In the corridor leading to John Cohen’s office inside Auburn’s athletics complex, there’s a wall of photos of some of the school’s all-time greats.

Two-time Olympic gold medal women’s basketball player Ruthie Bolton is the first to greet you as you make your way toward Cohen’s spacious office, which until recently was designated for Auburn’s head football coach. Next to Bolton is four-time MLB All-Star and World Series champion Tim Hudson, followed by three-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Rowdy Gaines. Then there’s the youngest of the group — and the only current Auburn student-athlete featured in the space — Suni Lee, the reigning Olympic all-around gold medal gymnast. Two of the program’s biggest names round things out: Heisman winner Bo Jackson and basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.

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Above those portraits, in big, bold lettering is the familiar refrain that for so long has been used as a pejorative when it comes to Auburn athletics: Auburn Being Auburn. It’s a phrase that Cohen has worked to flip on its head since he was named the Tigers’ new athletics director on Oct. 31.

In the three-plus months since taking over on the Plains, Cohen has been a busy man. He oversaw a football coaching search the first month on the job, ultimately landing on Hugh Freeze to lead the program into a new era, and just wrapped up a whirlwind weekend for the athletics department. The women’s basketball team hosted top-ranked South Carolina on Thursday. The fifth-ranked gymnastics team set a season high in a top-10 win against LSU, anchored by another perfect-10 from Lee. The school welcomed ESPN’s College GameDay to campus ahead of the men’s basketball team’s rivalry game against third-ranked Alabama, which saw another packed house and raucous environment at Neville Arena.

“I feel very thankful to be a part of this,” Cohen told AL.com. “Every day I learn something new about the great history of this place, but I also know I feel like we have more great times ahead.”

Just a few hours before heading to Neville Arena for the gymnastics meet Friday and then providing a late-night snack for students camped outside for Saturday’s rivalry game, Cohen sat down with AL.com to reflect on his first few months on the job.

While Cohen’s time on the Plains is still in its infancy — he’s just a few months into a five-year contract worth $1.5 million annually — his experience overseeing the athletics department has contrasted with the outside perception about Auburn. That disparaging reputation of “Just Auburn Being Auburn,” or JABA as it’s often referred to online, was something Cohen had obviously heard about during his time in the SEC over the better part of the last three decades.

For years there has been a perception of dysfunction at Auburn, which has been viewed — deservedly or not — as the poster child for booster meddling and infighting, whether it be Jetgate in 2003, the will-they-or-won’t-they saga throughout Gus Malzahn’s tenure as coach and the search for his replacement, which ultimately led to the disastrous Bryan Harsin era that ended just hours before Cohen’s hiring as AD became official.

“You always heard that about Auburn,” Cohen said. “My experience in three months has been vastly different to that reputation. I can’t speak to why that is, but I can tell you if you talk to people who’ve known John Cohen for a long period of time, if that’s the environment you want to have, you hired the wrong guy…. The experience I’ve had is so contrary to the reputation of Auburn that it makes me really question if anything you’ve heard had any validity to it at all.”

The term alignment is one you hear often in college athletics but one that has seldom been associated with Auburn, given the program’s reputation. Auburn had a chance to try to correct the course in the fall, when the university had the rare opportunity for a clean slate. Dr. Chris Roberts took over as university president in May, and within six months, Auburn was set to hire a new athletics director and new football coach in the same cycle. Roberts tabbed Cohen from Mississippi State to oversee the department, while Cohen landed on Freeze to lead the football program.

Since his arrival on campus in November, Cohen believes Auburn is finding that cohesion at all levels, starting at the top with Roberts and down to Cohen, coaches, faculty, staff, Board of Trustees members and, of course, donors.

The support, Cohen said, has been “overwhelming” across the board as he has gotten a lay of the land and fortified relationships with some of Auburn’s biggest donors, including Walt and Ginger Woltosz, the namesakes of the program’s new $91.9 million football performance center.

“I feel like we all want what’s best for these different groups — our student-athletes first, our faculty and staff and students on campus, our fanbase, our donors,” Cohen said. “Everything has to be in alignment. We have to do what’s right for those people, starting with our student-athletes…. It’s this alignment — this agreement of, ‘we’re not always going to do the things we want to do, but we’re going to do the things that are right for Auburn University.’ That’s one of the things that really drew me to Dr. Roberts. He is all about doing what’s right for Auburn. This is a guy who’s told me over and over again, ‘Auburn has the right to dream big.’”

While it remains to be seen whether Auburn can maintain that equilibrium long-term and keep everyone on the same page, Cohen is excited about what the future of Auburn athletics can look like under his guidance in this ever-changing landscape of college athletics.

The program is coming off a record year financially, bouncing back from the impact of the pandemic with a $22.9 million profit during the 2021-22 fiscal year, and the SEC is set to start a lucrative 10-year media rights deal in 2024, when the league will also officially welcome Oklahoma and Texas to the fold. Freeze will be tasked with turning things around on the field for Auburn after two down seasons for the program, which just moved into its new building — which can be seen from Cohen’s office across the street — and the Tigers have a blossoming NIL collective at their disposal in On To Victory.

Cohen is developing a master plan for facilities, including addressing the north end zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium. The biggest challenge he foresees is on the NIL front, where he believes guardrails need to be put in place.

While there’s work to be done still, Cohen echoed Roberts’ belief that “Auburn has the right to dream big.” That belief was reinforced Nov. 12 — the day Auburn hosted Texas A&M at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the program’s first home game after firing Harsin and elevating Cadillac Williams to interim head coach.

South Donahue Drive was lined with hordes of fans for a Tiger Walk unlike any other since at least 2019. Jordan-Hare Stadium was sold out for a primetime matchup between a pair of 3-5 teams tied for last in the SEC West, with both riding five-game losing streaks into the day. Auburn won, 13-10, in what was one of the most meaningful and emotionally charged wins in recent program history.

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“The Texas A&M football game was an incredible, eye-opening experience for me,” Cohen said. “…I just remember thinking to myself, ‘We’re going to get this football program together, in alignment all the way from the president to myself, to our new football coach. We’re going to get this in alignment, and we’re going to get to a championship level,’ and this is just a glimpse right now, this Texas A&M game, of what Auburn can look like.

“I was just moved, very humbled just to be a part of that football game.”

That game stands as Cohen’s favorite memory from his first few months on the job, and it’s one that will stick with him for some time. As he sits back in a chair inside his corner office Friday afternoon, high on a shelf over his left shoulder is a single framed photo. It’s of him and his wife, Nelle, making their way through their first Tiger Walk and up to the southwest entrance of Jordan-Hare Stadium the day of the Texas A&M game.

It’s a memento of Auburn Being Auburn, a reminder of what the program can be but also one of how far it has to go to get there.

“It’s pretty — pretty humbling to say that you’re part of that now moving forward,” Cohen said. “I want to envision this football program having more of those special moments. I just remember watching Bo (Jackson) play when I was a kid; he was a little older than I am, and just saying, ‘This ain’t normal. This is different… This hasn’t existed before with what this guy can do.’ The Rowdy Gaineses, the Charles Barkleys — it just goes on and on and on. Wow.

“Even tonight, I’m going to go watch Suni Lee. Are you kidding me? I mean, Jordan-Hare has the magical moments there, but I’m watching a gymnast who’s capable of scoring 10s. I mean, I’m watching a gold medal athlete here at Auburn University. I mean, it’s something that I don’t take lightly.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.