Ball State football head coach Mike Neu has announced that Tyler Stockton has joined the Cardinals staff as the co-defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach.
"Coach Stockton is going to bring a lot to us in terms of his background in the 3-4 defense," Neu said. "He played at a high level in college and he's been under some great coaches in his young coaching career. Obviously, I'm excited about what he brings to the table recruiting-wise because that is a big piece as well."
Stockton comes to Ball State from Western Illinois where he served as defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach in 2018. Stockton's unit ranked 23rd nationally (Football Championship Subdivision) in yards allowed per game (327.9) and sixth in sacks (36). The Leathernecks held defending NCAA FCS champion North Dakota State to a season-low 276 yards of offense in October. That number was nearly 200 yards below NDSU's season average.
In 2016 and 2017, Stockton coached the defensive line coach at Western Illinois. His role also involved serving as the run game coordinator, walk-on coordinator and academic coordinator. He worked under Ball State's current defensive coordinator, David Elson, in his first year at WIU in 2016.
"What brought me here was my prior relationship with coach David Elson," Stockton said. "I truly believe in what he is doing on the defensive side of the ball, and I hear nothing but great things about coach Neu and the university. I love to be in the state of Indiana again. I'm very excited about that."
Stockton played collegiate football at Notre Dame where he was a Monogram award winner and five-year member of the Fighting Irish program from 2009-13. He helped the team make appearances in the 2010 Sun Bowl (champions), 2013 BCS National Championship game and 2013 Pinstripe Bowl (champions). He was a member of the nation's top-ranked defense in the 2012 season when the Fighting Irish advanced to the national championship game against Alabama.
Stockton entered the coaching ranks in 2014 as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons at Connecticut. He specifically worked as the assistant to the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. The Huskies defense ranked 15th nationally in scoring defense (19.5 points) in 2015 and helped propel UConn to a spot in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl.
Outside of the classroom and football field, Stockton gained valuable experience working summer internships at Goldman Sachs, Young Entrepreneurs Across America, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and ETL Associates. Stockton was a member of the Notre Dame Wall Street club and the Irish Around the Bend Award.
He earned his bachelor's degree in marketing from Notre Dame in 2013 and followed with an MBA in corporate finance in 2014.
