Polar Bear Football Camps

Offensive Coaching Staff

Jonathan Michaeles
Assistant Coach - Receivers/Co-Recruiting Coordinator

Jonathan Michaeles joined Bowdoin in 2018 following 14 years at Colby College, including the last six as head coach of the Mules. Michaeles had been the offensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator, academic advisor, and strength and conditioning director during his eight years as an assistant before moving up to the head coaching job in 2012, where he led Colby to 14 wins, including a 4-4 season in 2013. A 1992 graduate of Bates College, Michales was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Saint Anselm College from 1999 to 2004. He was also the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Fordham University during the 1998-99 academic year and was tight ends coach at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997-98. He started his collegiate coaching career at Allegheny College as the wide receiver, tight end, and kickers coach from 1994 to 1997. Michaeles will serve as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for the Polar Bears.

Recruiting areas: New England Prep, Massachusetts (Central/West), Missouri, Vermont, Hawaii

Kevin Loney
Assistant Coach - Running Backs/Player Development Coordinator

Kevin Loney joined the Bowdoin football coaching staff in the summer of 2015. A veteran coach with over a decade of experience in the collegiate ranks, Loney heads up the running backs and is the player development coordinator for the Polar Bears. Loney was most recently the head coach at Nichols College for three seasons from 2011-13. An experienced defensive coach, his resume includes stops at Upper Iowa (defensive line), Notre Dame (graduate assistant, offense), Bethany (defensive coordinator) and Wesleyan (defensive line). Loney graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. where he also competed for the outdoor track team in addition to playing football.

Recruiting areas: California, Connecticut, Florida, Texas

Braden Layer
Assistant Coach - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks/Co-Recruiting Coordinator

Braden Layer joined the Bowdoin coaching staff in the spring of 2019.

Layer served under new Polar Bear head coach B.J. Hammer at Allegheny College the last two seasons. He will serve as offensive coordinator for the Polar Bears after acting in the same role for the Gators. Over the last two years, Layer oversaw one of the most potent offenses in program history as the squad averaged 30.7 points and over 420 yards/game. This past season, Allegheny featured an extremely balanced attack, averaging 247.9 yards passing and 143.0 yards rushing per game in a 6-4 campaign. Prior to arriving at Allegheny in 2017, Layer spent the 2016 season coaching quarterbacks and wide receivers, while also serving as co-offensive coordinator, at Sewanee: The University of the South. He helped produce a pair of All-Southern Athletic Association receivers, as his unit produced the program’s most passing yards and passing touchdowns in over a decade. Before that, Layer spent two years on the Denison coaching staff, serving as passing game coordinator, wide receivers coach, and recruiting coordinator. The Big Red went a combined 13-7 over Layer’s two years, the program’s best two-year stretch in 20 seasons. Layer began his coaching career in 2013, working at Austin Peay as defensive backs coach.

Layer was a four-year letterwinner at Denison, beginning his career as a quarterback before spending his final two seasons at receiver. A two-time All-NCAC honoree at receiver and 2012 Capital One Academic All-America selection, Layer graduated as the fifth-leading pass catcher in Denison history, totaling 122 catches, 1,613 yards, and 13 touchdowns. He graduated from Denison with honors with degrees in both economics and communications, earning a spot on the 2012 National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Honor Society. He went on to earn a M.S. in health and human performance while at Austin Peay.

Recruiting areas: Illinois, Ohio (Central/Southwest), Pennsylvania (West), Rhode Island, Wisconsin

Matt Cochran
Assistant Coach - Offensive Line/Strength & Conditioning

Matt Cochran joined the Bowdoin coaching staff in the spring of 2019.

Cochran served under new Polar Bear head coach B.J. Hammer at Allegheny College the last two seasons. He will act as offensive line coach for the Polar Bears after serving in the same role for the Gators. Over the last two years, he helped the Gators to one of the most potent offenses in program history as the squad averaged 30.7 points and over 420 yards/game. In 2018, Allegheny featured an extremely balanced attack, averaging 247.9 yards passing and 143.0 yards rushing per game in a 6-4 campaign. Cochran was hired at Allegheny in 2017 after spending two seasons as defensive line coach Wesley College in Dover, Delaware. The Wolverines earned NCAA Division III tournament appearances in both years, capturing the 2016 outright New Jersey Athletic Conference championship, while earning a share of the NJAC title in 2015. Wesley went a combined 20-5 in Cochran’s two seasons. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Denison University, where he worked for two seasons as an assistant in the football office.

Cochran played collegiately at Denison from 2010-13, and was a four-year letterwinner, starting 39 of a possible 40 games on the offensive line. A two-time All-NCAC honoree, he served as team captain during a senior season in which he won the team’s Jack Tamblyn Memorial Award, and the Big Red Warrior Club Strength and Conditioning Award. A native of Massillon, Ohio, Cochran earned a degree in economics from Denison in 2014, adding a minor in computer science, before he received a master’s in Sports Leadership from Wesley during his coaching tenure with the Wolverines.

Recruiting areas: Delaware, Michigan, Ohio (Northeast/Northwest), Pennsylvania (Central), Tennessee, Kentucky