New Auburn AD John Cohen carries list of 58 items he's looking for in a head coach

"It obviously dominates my time, which it should," Cohen said of the head coaching search "The football head coaching position at Auburn University is a critical decision and we take it with the utmost seriousness."

The interesting thing about this search is that Cohen said those words while at his introductory press conference at Auburn. This is literally his first task at his new job. His hiring was announced shortly after the firing of Harsin.

The good news for Auburn is that Cohen does have experience. He was Mississippi State's athletic director for the past seven seasons and its safe to assume he played a big role in bringing Mike Leach to Starkville.

Oh, and there's that aforementioned list of things he's looking for. At least Cohen isn't going into this thing without a plan.

"It's about fit. And there's not an exact science," Cohen said of his list. "There's analytics. There's a little bit of gut feel. There's a lot of factors. I could read you off this list, a lot of this is commonsensical, a lot of this is really important to me as I've been through the hiring process several times."

ESPN is reporting that potential candidates for the Auburn job include Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, Liberty head coach Huge Freeze, and Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders. Yes, Primetime.

Cohen says he's the one who will make the decision, but he is open to any and all suggestions when it comes to this monumental moment for the Auburn program.

"The 35-year-old version of myself would have stuck my chest out and said, 'This is how it's going to be,'" he said. "The 56-year old version of John Cohen says, 'I want all the information that is available to me from anyone I can possibly get it from at Auburn and beyond.'"

Auburn's interim head coach is former player-turned-running backs coach Carnell 'Cadillac' Williams.

The Tigers have lost five in a row.