Auburn fans firing shots at John Cohen, football program now that Hugh Freeze is gone

Auburn fans called for Hugh Freeze's head, and that's what they received. But now, the Tigers' faithful are just as upset with the handling of the firing itself, placing all of their frustrations on Athletic Director John Cohen.

In the statement announcing Freeze's departure from the program, Cohen made a few strange choices in his verbiage, including describing the former head coach as a "man of integrity" but not actually thanking him for his work or time with the program.

Immediately, fans started ripping into Cohen for his handling of the situation, and instead of celebrating Freeze's departure, they simply shifted their anger to another target.

Cohen will, of course, be heavily involved in the search for Freeze's replacement, alongside the usual suspects in similar processes, including the University's Board of Trustees, which oversees the football program.

Fans' patience for Cohen to get rid of Freeze was at a boiling point, but even though they got what they wanted, the Auburn crowd is far from satisfied with the state of their athletic department.

There is an unbelievable amount of pressure on Cohen to find the proper replacement for the Tigers' head coach, something he has swung and missed on numerous times over the last few years.

After firing Bryan Harsin during his first year as Auburn AD, Cohen let Cadillac Williams act as the interim head coach, which fans loved. Then he hired Freeze, who received as many mixed signals from the fans as one would expect. Now, he has to find an acceptable replacement, or he may be looking for a new job himself.

Cohen came to Auburn from Mississippi State, where he was the Bulldogs' Associate AD in 2016 before becoming the Athletic Director later that year, and holding the position until 2022, when he joined the Tigers.

While it has only been two years since he hired Freeze in 2023, the standard has not been met by any means, and it's causing a lot of long-time supporters to lose their faith in Cohen.

Cohen supposedly understands the expectations at Auburn, which he highlighted during his statement on Freeze's departure, yet he has fallen well short of those expectations over the last three and a half years.

Simply put, even with Freeze gone from the program, Cohen is still on the hot seat, and the Auburn Athletic Director needs to think through his next few steps very wisely.