One-on-one on the Auburn gymnastics coaching search: John Cohen offers insights into the search so far
From the kind of coaches populating the talent pool, to the timeline of the hire and inside a meeting with the gymnasts, here's what Cohen shared with the Auburn Torch about the search so far.
As the Auburn administration’s search for a new gymnastics coach enters its second week, athletics director John Cohen said Auburn has seen “a ton of interest” in the opening from candidate coaches.
He’s confident with where Auburn is and thinks Auburn has a strong candidate pool to work with — but also offered more in the way of insight into the timeline on which Auburn could make a hire, what kind of candidates he’s looking closely at, and what qualities he’s looking for in the next head coach.
Here’s what the Auburn Torch learned about the gymnastics coaching search from a Wednesday one-on-one with John Cohen:
Auburn is using ‘expert’ help
Cohen is quick to acknowledge that he’s no expert in gymnastics.
He’s closing in on 10 years of experience as an SEC athletics director, but he’s spent less than four years of that overseeing a gymnastics program: The former head baseball coach at Mississippi State became Mississippi State’s athletic director in 2016 and held that job until he was hired by Auburn in late 2022 — and Mississippi State doesn’t field a gymnastics team. What he has learned, he’s learned in a relatively short tenure at Auburn.
But he isn’t going through this search alone and he confirmed the athletics department is using help: