Mike Leach always expects the unexpected, but even he wasn’t quite prepared for John Cohen’s departure from Mississippi State.

Cohen resigned as Mississippi State’s athletics director Monday morning, effective immediately. He is expected to be named Auburn’s next athletics director after finalizing a deal on the Plains.

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Leach, who was hired by Cohen to take over the Bulldogs’ football program prior to the 2020 season, reflected on his relationship with Cohen and the news of his resignation Monday during his weekly press conference ahead of Mississippi State’s upcoming games against—oddly enough—Auburn this weekend.

“I thought John was great,” Leach said. “Got along good with John. You know, I just kind of go back to the first thing every week—surprises happen. I’m surprised this happened, but I’m not surprised something surprising happened. Something surprising happens every week; you just don’t know how it’s going to manifest itself. I enjoyed working with John.”

Cohen spent the last seven years as Mississippi State’s athletics director after an extensive career as a college baseball coach, which included eight seasons with the Bulldogs. He briefly served as the program’s associate athletics director before being named athletics director in 2016, replacing Scott Stricklin.

During his time as Mississippi State athletics director, Cohen made two football coaching hires. He hired Joe Moorhead in 2018 to replace Dan Mullen. Two years after, he pulled the plug on that experiment and tabbed Leach as head coach, hiring him away from Washington State.

Cohen, who is expected to make $1.5 million annually at Auburn, will be tasked with identifying the Tigers’ next head coach after the program parted ways with Bryan Harsin less than two seasons into his six-year deal. Harsin went just 9-12 during his tenure, including a 3-10 mark over the last calendar year.

Mississippi State will host Auburn, which will be led by interim coach Cadillac Williams, on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Leach said the change at Auburn probably won’t impact how Mississippi State prepares for the Tigers this week, due to the quick turnaround.

“I don’t know how they’re going to organize it,” Leach said. “You know, I mean, on one hand, they’ll probably do what they’ve been doing for the season. Wholesale changes for a week are tough to install on that short a period of time.”

As for Mississippi State on the AD front, the program has now seen each of its last two athletics directors leave Starkville, Miss., for other SEC positions. Stricklin left Mississippi State to take over Florida’s athletics department, and now Cohen is headed to Auburn.

Leach said he tries to ignore the uncertainty that comes with such a change, instead focusing on the day-to-day as Bulldogs head coach. Still, he made his pitch for whoever is going to succeed Cohen in Starkville.

“I think it’s a great job because this is a great place to live, and then also the people you work with are great, too, at least — you know, it’s not perfect,” Leach said. “I would definitely purge a couple, but not very many; less here than most places. That immediately sticks it above, you know, other places. So, I think it’s a fantastic place. I think it’s a very down-to-earth place, and I think it’s a pragmatic place that tries to figure out solutions to problems rather than getting wound up, politically kissing too many rings. They’re trying to solve a problem, which I think is the correct approach.”

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