Football
- Title:
- Defensive Line
- Email:
- football@kent.edu
- Phone:
- 330-672-3350
Brian Cochran was named Kent State’s defensive line coach in January of 2018.
Cochran held the same position at Chattanooga in 2017, while working with defensive coordinator Tom Kaufman. The Mocs led the Southern Conference in total defense allowing just 326.4 yards per game and 309.6 yards per contest in conference games. Chattanooga also led the SoCon in pass defense and ranked second in first downs allowed.
He returns to Northeast Ohio, a place in which he spent 10 seasons as a coach and four as a player at John Carroll University, serving in various roles including defensive line coach, defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. The Blue Streaks made three NCAA playoff appearances from 2013-16, including a semifinals appearance in 2016.
In 2016, JCU finished No. 13 in the nation in rushing defense and averaged more than three sacks per game.
In six of 10 seasons at JCU, Cochran served as defensive coordinator, helping the Blue Streaks lead the nation in a several categories, including rushing defense and points allowed per game.
Prior to JCU, Cochran spent time as a head coach for Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio from 2003 to 2006 and an assistant coach at both MacMurray College (IL) and Ohio Northern University. In addition to football, he was the head coach of Heidelberg’s wrestling program for two years, during his first stint with the Student Princes as an assistant football coach.
Cochran, a 1990 graduate of John Carroll University was an All-American nose tackle as a senior in 1989 helping earn the program’s first NCAA Division III tournament bid.
He was inducted into the JCU Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 30, 2011.
