Steve Cochran enters his fourth season with Fighting Illini women’s basketball in 2020-21, his second as the program's Director of Player Personnel. 

Cochran originally came to Illinois as an assistant coach on Nancy Fahey's first Illini staff, after spending the 2016-17 season on Fahey’s staff at Washington University. The 2016-17 campaign marked his third stint at WashU under Fahey, as he also coached eight years with the Bears from 1997-2005. 

As Director of Player Personel, Cochran handles duties related to compliance, day-to-day scheduling, game scheduling, and student-athlete welfare. 

While at WashU, Cochran helped the program to four consecutive NCAA Division III National Championships (1998-2001) and nine University Athletic Association (UAA) titles, and a 258-26 record in his 10 seasons in St. Louis. Cochran was named the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year following the 2002-03 season.

Cochran spent his first two years in Champaign as an assistant coach on Fahey's staff. In Cochran’s first season in, he helped coach the Orange and Blue to a 9-5 non-conference record, the best start to a season since Illinois earned nine non-conference victories in the 2014-15 campaign (9-3). With Cochran’s direction, Illinois won four of its last five games leading up to league play, and the streak marked the most consecutive victories for the Orange and Blue since the start of the 2015-16 season. Cochran also helped coach Illini junior Alex Wittinger to All-Big Ten second-team honors, as she matched the school record for single-season offensive rebounds (125). Wittinger earned the program’s second-ever triple double during the 2017-18 campaign, and set a new single-game record for blocked shots (11).

Wittinger continued her record-setting ways in Cochran's second season, becoming Illinois' career leader in blocked shots. She was honored by the Big Ten as a second team All-Big Ten selection and was also named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team following the 2018-19 campaign. During the 2018-19 campaign, Cochran also helped guide the Illini squad to and 8-3 record in nonconference play, a .727 nonconference winning percentage, which marked the highest for an Illini squad since starting the 2014-15 campaign with a 9-5 nonconference record (.750). 

Cochran has more than 20 years of coaching experience, including four years as a collegiate head coach and 12 years as an assistant coach under Fahey. Cochran served four years as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Maryville University where he helped the Saints to an NCAA Tournament bid. He spent one year as head coach at Jefferson College, after a two-year stint as the head women’s basketball coach at Concordia University Texas where he was named American Southwest Conference West Division Co-Coach of the year. 

Cochran also served one season as the head women's basketball coach at Rockford (Ill.) College. In his one year with the Regents, he nearly doubled the team’s victory total with a 15-10 overall record and guided the team to the quarterfinals of the NAC tournament.

Cochran began his coaching career in the St. Louis high school ranks, serving as an assistant coach at both Incarnate Word Academy and Parkway South High School. While with Incarnate Word, Cochran assisted the team to three state semifinal appearances and a 1995 Missouri State Championship. He also helped guide Parkway South to a pair of Elite Eight appearances.

A native of St. Louis, Cochran earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He has two sons, Ryan and Quinn. 

Updated September 2020.