>>150290925
Bo Jackson was one of the main reasons why Harsin got hired. People love to talk about Harsin and Auburn's AD meeting in a hot tub years earlier but it was Bo that got Harsin's name on the short list and pushed him over the top. Charles Barkley wanted a black coach, as he always does, but once Harsin was hired, Barkley backed him until the end.
Cohen was brought in as AD to rubber stamp everything the Petrino-Steele boosters wanted, which is this case was hiring Freeze since Steele was off the table. If Freeze lays another egg this year, it's also going to put Cohen on shaky ground and significantly weaken the Petrino-Steele-Freeze boosters. It's worth noting that YellaFella Jimmy Raines is friendly with but not the leader of that faction. Ever since he eclipsed Bobby Lowder, he's been a significant force but doesn't like being part of a group.
While I agree it was time to move on from Malzahn, they should have waited until the pandemic was over. That was a really stupid time to make a change, especially with the contract the previous president (from Iowa State) saddled the school with. But I guess they thought they could make a drastic change during the chaos.