Wittenberg Football Assistant Coach Cody Cruzen

Bio

Cody Cruzen joined Wittenberg's football coaching staff in March 2026 after one year at Assumption University as the program's special teams coordinator and linebackers coach. Cruzen takes over as the Tigers' defensive coordinator heading into the 2026 season under first-year Head Coach BJ Coad.

At Assumption, Cruzen coached two first team all-conference linebackers, one of whom also earned all-region honors, and a first-team all-conference kicker. The defense at Assumption ranked first in the Northeast 10 Conference in sacks (fifth in NCAA Division I), and blocked kicks (fifth in NCAA Division II), and second in the Northeast 10 Conference in tackles for loss (11th in NCAA Division II). Assumption qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament and advanced to the Round of 16 with a win over 24th-ranked IUP in the first round. Prior to his year at Assumption, Cruzen participated in a National Football League (NFL) coaching fellowship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he worked with the team's linebackers. He earned the fellowship opportunity after being selected for the inaugural Buccaneers National Coaching Academy, which selected 25 coaches from across the world to experience an NFL organization for a week during the offseason.

Cruzen brings 15 years of experience across every level of college football to Wittenberg. From Division I to Division III, Cruzen has coached 29 all-conference players and four all-region players, with three of those players moving on to careers in the NFL. In recent years, Cruzen was defensive coordinator at Lake Erie College in 2024 and defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Denison University in 2023 after spending four years at his alma mater, Ohio Northern University, where he coached wide receivers and special teams for two years and then served as co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for two years. Prior to that, Cruzen coached defensive backs and special teams at Saint Anselm College (NH), served as defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator at Muskingum University, and Cruzen spent a year as a graduate assistant at Ball State University, where he worked for former Wittenberg all-conference defensive lineman Tim Daoust '01.

A 2011 graduate of Ohio Northern, Cruzen earned four letters as a safety and for the Polar Bears, and he a key player on a nationally-ranked squad as a senior. He was part of an ONU defense that allowed just 156.5 passing yards per game in 2010 en route to a second-round appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs. After earning his bachelor’s degree in physical and health education from Ohio Northern, Cruzen got his start in coaching in 2011 at his alma mater before spending the 2013 season at Tiffin and the 2014 and 2015 seasons coaching the secondary at the University of Dayton. 

Cruzen's wife, Hallie, was a setter for Wittenberg's 2011 women’s volleyball team that won the NCAA Division III National Championship. A 2013 graduate of Wittenberg, Hallie is currently the associate head coach for the women's volleyball at The Naval Academy, which is led by former Tiger Head Coach Paco Labrador.