President Roberts

I like how this was done close to the vest. My question is—Did Cohen know we were going to fire Harsin now or was that his first call as the AD operating “his own athletic department”? I assume he knew (like everyone with a pulse) that we were gonna fire him, but did he say to do it now?

If so, that shows that he is gonna “operate his own athletic department” and that he is smart. Waiting until the end of the season, watching all the good candidates get new jobs, is stupid.

I doubt Roberts hired Cohen and immediately decided, without Cohen’s input, to fire the football coach.

Gotta imagine the football program was a large part of the interview process. Undoubtedly, Cohen presented his thoughts on the program, the coach, and where he sees Auburn football in 2023

I’ve read Roberts told all the candidates that Harsin would be fired prior to them coming on board.

To me it seems that he did not want the new AD's first order of business to be firing someone.

It was probably all Roberts. I think he finally decided to act on the AD hire and get Cohen and while he was at it fire Harsin. He is trying to signal to Alums and coaching candidates that there is a new guy in town and things are being done his way.

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We're waiting till Sunday to announce the Cohen hiring

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I'll be surprised if it takes more than 48 hours.

Roberts has been playing Chess... He also went after the Arkie AD and offered 2 Million.

Auburn University offered Hunter Yurachek $2 million to fill its vacant athletic director position, but the University of Arkansas seems to have succeeded in keeping him with a raise and another contract extension.

University of Arkansas System spokesman Nate Hinkel said Monday that he could not confirm the details of the offer that were provided to Arkansas Business by a knowledgeable source who was granted anonymity. But, Hinkel said in an email, "I am confirming that an offer was made and that as a result, recent negotiations have taken place to retain Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek."

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, he provided an email from Thursday in which UA System President Donald Bobbitt outlined to the UA's Interim Chancellor Charles Robinson the details of a new five-year contract for Yurachek starting Jan. 1 in which his annual salary would be raised from $1.25 million to $1.5 million with deferred compensation of $250,000 from private funds.

According to Bobbitt's email:

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Roberts has been playing Chess

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Was he? Or was he just doing his job and not leaking it all to the paysites?

I pointed out several times the last month that we’re interviewing P5 guys. Auburn isn’t going to leak those candidates. Doesn’t help them one bit and those guys typically don’t want to be named. They don’t need to be in order to get their raises and they need the offer for leverage if their goal is to ultimately get paid more by their current employer

Screw that guy.