John Cohen has been named the new AD at Mississippi State, taking over for former UK staffer Scott Strickland who moved to the same position at Florida. Cohen was Kentucky's head baseball coach from 2004-2008 before becoming the head man at his Alma Mater. He is actually the third person in the SEC to make the jump from Baseball Head Coach to Athletic Department Grand Poobah, following Skip Bertman at LSU and Ray Tanner at South Carolina.
The promotion continues a string of fun connections between Mississippi State and Kentucky this year. Nick Mingione, the Wildcats' new baseball head man, was hired off Cohen's staff at MSU and former UK head coach Gary Henderson rejoined Cohen at MSU as the new pitching coach. There was some speculation that Henderson might be named the Bulldog's new head coach, at least on an interim basis, but Cohen has hired LSU assistant Andy Cannizaro instead. Whether Gary Henderson stays in Starkville remains to be seen.
This is an especially satisfying development for Cohen, both personally and professionally and we here at A Sea of Blue wish him the best of luck, but kindly request that he keeps his mitts off Nick Mingione when Mingione wins SEC Coach of the Year in the near future.