John Cohen To Become Mississippi State AD, Hire Andy Cannizaro

John Cohen had a record of 284-203-1 as Mississippi State coach (Photo by Andrew Woolley)

Mississippi State will reportedly on Friday promote head coach John Cohen to athletic director. Cohen is then expected to hire Louisiana State assistant coach Andy Cannizaro to succeed him as head coach.

Cohen, a Mississippi State alumnus, will take the reins of the athletic department following the departure of Scott Stricklin, who took over as the athletic director at Florida earlier this week. Cohen joins Skip Bertman (Louisiana State) and Ray Tanner (South Carolina) as former Southeastern Conference coaches who were promoted to athletic director.

Cohen’s imminent promotion was first reported Thursday by Rick Cleveland of Mississippi Today. News of his intention to hire Cannizaro was first reported by Chandler Rome of the Lake Charles, La., American Press.

The news of Cannizaro’s departure broke during the first game of LSU’s Purple-Gold World Series. Following the scrimmage, head coach Paul Mainieri confirmed Cohen called him earlier in the day to request permission to interview Cannizaro.

Mainieri said he is happy for Cannizaro.

“Not many people have chances to be coaches in the SEC, and certainly not many who have been in coaching two and a half years,” Mainieri said. “But he’s a uniquely qualified guy. If you’re going to take a chance on an inexperienced coach, he’s the kind of guy you want to take a chance on.”

Cannizaro began his coaching career in 2014, when Mainieri hired him to be LSU’s recruiting coordinator and hitting coach. He had been a scout in the deep south for the New York Yankees for five years previously. Cannizaro also played in the Yankees’ organization, reaching the major leagues for New York in 2006.

Cannizaro quickly took to coaching, helping LSU reach the College World Series in 2015 and super regionals in 2016. He also put together a pair of top-10 recruiting classes, including this year’s fourth-ranked class.

Cannizaro will become Mainieri’s 12th former assistant coach to become a head coach, joining a group that includes Virginia’s Brian O’Connor and Air Force’s Mike Kazlausky.

“I always hire coaches that I think are good enough to someday take my job,” Mainieri said. “I surround myself with really qualified people, not just yes men. You know those talented people are going to be wanted by other schools.”

LSU is scheduled to visit Mississippi State on the final weekend of the regular season for a three-game series from May 18-20.

At Mississippi State, Cannizaro will take over a team in transition. The Bulldogs won the SEC last season, but had 11 players drafted from that team and now have an entirely new coaching staff. Cohen’s assistants last season, recruiting coordinator Nick Mingione and pitching coach Wes Johnson, both left for other jobs in the SEC this summer. Mingione was hired as head coach at Kentucky, while Johnson became pitching coach at Arkansas. Will Coggin was promoted to replace Mingione, while former Kentucky head coach Gary Henderson took over as pitching coach.

Cohen went 44-18-1 in his final season as head coach and engineered a worst-to-first turnaround after the Bulldogs went 24-30 the season before. Mississippi State won the SEC regular season title and reached super regionals, where it fell to Arizona. Following the season, Cohen signed a contract extension that included the addition of associate athletic director to his title. The new title proved to be more than window dressing when Stricklin left for Florida and Cohen emerged as the top internal candidate to replace him.

Cohen ends his eight-year run as Bulldogs head coach with a 284-203-1 record. He led Mississippi State to the 2013 College World Series, where it lost in the finals to UCLA, and advanced to super regionals three other times. In 17 years as a head coach at Mississippi State, Kentucky and Northwestern State, he went 605-399-1 and won five conference championships—three in the SEC and two in the Southland.