GIRL DAD
10/23/2024 3:22:00 PM | Football, "B" Association
Hall of Famer Mark Cochran was part of two bowl teams in three-year stretch
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
This is the sixth in a series profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame, which will be posted every week at baylorbears.com.
Mark Cochran calls it "God's humor" that he has four daughters who all played volleyball.
"It was impossible for me to get to more than maybe one Baylor football game for the longest time," he said.
For the former Baylor offensive lineman (1983-85), football had become almost a distant memory, with the recollections from his playing days disappearing a little bit each of the last 39 years.
Maybe that's why Cochran "about passed out" when new "B" Association Executive Director David Wetzel called to notify him about being elected to the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I'm honored beyond . . . I can't even describe it," said Cochran, part of the 2024 class that will be inducted Nov. 1 at the Hall of Fame Banquet. "Fortunately, I played with a group of guys that were very good. We had some great teams, teammates for life. And this is just a total honor."
Cochran becomes the 17th player that has gone into the Baylor Hall of Fame from the 1981-85 teams, including fellow offensive linemen Mark and John Adickes and Randy Grimes.
"Mark was one of those guys that, me especially, but all the younger guys could look to and at and learn from," Cochran said of Mark Adickes, who was inducted in 1996. "You could watch him play, and you could learn how to be a better player, because he was amazing. He was the best lineman I ever saw put on a helmet."
As a senior at Pasadena Rayburn High School, Cochran was one of the best linemen in the state himself, picking up scholarship offers from most of the Southwest Conference schools and narrowing his final choice to Baylor and Texas.
Out of weekend visits, Cochran made a midweek trip to Waco and "had a really great" midweek visit where Grimes showed him around. "I told Coach (Grant) Teaff, 'This is where I want to be.'''
Cochran followed through with a weekend visit to Texas, but he had "no intentions of actually going there."
When then-Texas coach Fred Akers visited Rayburn High School and talked to Cochran and three other Division I prospects, Mark said his "pretty salty" high school coach said, "Boys, you ain't ever going to hear it that thick the rest of your life."
"But Coach Teaff, oh my gracious," Cochran said.
Joining Mark Adickes on the Baylor offensive line, Cochran was a first-time starter in 1983 as a redshirt sophomore for a 7-4-1 team that opened the season with a 40-36 win over a BYU team that would win the national championship the next year.
The line paved the way for a 1,000-yard rusher in Alfred Anderson and a unique quarterback shuttle with Cody Carlson and Tom Muecke.
"In '82, the plan was to redshirt me, which I did," Cochran said. "But we were pretty thin, so I was kind of a backup that never played, and they traveled me, just in case. I'm glad that I didn't play (the first two years), because I matured a little later. Starting in '83 was wonderful, because we had really good teams in '83, '84 and '85. We went to two bowl games, and in '84 we were a couple wins away from going to a bowl."
With Mark Adickes graduating after the 1983 season and offensive line coach Eddie Williamson leaving as well, Cochran became the leader of a group that was coached by former Tulsa and TCU head coach F.A. Dry.
"Teaff saw a talented offensive line coach and needed one, so I'm glad he picked up F.A. as a coach," Cochran said, "because I learned a great deal from him. He pushed me to get out of my zone, get out of my lane, and to step it up and be a leader.
"He gave me the name 'Bell Cow.' And I remember when he did that, everybody looked at him, me including, not knowing what in the world he was talking about. Growing up on a farm, he knew what a bell cow was. He said that's the one that everybody follows. He really helped push me in that direction of leading the offensive line."
Cochran, who played guard, tackle and center in his Baylor career, was named the Bears' Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 1984 and '85, earned unanimous All-Southwest Conference honors as a senior and was the only player to receive a game ball for a 9-3 season that was capped with a 21-7 win over LSU in the Liberty Bowl.
