HEAD COACH BRADEN LAYER

BRADEN LAYER
Head Football Coach
blayer@allegheny.edu

Following an extensive national search, Allegheny College announced the return of former offensive coordinator Braden Layer as the 36th head football coach in program history on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

A veteran coach with a decade of experience at the Division I and III levels, Layer boasts a track record of success on the offensive side of the ball as he's risen through the ranks from position coach to passing game coordinator, offensive coordinator, and play caller. During that time, he spent two seasons overseeing one of Allegheny's most explosive offensive units in recent years.

During his first stint in Meadville in 2017 and 2018, Layer served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Under his watch, Allegheny enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in the past 12 years while several student-athletes posted career numbers. The team doubled its total in the win column between Layer's first and second year. In the fall of 2017, quarterback Logan Lee '19 set program records for passing yards (3,002) and touchdowns (33) in a season before graduating as the all-time leader in career touchdown passes (63). Lee's favorite target, Alex Victor '20, developed into the most prolific receiver in team history and, to this day, is the only Gator to surpass 3,000 career receiving yards and 200 catches. Running back Tyler Balla '19 also exploded onto the scene in Layer's offense and graduated among the all-time top-10 rushers with more than 2,400 yards.

Most recently, Layer spent the 2022 campaign as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at the University of Dayton. The Flyers, a Division I FCS institution and Pioneer Football League (PFL) member, went 8-3 and tied for second in the PFL with a 6-2 league record. Layer also spent three years leading the offense and recruiting efforts at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, from 2019-22. With the Polar Bears, he mentored the only two running backs in school history to receive All-New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) First-Team honors.
A former All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) wide receiver at Denison University, Layer began his coaching career in 2013 as a graduate assistant at Division I Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, before spending two years at his alma mater as wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. In 2016, he joined the staff at Sewanee: The University Of The South, a Division III member of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA), as co-offensive coordinator.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Layer graduated from Denison in December 2012 with a degree in communications and economics. A four-year letterwinner for the Big Red, he received Academic All America accolades from College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and was an All-NCAC First Team selection in his final season.

Layer completed his master's in health and human performance in 2014 while at Austin Peay State.