When John Cohen was a student at Mississippi State, the football program faced one of its toughest stretches in recent history.
The 1988 team won only one game, and none of those Bulldog football teams finished with a winning record.
Fast forward to 2018 when Cohen is fielding questions about the competency of head football coach Joe Moorhead, who went 8-5 in his first season with the Bulldogs.
“Back when I was in school, eight wins was enough,” Cohen told the Newton County Mississippi State alumni chapter. “Now, eight wins is not enough. Now, there’s a level of expectation that we’ve never had before. It’s a good thing. I love that.”
Not only is that level of expectation being experienced in just football, but nearly every sport. And that has led Mississippi State to go on a massive upgrades across the board in all sports.
One of the biggest projects that will begin soon is the overhaul of Humphrey Coliseum. Although they will be looking to upgrade and expand the existing concourse while adding a club level entrance and concourse with premium seating in the lower bowl, Cohen doesn’t want the architects to change anything to the Bulldogs’ home-court advantage they currently have.
“They aren’t going to do anything to harm the seating bowl and our home-court advantage,” Cohen said. “I love the way that the fans are on top on you, and we don’t want to do anything to take that away. All we want to do is to add to the fan experience by expanding the concourse and make it the premier basketball facility in the SEC.”
One of the most extensive upgrades on the Mississippi State campus has been the brand-new Dudy-Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium. The Bulldogs will officially open the $68 million, 13,000-seat stadium this weekend with a homestand against Youngstown State. They will also unveil the statues outside the stadium, which Cohen wouldn’t reveal who they were.
“The old Dude cost $2.9 million to construct,” Cohen said. “Now, the baseball program is bringing in about $3 million in revenue to Mississippi State. That just shows you how the program has grown over the years.”
Other construction projects underway include adding a new indoor tennis facility and possibility of another expansion of Davis Wade Stadium five to seven years down the road, a project that could enclose the south end zone.
While Cohen is proud of the athletic successes he’s seen, including two NCAA women’s basketball runner-up performances, an unexpected run to Omaha in baseball last season and unprecedented success in many sports, he’s just as proud of their performance in the classroom.
“We have been more successful than ever,” Cohen said. “We have great kids, great fans, great coaches and great support.
“This year, our student athletes have the highest combined GPA they’ve ever had, a 3.17 and a 2.81 in football alone,” Cohen added. “None of our women had a grade under a 3.0.
“And I’m excited to get to go to Nashville for the NFL Draft where I’m gonna go watch us possibly have three players go in the first round.”
