Barney Cotton
Associate Head Coach, Offensive Line
Barney Cotton is in his second season on Bo Pelini’s staff as the offensive line coach. The Omaha native is in his third season overall as a Nebraska assistant, having previously served as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in 2003. Cotton has tutored for 20 years during his collegiate coaching career. Cotton also serves as Nebraska’s associate head coach, assisting Head Coach Bo Pelini with a number of administrative issues.
Cotton helped the Nebraska offense post impressive numbers in 2008, as the Huskers finished among the top 20 nationally in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense. Senior offensive guard Matt Slauson was a second-team All-Big 12 pick under Cotton’s guidance, while center Jacob Hickman was an honorable-mention pick by the coaches and tackle Lydon Murtha was named honorable-mention by the Associated Press. The O-line paved the way for the Husker running game to average 169.8 yards per game and 27 touchdowns, while protecting quarterback Joe Ganz as he threw for a single-season school-record 3,568 yards, while setting the single-season school-record with 3,826 total yards.
In 2003, Cotton’s offensive unit helped Nebraska to a 10-3 record and a victory over Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl. Nebraska ranked among the top 10 nationally in rushing offense and four Husker offensive linemen earned all-conference accolades.
Following his successful one-year stint with the Huskers, Cotton stayed in the Big 12 Conference, serving as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Iowa State. With the Cyclones, Cotton directed a potent ISU offensive attack.
In his first season in Ames, the Cyclones came on late in the season averaging 404.8 yards in the final four games of the regular season. The late surge helped Iowa State to the Independence Bowl where it defeated Miami (Ohio).
In 2007, Cotton served as a volunteer assistant coach at Ames High School, where he assisted with all aspects of the offense.
Before his four-year run as an offensive coordinator in the Big 12 Conference, Cotton spent the previous six seasons as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at New Mexico State on the staff of former Husker Tony Samuel.
Under Cotton’s direction, the Aggie offense ranked in the top 25 nationally in total offense three times in six seasons—13th in 1998, 17th in 2000 and 23rd in 2002. NMSU ranked in the top 25 in rushing offense in each of Cotton’s six seasons in Las Cruces, and six Aggie linemen earned all-conference accolades under Cotton’s guidance at New Mexico State.
In his final season at New Mexico State, Cotton’s offense showed great diversity, rushing for 200 yards or more in eight games, while throwing for 200 or more yards four times. In the season’s final two games, NMSU threw for 335 yards against league champion North Texas and 343 the following week against Idaho. The Aggies led the Sun Belt Conference in passing efficiency, rushing offense and total offense in 2002, and finished No. 14 nationally in rushing offense at 214.5 yards per game.
Cotton went to New Mexico State from Hastings College, where he was head coach in 1995 and 1996. In 1995, the Broncos won the Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference Championship and made an appearance in the NAIA playoffs. Cotton was named the 1995 NIAC Coach of the Year.
Cotton spent six seasons as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at St. Cloud State (Minn.) from 1989 to 1994. In 1989, St. Cloud won the North Central Conference Championship and averaged more than 400 yards per game of total offense.
An all-state selection as a senior at Omaha Burke High School, Cotton played for Nebraska from 1975 to 1978. He played on the offensive line as a freshman and sophomore, then switched to defense where he started at tackle in 1977. Cotton moved back to offense for his senior season in 1978, where he earned second-team All-Big Eight honors as a guard on Osborne’s Big Eight championship team.
Cotton played in the 1979 East-West Shrine Game, then was a third-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1979. After one season in Cincinnati, Cotton played three seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1980 to 1982, before a knee injury forced his retirement.
Cotton earned a bachelor’s degree from Nebraska in 1983 and a master’s degree in athletic administration from St. Cloud State in 1994. Cotton and his wife, Christine, have three sons, Ben, Jake and Sam. Ben is redshirt freshman tight end for the Huskers in 2008.
