Terry Horan
Terry Horan
  • Title:
    Head Coach
  • Phone:
    218-299-3499
  • Email:
    horant@cord.edu
  • Previous College:
    Concordia '89

Bio

Head Coach Terry Horan
Phone: 218-299-3499
E-Mail: horant@cord.edu

Follow Coach Horan's Twitter Account

Terry Horan will be entering his 23nd season as the head football coach at Concordia-Moorhead in the fall of 2023.

Horan started his head coaching journey in 2001 and has passed many milestones in his first 22 years as head coach. Most recently, he became only the third Concordia football coach to win 100 MIAC conference games. Horan has an impressive 106-60 mark in league play and has amassed 138 overall wins during his tenure. He needs 11 more to pass the legendary Jake Christiansen for second place on the program’s all-time win list.

The summer of 2021 was another high point in Horan’s coaching career as he was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association (MFCA) Hall of Fame. He joins legendary Cobber coaches Jake Christiansen and Jim Christopherson who also received the prestigious honor.   

During his 22-year tenure Horan has posted a very consistent 66.4% winning percentage. He has guided Concordia to 16 top 4 finishes in the MIAC in the past 18 seasons. Horan shows no signs of resting on his early success as he has helped the Cobbers record 7-win seasons in six of the past 10 years. Concordia has recorded over 45 wins in the past eight years, which is in the Top3 of any school in the MIAC. The Cobbers have finished in the Top 3 of the MIAC in six of the past 10 seasons and have won five conference games in seven years during that span.

In 2015 Horan became only the third coach in program history to reach the 100-win milestone. In 2007, Horan became the first coach in school history to win 50 games in the first seven seasons as head coach. He was also the fastest coach in program history to eclipse the 40-win mark in conference games. That win record was fueled by helping guide the Cobbers to the MIAC championship in 2004 and back-to-back NCAA playoff appearances in 2004 and 2005 - the first time any Cobber football team has ever achieved back-to-back playoff appearances.

In his first 22 seasons of leading Concordia back to the top of the MIAC, Horan has been named MIAC Coach of the Year twice (2002 and 2004) and was named the American Football Coaches Association Region Coach of the Year in 2004.

The coming out party for Horan and the Cobbers on the national and conference scene came in 2004 when Concordia captured their first outright MIAC championship since the 1986 season with a perfect 8-0 mark. The team finished the year with an 11-1 overall record and was ranked in the top 25 in the nation for most of the season. All told, Concordia has spent 28 consecutive weeks in the top 25 of Division III.

Horan succeeded Jim Christopherson, who retired after 32 years as Concordia’s head coach. Before coming to Concordia Horan was the head football coach at Breckenridge High School for six years.

A 1989 graduate of Concordia, Horan began his coaching career in 1991 as an assistant coach at Breckenridge. In the fall of 1993 he took over as head coach and guided the Cowboys to three state tournament appearances in the four years, from 1993 to 1996, he coached. During that time, Breckenridge reached the state title game in 1995 and was a semifinalist in 1994 and 1996. In 1997, he returned to Concordia to serve as wide receivers coach and athletic recruiting coordinator. After two years he proceeded to move back to Breckenridge to become the dean of students at the middle school and resume his head coaching duties at the high school. In his two stints as head coach at Breckenridge, his teams amassed a 56-15 record and he was named Section Coach of the Year three times and Heart-O’-Lakes Coach of the Year three times.

Horan was an All-American while playing at Concordia from 1985 to 1988. He still holds the school record for most touchdowns in a single season as well as reception, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns for a career. He also is the second all-time scoring leader for the Cobbers. He was a three-time All-MIAC performer and garnered All-American status in his senior year. Horan was also an All-MIAC baseball player in 1989 and had a career batting average of more than 0.350.

Horan is only the eighth football coach in the school’s 98 seasons of collegiate football. Before Horan, Christopherson had been the head coach since 1969 when he took over the position from Hall of Fame coach Jake Christiansen. During the 32 years under Christopherson’s tutelage, the Cobbers won two national championships and captured the MIAC crown 11 times.

Horan and wife, Michelle, a 1992 Concordia graduate, live in Moorhead  and have four children Meghan - who graduated from Concordia in 2019 - Thomas, Tate and Annie and dog Luckie.