The North Park football team was looking to improve its area of coaching with the quarterbacks and the fullbacks in 2012 and the Vikings have done just that with the hiring of new assistant coach Nate Cochran.

North Park introduced Cochran as its new quarterbacks/fullbacks coach Tuesday. He succeeds coach Todd Winter, who accepted a position at Pine Crest Academy in Georgia to be closer to his family.

“This a great day for North Park football,” said seventh-year head coach Scott Pethtel. “We're happy to have a guy with the kind of experience Nate has developed as a college football coach. Not only does he have experience coaching our offense, but he has head coaching experience as well. We're looking forward to getting started with spring practice with Nate as part of our staff.”

Cochran, who served as the running backs coach at Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri, turned the program around in one year coaching (2011) as he helped lead the team to the most wins in program history, winning four of their last five games. What's more under Cochran's tutelage, Avila improved in every offensive category and raised the team's grade point average.

Prior to his stint at Avila, Cochran served as the head football coach at Lincoln University (MO). In two seasons, Cochran led the team to victories over NCAA Division II opponents, and the team's offense ranked 12th in the nation in rushing during the 2010 campaign.  Cochran also spent three seasons at Blackburn College of Illinois where he served as the team's offensive coordinator, breaking over 30 school records while finishing eighth in the nation in rushing in 2008. As an assistant football coach at the University of Wisconsin Platteville in 2004, Cochran helped produce the first winning season in 13 years and defeated three nationally-ranked teams. He originally started his coaching career at Allen University, an NAIA institution in Columbia, South Carolina as the running backs coach (2002) and the offensive line coach (2003).

Cochran brings ten years of coaching experience to the fold, including five years at the NCAA Division III level, and was a member of the 2010 NCAA Expert Coaches Academy. In addition, he was a member of the 2007 NCAA Men's Football Coaches Academy, served as a 2007 National Football League Minority intern with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is an author of multiple football articles and videos on the spread option offense.

North Park finished the season with its best record in the last six years, opening the year with a 3-0 record, including victories over former playoff contenders Benedictine and Aurora University, not to mention a 13-10 win over nationally-ranked Washington University-St. Louis in the third week of the season.