John Cohen made an impression on Pat McMahon.
As a member of the Mississippi State baseball team from 1987-90, Cohen wasn’t the biggest or the best player on the field.
That didn’t matter to McMahon, who worked as an assistant coach for Ron Polk at MSU. McMahon remembers Cohen as an intense, hard-working player who took practice and games seriously. Cohen’s approach to the game convinced McMahon to hire him as his hitting coach when he took over as the head baseball coach at Florida.
“Those qualities are important,” McMahon said. “He had great passion, great work ethic, was knowledgeable, and an expert in his area of the game. He was an outstanding recruiter.”
Cohen will use those qualities and other McMahon and former MSU baseball player Jarrod Parks saw in him when he begins his work as director of athletics at MSU. On Friday, MSU officially announced Cohen, the school’s baseball coach, would replace Scott Stricklin, who left to become the athletic director at Florida.
McMahon feels Cohen is capable of making tough decisions and understands how to run an athletic department because he has faced multiple challenges running several baseball programs.
“He’s done an outstanding job as a coach at so many different programs he’s been associated with and shown outstanding leadership from those areas,” McMahon said. “In those positions, he had to make some very difficult decisions about the programs he became the head of. Each one is unique and specific to a lot of different elements. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions based on the big picture and the best interest of the program moving it forward in your leadership role as you see fit. That can always be subjective, different people having different opinions. But strong leaders stay within it, stay with the plan and continue to work hard.”
Prior to becoming the baseball coach at MSU, Cohen served as baseball coach at Kentucky in 2004 before he returned to MSU in 2009 as head coach. After winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title last spring, Cohen signed a four-year extension through 2020 and added the title of associate athletic director.
Parallels between baseball, administrative roles
After serving as coach at Old Dominion coach from 1990-94, McMahon returned to MSU in 1995 as associate head coach to Polk. He became head coach in 1998 and served four seasons before taking the Florida job.
McMahon said he used his staff members often because he trusted them and gave them duties to fit their strengths. In his first season in Gainesville, Florida, Cohen helped the offense lead the country in hits (825) and finish second in batting average (.346), runs per game (9.74), and home runs per game (1.71). The Gators set 41 offensive school records (20 team, 21 individual).
Cohen, who served as coach at Northwestern State from 1998-2001, led Kentucky to the SEC title in 2006 and to the NCAA regionals in 2006 and 2008.
Cohen played two years in the Minnesota Twins farm system. He then served as a graduate assistant at Missouri from 1992-94 until he became an assistant coach for the Tigers in 1995.
While an assistant at Florida, McMahon recalls Cohen telling him one day he wanted to make the move to administration. McMahon doesn’t remember their exact conversations, but he views running a major college baseball program like running an athletic department.
“There are many, many parallels, in many programs, particularly in baseball, where fundraising is an important element in that equation,” McMahon said. “In that, it is a big part in running and directing a total athletic program.
“Fundraising is a very important part in running a major college program and running a major university like running a major business. It has to work, it has to be fair, and it has to be consistent. The people need to know and understand that they are giving to Mississippi State University to help it become the best program it can be in all areas.”
Parks: Cohen let
assistants do their jobs
Parks was a member of Cohen’s first recruiting class at MSU in 2009. The former Madison Central High School standout played two seasons at Meridian Community College before transferring.
As a senior in 2011, Parks led the team in batting average (.363), hits (77), triples (three), walks (44), hit by pitches (20), and on-base percentage (.507). He was one of three finalists for the Ferriss Trophy, which goes to the best college baseball player in the state of Mississippi.
Parks also helped MSU win the Atlanta Regional and advance to the Gainesville Super Regional of the NCAA tournament.
Parks said Cohen did a good job of letting his assistant coaches handle their jobs and let them become a part of the program.
“He let everybody pitch in and everybody got to understand each coach’s philosophy,” Parks said. “He did a good job of bringing everybody into the mix, everybody that was a part of the program. You knew what they did, how they were going to do it, and what they were contributing and what they wanted you to contribute.”
Parks served two seasons as an assistant coach at East Mississippi C.C. (2014-15) and one season as coach at Starkville Academy (2016). He is now the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Mississippi Delta C.C.
Parks didn’t see the signs Cohen wanted to move into administration. He viewed Cohen solely as his coach, but he recalls Cohen always trying to make the program better, whether it was through updating the Hall of Champions or the coaches’ offices, or helping put together a plan for the renovation at Dudy Noble Field. He remembers Cohen reaching out to other MSU programs to help them fill their needs.
Parks also remembers Cohen loves football.
“He’s one of the few baseball coaches I’ve ever seen consistently on the sideline of a football game getting jacked whenever something happens in our favor, or even when something doesn’t happen in our favor,” Parks said. “He might be getting jacked at the officials on the field. He’s down there all the time. You don’t see many baseball coaches down there on a consistent basis.”
McMahon: Cohen has people skills to lead
McMahon said Cohen was supportive of other coaches at Florida. He said they intermingled a lot and he could see Cohen’s compassion during meetings with other coaches.
McMahon said Cohen has outstanding people skills and called him “caring” and “very passionate.”
“That passion and that intensity shows through in everything he does,” McMahon said. “He sees the big picture very well, and I think he’s very fair. That fairness is something I know he strongly believes in. I’ve seen that time after time in recruiting, in fundraising, and different ways of different elements I’ve seen.”
In 17 seasons as a coach, Cohen is 605-399-2. He was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year in 1998 and 2001 and SEC Coach of the Year in 2006 (at Kentucky) and in 2016 (at MSU). He is 284-203-1 at MSU and has led the Bulldogs to five NCAA tournaments, including a runner-up finish at the 2013 College World Series.
McMahon isn’t sure if Cohen will miss coaching if he opts to focus on administrative work. McMahon feels Cohen will miss the day-to-day grind of coaching, but he will have a new job and place to channel the passion he showed McMahon nearly 30 years ago.
“I know he will be very successful in an administration role because of the qualities he has and leadership he has shown,” McMahon said. “John is very goal driven. He loves challenges, but it would just be re-directing those same qualities in a different area.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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