The Auburn Tigers are on the search for a new football coach after dismissing Hugh Freeze following a humiliating loss to the Kentucky Wildcats over the weekend at home.

For as much as everyone wanted things to work with Freeze, it was more clear than ever that this was not going to happen, and a search to determine who will be next immediately began on The Plains.

That search is going to be conducted and a hire ultimately made by Auburn director of athletics John Cohen, who spoke to the media Monday regarding the early portion of the search, wrapping up why he made the move on Freeze when he did, and so much more.

In one of the more interesting portions of the press conference, Cohen was asked about the alleged influence that boosters and big money donors have on hires at Auburn, and even though this has been widely discussed over the years — he dismissed it.

“That’s a little bit of a mystery to me. I’ve heard all these myths about things like donors at Auburn or Board of Trustee members or administrators or power brokers in the Auburn family, and that has not been my experience in three years,” Cohen said before throwing a shot at his rival.

“Not one time have I had a donor, board member or anybody else who helps guide this great University come to me and say ‘You need to hire this person, you need to terminate this person, you need to do this,’…I think that’s one of those things that might have been created by other schools in the state of Alabama. That myth is not reality.”

Cohen put himself out there and made it a point to say he and he alone is going to be making the final call, which could be a bit of a calculated risk. Giving some of the chaos going on at other schools in their searches though, perhaps Cohen projecting stability and leadership will work to Auburn’s favor.