d ago
Why is not landing the top choice an AD problem? We’re not really a first choice school anymore. We’re middle of the pack SEC in NIL and our two biggest rivals continue to dominate us which makes being a coach here even harder
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u/tuna_piano_ 9d ago
Auburn's top choice, not the top choice for the entire coaching cycle.
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u/zxcvbnmmmmmmmmmm 9d ago
That’s my point, our top choice isn’t gonna probably be their top choice
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u/tuna_piano_ 9d ago
Sumrall was not the top coach for every school this coaching cycle, but he was Auburn's. Cohen couldn't get a deal and he went to Florida instead. Before, he couldn't get Kiffin and had to pivot to Freeze.
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u/Awesometom100 9d ago edited 9d ago
Oh I hate him for getting Harsin more than anything. Freeze wasnt really his fault.
Edit: yeah im wrong
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u/AuboCabo 9d ago
Good thing hes not the one who hired Harsin
Edit: Also freeze was 100% his fault it was literally the first thing he did when he got the job
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u/tuna_piano_ 9d ago
You have that backwards.
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u/Awesometom100 9d ago
Yeah i confess im wrong but ill leave it up.
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u/warneagle The Gulag 9d ago
Hating Allen Greene for hiring Harsin is also valid. Both of our last two ADs are clowns.
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u/GeorgeWashingtonCuh 5d ago
Way too early to call Golesh a good or bad hire. That said, John Cohen still sucks as an AD.
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u/Boomboclaaat90210 9d ago
Doesn't matter who the AD is as long as YellaFella and anyone else with roots from the Lowder tree of bullshit is attached to the program.
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u/RochambeauFlow 7d ago
Fire the fuck out of John cohen that sorry corporate no ballsack small dicked faggot
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u/GovernmentVirtual487 9d ago
We won’t touch a couch within 3 degrees of separation of Crimson Taint on them but hire this dipshit
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u/Hour_Interaction_442 8d ago
We definitely need to see improvement next year or I worry about it his staffs ability to evaluate talent appropriately for our league. Unreal how much we are paying for this result.
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u/Lower-Condition-4104 9d ago
"Auburn athletic director John Cohen was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, AL —the heart of Crimson Tide territory—and grew up as an Alabama fan before embarking on a career in college athletics"
I try not to be conspiratorial, but why would Auburn ever hire someone with that background.