"After losing to Georgia by three (17-14) that same season, and then getting another shot an SEC team," Cochran said. "(LSU) just barely missed the Sugar Bowl that year, and they had a really talented team. But we came out, punched them in the mouth and ended up winning that game pretty easily."
An 11th-round pick by the Houston Oilers in the 1986 NFL Draft, Cochran was with the San Francisco 49ers for two years before suffering a career-ending ACL injury during the 1987 season.
"Of course, everybody wishes they could play longer," he said. "But I enjoyed that time and I got to play with some guys that are in the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame. Our offensive line coach never had to say, 'Do whatever you can to keep them off No. 16 (Joe Montana).' It was an unspoken word. If you got in trouble, you would tackle, bite, claw, scratch, beat somebody over the head, because you weren't going to let that happen."
Returning to Baylor to get his master's degree, Cochran was a graduate assistant on the football staff for a couple years before starting a professional career that included 25 years with the YMCA and now 10 years with Samaritan's Purse, serving as Regional Director in Donor Ministries.
"Samaritan's Purse has been an amazing blessing," he said. "It's given me the opportunity to meet some amazing people that just love the Lord and want to serve however they can and give to what's going on. . . . In just the few weeks after the first hurricane (in North Carolina) caused all that damage, Samaritan's Purse had over 15,000 volunteers in four states, helping people clean out their houses and doing whatever they could do to help."
Mark and his wife, Starla, have four daughters, Kaydie, Kalli, Kortney and Kenzie and a granddaughter that just turned 1 years old.
"I've just been blessed beyond measure," he said.
Joining Cochran in the 2024 Baylor Hall of Fame class are Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims from women's basketball, Ekpe Udoh from men's basketball, baseball's Michael Griffin, softball's Whitney Canion Reichenstein, Nina Secerbegovic from women's tennis and Ronnie Allen from track and field.
The Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Grand Ballroom of the Hurd Welcome Center on the Baylor University campus. Tickets are $50 per person, with table sponsorships available for $600 (green level) or $800 (gold level).
Registration is available at 2024 Baylor Hall of Fame Banquet.
Baylor Bear Insider
This is the sixth in a series profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame, which will be posted every week at baylorbears.com.
Mark Cochran calls it "God's humor" that he has four daughters who all played volleyball.
"It was impossible for me to get to more than maybe one Baylor football game for the longest time," he said.
For the former Baylor offensive lineman (1983-85), football had become almost a distant memory, with the recollections from his playing days disappearing a little bit each of the last 39 years.
Maybe that's why Cochran "about passed out" when new "B" Association Executive Director David Wetzel called to notify him about being elected to the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I'm honored beyond . . . I can't even describe it," said Cochran, part of the 2024 class that will be inducted Nov. 1 at the Hall of Fame Banquet. "Fortunately, I played with a group of guys that were very good. We had some great teams, teammates for life. And this is just a total honor."
Cochran becomes the 17th player that has gone into the Baylor Hall of Fame from the 1981-85 teams, including fellow offensive linemen Mark and John Adickes and Randy Grimes.
"Mark was one of those guys that, me especially, but all the younger guys could look to and at and learn from," Cochran said of Mark Adickes, who was inducted in 1996. "You could watch him play, and you could learn how to be a better player, because he was amazing. He was the best lineman I ever saw put on a helmet."
As a senior at Pasadena Rayburn High School, Cochran was one of the best linemen in the state himself, picking up scholarship offers from most of the Southwest Conference schools and narrowing his final choice to Baylor and Texas.
Out of weekend visits, Cochran made a midweek trip to Waco and "had a really great" midweek visit where Grimes showed him around. "I told Coach (Grant) Teaff, 'This is where I want to be.'''
Cochran followed through with a weekend visit to Texas, but he had "no intentions of actually going there."
When then-Texas coach Fred Akers visited Rayburn High School and talked to Cochran and three other Division I prospects, Mark said his "pretty salty" high school coach said, "Boys, you ain't ever going to hear it that thick the rest of your life."
