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Craig Knoche enters his first year as the Head Football Coach at the University of Chicago in the 2025-26 academic year.
Knoche was hired in February 2025 after a successful five-year tenure as the head football coach at Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago, Illinois.
He took over the Payton program in the spring of 2020 and guided the team through a pandemic-shortened season in his first year. In 2021, he led the team to a conference championship and state playoff berth in his first full season as head coach. In 2022, the team repeated as conference champions and captured the first state playoff victory in school history.
In 2023, Knoche guided the program to its third consecutive conference championship with an undefeated season, earning a No. 1 seed in the state playoffs and the program’s first promotion to the top tier of the Chicago Public League. In 2024, Payton extended its streak of postseason appearances by qualifying for both the state and Public League playoffs in its first year of eligibility.
Prior to his tenure at Payton, Knoche spent two seasons as a high school assistant coach. He also served as offensive coordinator at Wabash College in 2016 and 2017. In just his second game on staff, Wabash broke a rushing record with 513 yards in a single contest. The 2016 squad also led NCAA Division III by committing the fewest turnovers in the nation (five). During his two seasons, the Little Giants earned national rankings of No. 13 and No. 20.
From 2009 to 2016, Knoche held multiple assistant coaching roles at the University of Chicago. He coached running backs in 2009 and wide receivers in 2010 before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2011, also overseeing quarterbacks and tight ends. The Maroons won UAA championships in 2010 and 2014 and earned UAA Coaching Staff of the Year honors. During Knoche’s seven years, UChicago produced three conference Offensive MVPs, two conference Offensive Rookies of the Year, and 63 all-conference selections on offense. The 2015 squad achieved the program’s first-ever top-25 national ranking. In addition to coaching, Knoche also handled recruiting and video coordination duties while serving as a strength and conditioning coach for the athletic department.
Knoche arrived at UChicago after two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under current Illinois head coach Bret Bielema. He worked with the offensive line in the spring of 2007, quarterbacks in 2007, and wide receivers in 2008, helping the Badgers reach bowl games in both seasons.
He also spent the 2006 season as a quality control assistant at Stanford University, working with the offensive line. His college coaching career began at North Park University on Chicago’s Northwest Side, where he coached wide receivers in 2004 and 2005.
Before coaching, Knoche completed a two-year Investment Banking Analyst program at Lehman Brothers from 2002 to 2004, working in both the New York City and Chicago offices in the Financial Institutions and Industrials Groups.
Knoche graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2002 with a double major in Mathematics and Spanish. He holds a State of Illinois Teaching License in both subjects and earned a master’s degree in Pure Mathematics from the University of Illinois in 2006. He has also been a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association since 2012.
Knoche resides in Chicago’s South Loop with his wife and two children.
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