New Stony Brook football coach Billy Cosh well-prepared to run program
Stony Brook football head coach Billy Cosh looks on before his introductory press conference at the Goldstein Family Student-Athlete Development Center on the school's campus in Stony Brook on Thursday. Credit: Brad Penner
Billy Cosh’s words were hardly promises for future championships, but his belief that success is on the horizon was evident.
Stony Brook hired Cosh, 31, as its new football coach on Wednesday. He was officially introduced Thursday morning during a news conference at the Goldstein Family Student-Athlete Development Center, during which he touched on his background, his vision for success and the current college football landscape, during a lively 11-minute speech.
“I think this place is a sleeping giant,” Cosh told Newsday in a post-news conference interview. “I think the academics are tremendous, location’s awesome, recruiting area’s awesome, and they’ve played good football here. And I think we can get back to that.”
Cosh will be the second-youngest head coach in Division I football, including both the FCS and FBS level. Only Incarnate Word’s Clint Killough, 30, is younger.
“I’ve been preparing for a while,” Cosh said. “Always wanted to be a head coach and being a coordinator these past couple years has really helped me kind of just being ready.”
A native of Gambrills, Maryland, Cosh was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Michigan during the 2023 season. Cosh was the offensive coordinator at Richmond in 2022 and spent the two prior seasons as the offensive coordinator at Virginia Military Institute. He played quarterback for five collegiate seasons (2010-14), attending Kansas State, James Madison, Butler Community College and Houston.
Stony Brook has fallen on hard times in recent seasons, and a winless 2023 season led to the dismissal of 18-year coach Chuck Priore on Nov. 18. The Seawolves have not had a winning season since 2018, and have only appeared in the FCS playoffs twice since joining the Coastal Athletic Association in 2013.
Stony Brook athletic director Shawn Heilbron said his attention first turned to Cosh on Sept. 24, 2022. Stony Brook had beaten Richmond, 27-14, on Oct. 23, 2021. A season later, with Cosh running the Richmond offense, the Spiders topped the Seawolves, 51-7.
“When I was standing on the field as our team took on Richmond in Richmond, and I watched their offense go up and down the field like I was watching a video game,” Heilbron said. “And it looked completely different from the offense that I had seen here in 2021, when we beat Richmond, and I asked myself, who is responsible for this?”
Cosh is part of a rich football family, led by his father Chris Cosh. Chris has 40 years of coaching experience, including stints at seven Power Five schools. He was most recently a senior offensive analyst with his son at Western Michigan this fall. Cosh said his father “possibly” could have a role with Stony Brook.
Cosh added that he wants to build a coaching staff with great character, including the possibility of holdovers from the Seawolves’ 2023 staff.
When it comes to players, Cosh will emphasize three steps: recruit, retain and develop. He met with the team before Thursday’s introductory news conference and plans to hold individual meetings with them next week.
“This is good stuff here, but I’m ready to hit the ground running more so and get with the guys,” Cosh said. “That’s the most important thing ... I’m ready to go."
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.