"But Coach Teaff, oh my gracious," Cochran said.
Joining Mark Adickes on the Baylor offensive line, Cochran was a first-time starter in 1983 as a redshirt sophomore for a 7-4-1 team that opened the season with a 40-36 win over a BYU team that would win the national championship the next year.
The line paved the way for a 1,000-yard rusher in Alfred Anderson and a unique quarterback shuttle with Cody Carlson and Tom Muecke.
"In '82, the plan was to redshirt me, which I did," Cochran said. "But we were pretty thin, so I was kind of a backup that never played, and they traveled me, just in case. I'm glad that I didn't play (the first two years), because I matured a little later. Starting in '83 was wonderful, because we had really good teams in '83, '84 and '85. We went to two bowl games, and in '84 we were a couple wins away from going to a bowl."
With Mark Adickes graduating after the 1983 season and offensive line coach Eddie Williamson leaving as well, Cochran became the leader of a group that was coached by former Tulsa and TCU head coach F.A. Dry.
"Teaff saw a talented offensive line coach and needed one, so I'm glad he picked up F.A. as a coach," Cochran said, "because I learned a great deal from him. He pushed me to get out of my zone, get out of my lane, and to step it up and be a leader.
"He gave me the name 'Bell Cow.' And I remember when he did that, everybody looked at him, me including, not knowing what in the world he was talking about. Growing up on a farm, he knew what a bell cow was. He said that's the one that everybody follows. He really helped push me in that direction of leading the offensive line."
Cochran, who played guard, tackle and center in his Baylor career, was named the Bears' Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 1984 and '85, earned unanimous All-Southwest Conference honors as a senior and was the only player to receive a game ball for a 9-3 season that was capped with a 21-7 win over LSU in the Liberty Bowl.
"After losing to Georgia by three (17-14) that same season, and then getting another shot an SEC team," Cochran said. "(LSU) just barely missed the Sugar Bowl that year, and they had a really talented team. But we came out, punched them in the mouth and ended up winning that game pretty easily."
An 11th-round pick by the Houston Oilers in the 1986 NFL Draft, Cochran was with the San Francisco 49ers for two years before suffering a career-ending ACL injury during the 1987 season.
"Of course, everybody wishes they could play longer," he said. "But I enjoyed that time and I got to play with some guys that are in the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame. Our offensive line coach never had to say, 'Do whatever you can to keep them off No. 16 (Joe Montana).' It was an unspoken word. If you got in trouble, you would tackle, bite, claw, scratch, beat somebody over the head, because you weren't going to let that happen."
Returning to Baylor to get his master's degree, Cochran was a graduate assistant on the football staff for a couple years before starting a professional career that included 25 years with the YMCA and now 10 years with Samaritan's Purse, serving as Regional Director in Donor Ministries.
"Samaritan's Purse has been an amazing blessing," he said. "It's given me the opportunity to meet some amazing people that just love the Lord and want to serve however they can and give to what's going on. . . . In just the few weeks after the first hurricane (in North Carolina) caused all that damage, Samaritan's Purse had over 15,000 volunteers in four states, helping people clean out their houses and doing whatever they could do to help."
Mark and his wife, Starla, have four daughters, Kaydie, Kalli, Kortney and Kenzie and a granddaughter that just turned 1 years old.
"I've just been blessed beyond measure," he said.
Joining Cochran in the 2024 Baylor Hall of Fame class are Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims from women's basketball, Ekpe Udoh from men's basketball, baseball's Michael Griffin, softball's Whitney Canion Reichenstein, Nina Secerbegovic from women's tennis and Ronnie Allen from track and field.
The Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Grand Ballroom of the Hurd Welcome Center on the Baylor University campus. Tickets are $50 per person, with table sponsorships available for $600 (green level) or $800 (gold level).
Registration is available at 2024 Baylor Hall of Fame Banquet.
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