The Legend of Barrett Cohen
Barrett with legendary coaches Gerry Faust and Phil Gigliotti.
by: Barrett Cohen
Through the short time he has been at Moeller, Barrett Cohen has quickly become an icon. As many of the Moeller family have seen, Cohen puts out loads of incredible content on his social media accounts about every sports team and alumni event. Barrett began working at Moeller in the spring of 2019 and hopefully plans to retire many years from now as a Crusader.
Unfortunately, Barrett went to the GCL doormat themselves, LaSalle, and then went to Ohio Northern University where he studied broadcasting. After graduating, Barrett was an intern at both Channel 5 and Fox 19. However, after that experience many people are unaware that he changed career paths drastically.
Barrett went into a new field working in the Hamilton County Communications Center for 18 years. While in the public service field, he says that he gained a better appreciation for communication and service leadership. For five of those eighteen years he worked as the hostage negotiator for the Hamilton County Police Association.
Barrett’s first love has always been radio and T.V. broadcasting. Through his experience in the Hamilton County Communications Center, Barrett had the opportunity to start a volunteer broadcasting platform at LaSalle while also working full time at Hamilton County. The more time Barrett spent invested in the school, the more he realized how much he enjoyed working with high school students. He applied for the new full time alumni engagement job at LaSalle and was able to get it.
Barrett smashing some wings
by: Barrett Cohen
However, even when working at LaSalle Barrett said he secretly followed everything Moeller was doing through the great professional relationship he had created with Mr. Hyzdu. Barrett said, “All my buddies are Moeller guys. My kids are die-hard Moeller fans” and because of this, Cohen felt a call to come here saying, “I’m all Moeller now.”
For not being here for very long, Barrett Cohen has already fallen in love with Moeller saying he believes it to be the best school in Ohio when it comes to academics, athletics, tradition, and legacy. “Moeller is the best preeminent high school in Cincinnati PERIOD, and this is coming from someone who is on the outside looking in.”
Barrett Cohen’s official job title here is Director of Alumni and Athletic Engagement. This is a role that many high schools in the area are implementing. This job is vital because as Cohen explains, “we need support of our alumni, we need support of our benefactors. If benefactors and alumni don’t feel that they don’t have an investment in the school, they’re not going to support it.” Barrett says, “I try to be the conduit between everything that’s happening here and our alumni benefactors and our Moeller family. So everything we do academically, everything we do athletically, everything that you guys do in this school, I want to get on the highest mountains and tell your story because what’s happening here is very cool and shouldn’t be a secret for anybody.”
Barrett Cohen at Nippert with some friends
by: Barrett Cohen
Barrett Cohen is one of the hardest working men in this school and is constantly working to improve Moeller any way he can. When I asked how much work he puts into the job, he said, “almost around the clock.” With Cohen having a family of his own with three young kids, he says it gets difficult to get that balance between work and family. That’s why he loves bringing his kids to games and getting them involved with his work at Moeller. He’s able to combine his two favorite passions.
The reason Barrett is able to do all this work is because of his love for Moeller. He said, “I love this place and I don’t know if high school guys realize how special it is until you graduate. Right now you’re checking boxes, I got to do this assignment and I got to do this. But in the course of four years, something special happens here. And to be able to witness it firsthand, and see a kid come in as a freshman not knowing where the bathroom is, to a kid who leaves senior year being able to see the man he’s become. I’m looking forward to becoming a small part of that.”
Barrett Cohen has lots of plans for the upcoming years to make Moeller even better. When I asked him for the goals he hopes to accomplish in the upcoming years he told me, “I just want to get to know you, honestly it might sounds stupid but I want to get to know the guys better.” Barrett explained that in the past he was able to get a strong relationship with the students where they knew that he had their backs. Barrett says that, “when I can get that relationship with the student body here, and guys can trust me as someone who will carry the flag for them and rally behind them, that’s when some really cool things will happen and that’s when they’ll open up and start sharing their stories with me that I can tell the alumni.”
With many events such as the Alumni Sports Stag coming up in 2020 and his favorite sports season, baseball, right around the corner, Barrett is very excited for what the rest of this year and his many years so come have in store for him.
As I said earlier Barrett Cohen is truly one of the hardest working men at this school pumping out new videos every day on social media, whether it’s the soccer team dancing to “3 Nights” in the locker room or an awesome alumni event, Barrett is on top of every story here at Moeller and the future looks bright with him running the show.