John Cohen opens up on growing up in Tuscaloosa, Auburn-Alabama rivalry

Today Auburn introduced John Cohen as their 16th athletic directory of the university. Cohen is familiar with the SEC, making stops as a baseball coach at Florida, Kentucky, and Mississippi State where he also served as their athletic director. But he’s also familiar with the Tigers biggest rival Alabama, as the Alabama native was born in Tuscaloosa. Cohen was asked in his introductory press conference if he grew up as a fan of the Crimson Tide, coming clean about his roots.

“Growing up in Tuscaloosa, yeah, I remember the buses rolling in front of our house to go to Birmingham to play football games and the neighborhood would go out and do the shakers, it’s all part of your childhood,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s confession may have come as a surprise to some Auburn faithful, as he detailed his constant recognition and reverence for the Tigers despite growing up in Crimson Tide country.

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“But I can tell you this, I always, I mean when you talk about the star power that Auburn has always had, even growing up in that town, boy it was sure fun to watch that and to recognize that,” Cohen said. “Just really really cool.”

Auburn historically has definitely not had a shortage of star power, with names like Bo Jackson, Charles Barkley, and Cam Newton sporting the blue and orange in their collegiate careers. And despite his upbringing, Cohen showed nothing but excitement with facing Alabama in the future, making a bold proclamation about their in-state rivalry.

“And listen, I’m not gonna run away from this, I think this is the best rivalry in college athletics, Auburn and Alabama. And I can’t wait to compete with that school up there in Tuscaloosa,” Cohen said.

Auburn hasn’t defeated Alabama on the football field since 2019, but their last matchup was a classic, as the Tigers entered the game 20.5 point home underdogs and took the Tide to overtime in a 24-22 loss.

It will be interesting to see how Cohen plans on leaning into their storied rivalry with the Crimson Tide in the future, but for now, all eyes are on him to see who he and Auburn’s administration hire as their next head football coach following the firing of Bryan Harsin.