Jackson Free Press

Former Mississippi State Athletic Director Scott Stricklin recently left the program to take the same position at the University of Florida. But MSU didn’t have to look to far to find its new athletic director: The university gave current head baseball coach John Cohen for the job.

Cohen is the 17th athletic director in Mississippi State history. He is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year, once at the University of Kentucky and once at MSU, for his work as the baseball coach.

MSU hired Cohen as head baseball coach in 2009, and since then, the team has won 284 games. He has seen 135 Bulldogs get selected in the MLB Draft. Two of his assistants, Nick Mingione and Butch Thompson, have become head coaches at the University of Kentucky and Auburn University.

In his eight years leading the MSU program, Cohen built a 284-203-1 record. Last season, he led the Bulldogs to a 44-18-1 record, and MSU went from worst to first after the program posted a 24-30 season the previous year.

The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native played at MSU and was a part of the Bulldogs’ 1989 SEC Championship team and 1990 College World Series team. He graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1990.

Cohen received a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Missouri in 1994. He spent six seasons as a graduate assistant and coach with the Tigers before taking the head coaching job at Northwestern State University from 1998 to 2001.

While at Northwestern State, Cohen built a 146-84 record before becoming an assistant coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2003. He left Florida to take over at the University of Kentucky.

Cohen finished his time with the Wildcats with a 175-112-1 record from 2004 to 2008.

During his time and MSU and Kentucky, he led seven teams to NCAA Regionals.

In 2013 Cohen led the Bulldogs to one of the best seasons in MSU history with a 51-20 record, and the Bulldogs reached the College World Series finals before falling to the University of California at Los Angeles.

Cohen has been a coach in the SEC for 13 seasons and has coached in the conference for 15 years overall. In July, he was named associate athletic director, along with his duties as head baseball coach.

While head coach at MSU, Cohen has helped the athletic program raise funds to upgrade Dudy Noble Field. The upgrades make the baseball stadium one of the best in the country.

Lake Charles, La.’s American Press newspaper has reported that current LSU assistant coach Andy Cannizaro is the new head baseball coach at MSU. Cannizaro joined the LSU coaching staff in 2014, when he began his coaching career.

Cohen is the third former coach to become athletic director at a SEC school. He joins Skip Berkman, the athletic director at LSU, and Ray …

It seems like the 2016 sports world is following the same script as late 1997.

That year, the NFL featured two ties in back-to-back weeks. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens ended in a 10-10 tie in week 12, and the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants ended in a 7-7 tie in week 13.

This year, the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks ended in a 6-6 tie in week seven, and the Cincinnati Bengals and the Washington Redskins ended in a 27-27 tie in London, England. It seems interesting that the Redskins would be involved in both years.

Just like this year, 1997 featured a great World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Florida Marlins. That series went back and forth, with both teams battling to win a title.

The 1997 World Series came down to game seven, when the Florida Marlins were able to prevail 3-2 after 11 innings. It was the first World Series title for the Marlins in franchise history.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you know this year’s World Series featured the Indians against the Chicago Cubs. Cleveland jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and seemed ready to break a 68-year title drought.

Chicago won two straight games, forcing a game seven. The Cubs jumped out to a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

Cleveland battled back and cut the Chicago lead to 5-3 after five innings. The Cubs then scored another run in the top of the sixth inning and went up to 6-3.

They were four outs away from a title in the bottom of the eighth inning. Cleveland scored three runs with two outs and tied the game 6-6 at the top of the ninth.

Neither team scored at that time, so the game headed to extra innings. Then the rain began to fall. Both teams were forced to wait through an 18-minute rain delay before the game restarted.

Chicago scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning and took an 8-6 lead and needed three outs to win. The Indians didn’t go quietly into the night, as Cleveland scored a run with two outs, cutting the lead to 8-7.

Cleveland hit a ground out to end the game and gave the Cubs a World Series victory for the first time in 108 years. It was the first title for the Cubs since 1908, when the franchise had won the second of back-to-back titles.

Just like the Redskins in the NFL, the spirit of 1997 swept up the Indians.

Way back in 1997, Louisiana State University hosted the number one team in the nation, but that year it was the University of Florida. This Saturday, Nov. 5, Louisiana State University hosts the No. 1 team in the nation now, which is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Could the No. 1 team in …

Making the leap from national to international touring is rough for musicians, and after new fees from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services take effect Dec. 23, it may get much more difficult for artists coming into the United States.

On Oct. 24, the USCIS announced that fees for many immigration applications and petitions will be increasing for the first time since November 2010, in order to cover the costs of USCIS services, such as fraud detection, case processing and national security measures.

One immigration benefit request that the increase will affect is I-129/129CW, the "Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker," which includes "artists or entertainers, either an individual or group, to perform, teach or coach under a program that is culturally unique," and "persons with extraordinary ability in ... arts," among other fields.

At face value, raising the I-129 fee from $325 to $460 isn't so great a leap, but when one considers that this fee applies to every band member and person that the band employs, the cost certainly adds up. The increase will also affect bands of all sizes in different ways, of course.

For example, say there are two bands performing in Jackson: Band A, which is moderately successful stateside and plays at a larger venue such as Thalia Mara Hall, and Band B, which is perhaps newer to international touring and plays at smaller venues such as Martin's Restaurant & Bar.

The fees may seem like less of a hit to Band A, but larger audiences also mean larger expenses. These acts tend to have more musicians onstage and have their own sound engineers, lighting engineers and other employees to boost the quality and value of a live show. That means either the band sheds crew members or shells out the $460 fee for each person.

Meanwhile, the less-well-known Band B won't be much better off. Even with a smaller crew and fewer members, the group still has those fees to tend with on top of regular touring expenses and smaller payments per show.

It's worth noting that record labels tend to provide some financial backing for their artists. However, that's less common among independent labels, and a large majority of touring acts are self-supporting.

For some foreign artists, the fee increase will undoubtedly mean that, come 2017, touring in the United States will no longer be tenable.

The City of Jackson ordered a precautionary boil-water notice for some streets in Eastover affected by low water pressure.