Chris Cosh (born May 12, 1959) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach and former player. He currently serves as the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association a ...

Playing career

Cosh played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

for the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 v ...

from 1977 to 1981."Cosh Added to Wildcat Defensive Staff"
- Kansas State University Wildcats official athletic site. - (kstatesports.com). - December 6, 2008

Coaching career

He has been a defensive coach since he started as a student assistant at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in 1983. Cosh has moved around a lot, with 13 stops in 25 years, including two with the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

(1997, 2006–2008) and re-joining Holtz with the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

(1999–2003). He served as linebackers coach in 2004 and 2005 for the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as co ...

under head coach

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the pos ...

, before returning to Maryland as their defensive coordinator and linebackers coach with head coach

Ralph Friedgen Ralph Harry Friedgen (born April 4, 1947) is a former American football coach. He was most recently the special assistant coach for Rutgers in 2015 after serving as their offensive coordinator in the 2014 season. He was the head coach at the U ...

. While at Maryland, Cosh was frequently criticized by fans for the inconsistent performance by Maryland's defense, which was described as "poor to occasionally impressive". Friedgen praised Cosh's recruiting but showed public frustration with Cosh's in-game coaching. On December 6, 2008 it was announced that Cosh would return to Kansas State for a second time under coach Snyder (when Snyder decided to come out of retirement to help the Wildcats) as assistant head coach (to Snyder) and co-defensive coordinator alongside

Vic Koenning Victor Emanuel Koenning Jr. (born February 26, 1960) is a former professional American football player, and current defensive coordinator at Louisiana–Monroe. He was the interim head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 20 ...

. Cosh will have now served as a defensive coordinator in five of the six

BCS BCS, or bcs, may refer to: American football * Bowl Championship Series, a system that selected matchups for major college football bowl games between 1998 and 2013 * BCS conferences, the six FBS conferences with automatic major bowl bids under ...

conferences (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12, and Big East). On January 18, 2012, Cosh was announced as the new defensive coordinator at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

. On February 4, 2016, Cosh was named defensive coordinator at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

. He followed

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

Danny Rocco Daniel Christopher Rocco (born July 16, 1960)''1995 University of Texas Football Media Guide'' p. 94 is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach of the VMI Keydets. Rocco has previously been the head coach of the Liberty Flames, ...

to the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 m ...

as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach on January 5, 2017. On July 21, 2021, Cosh was named defensive coordinator at

Christopher Newport University Christopher Newport University (CNU) is a public university in Newport News, Virginia. It was founded in 1960 and is named after Christopher Newport, captain of one of the ships which carried settlers of Jamestown, the first permanent English ...

. 2022 Hampton University defensive coordinator.

Personal

Cosh is a native of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and graduated from

Bishop McNamara High School Bishop McNamara High School (BMHS or McNamara) is a private, Catholic coed high school in Forestville CDP in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland.Forestville, Maryland Forestville is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 12,831. The community is a mixture of garden apartments, single-family homes, and ...

. He has a bachelor's degree in physical education from Virginia Tech in 1983. Cosh and his wife, Mary, live in Maryland. They have two sons, J. J., who was a member of the

Midshipmen A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Af ...

football team at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

from 2007-2011. He is currently a scout for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

. Their other son, Billy, played at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public insti ...

as a freshman before transferring to

Butler Community College Butler Community College (BCC) is a public community college in El Dorado, Kansas. Campus There are a number of branch campuses throughout the area, in Andover, Council Grove, Marion, McConnell, Rose Hill, and a number of distance-learning ...

and later to

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, where he graduated in 2014. Billy is currently the offensive coordinator at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the tr ...

References

External links

Delaware profile

Richmond profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosh, Chris 1959 births Living people Buffalo Bulls football coaches Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Kansas State Wildcats football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Michigan State Spartans football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches North Texas Mean Green football coaches Richmond Spiders football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches South Florida Bulls football coaches Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches Virginia Tech Hokies football players Wisconsin–Oshkosh Titans football coaches People from Forestville, Maryland Players of American football from Maryland Players of American football from Washington, D.C.