After a nationwide search for a new head football coach, Stony Brook University has announced that Western Michigan Offensive Coordinator Billy Cosh will be taking over the reins prior to the 2024 season.
This is an unprecedented move by athletic director Shawn Heilbron as the Seawolves have notoriously hired from within the program. It comes at the right time as well as the football team at Stony Brook is in desperate need of an identity change.
“My family and I are excited for this opportunity to join the Stony Brook family and to lead this football program to new heights moving forward,” said Cosh on Wednesday when he was introduced as the new head coach of the football program. “I want to thank President McInnis, Director of Athletics Shawn Heilbron, and the search committee for giving me this tremendous opportunity. Great location, academics, athletics and, more importantly, people really excite me about being the head football coach here.”
Cosh, 31, has become a hot commodity for a head coaching job across the FCS as he has been one of the best offensive coordinators in the subdivision. Between his time at VMI, Richmond, and Western Michigan, Cosh’s offenses have averaged just over 400 yards and 28 points per game.
“Being a FCS coach over the years, I have always admired Stony Brook from afar,” said Cosh. “I know we will develop these young men the right way and play a brand of football that will return us to the top in a great league in the CAA. I am ready to get to work and build the trust that is needed to have success.”
The hire came out of left field as many speculated that there was a good chance that the signing wouldn’t occur until the university had decided what to do with the expiring contract of Athletic Director Shawn Heilbron. However, Heilbron and University President Maurie McInnis seemed to be working together to make sure they could get the right man for the job before the students came back from winter break.
Stony Brook’s football program has become the laughing stock of the CAA over the last half decade under the out of touch Chuck Priore, and despite the consistent losing, Priore had been viewed as “unfireable” by many due to Heilbron honoring the former head of the program as a pioneer in Stony Brook Athletics and one of the most “Successful” coaches in the university’s history.
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Billy Cosh (right) during his introductory press conference with
Athletic Director Shawn Heilbron (left). Stony Brook
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Maurie McInnis also gave athletics and others a statement about the hiring on Wednesday.
“We're so thrilled to welcome Coach Cosh and his family to ours here at Stony Brook,” McInnes said in her written statement. “As a former accomplished student-athlete himself, he understands the importance of being a coach, as well as a teacher and mentor for his players to excel at the highest levels of competition. During the interview process, it was evident Billy is a dynamic leader and innovative coach who cares deeply about student-athletes contributing on the field as well as in the classroom and in the Stony Brook community. Today marks the beginning of an exciting chapter in Stony Brook's football history.”
Cosh has a very tall task ahead of him. The new and hungry head coach is inheriting a team that has been on a sharp decline for half a decade with no prior signs of turning around. Many of the young players and top recruits have either gone on to transfer or choose to play elsewhere due to the incompetence of the team in recent years with a disastrous 2023 campaign being the Coup De Grâce for longtime Head Coach Chuck Priore as the team finished winless for the first time in program history.
According to some FCS insiders, this is just the beginning of a complete overhaul of the program as new coordinators and assistants may be chosen to be a part of Cosh’s staff as he hopes to turn around the program over the next couple of years.