Recruiting Areas: NYS Section 2
Maurice Hart begins his sixth season with the Cortland coaching staff in 2020. He is the team’s defensive backs coach – a position he also held from 2014-16. Hart rejoined the Cortland coaching staff in January 2018 and coached the Red Dragons’ cornerbacks and returners in the fall of 2018.
During the 2018 season Cortland ranked 20th nationally in Division III with 17 interceptions, and two players under Hart – cornerback Max Jean and safety Isaac Hicks – earned All-Empire 8 honors. In 2015, the Red Dragon defense recovered 17 fumbles and intercepted 13 passes to help the team rank 16th nationally in defensive turnovers. In 2014, Cortland ranked 35th nationally in Division III in passing efficiency defense and 11th nationally in third-down conversion percentage defense.
Hart came to Cortland from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he coached the Engineers’ defensive backs in 2013. Under his tutelage, RPI led the Liberty league in interceptions and rank 62nd nationally in passing efficiency defense. The previous season, Hart coached the cornerbacks at Emporia State University in Kansas. The program led the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association and ranked fifth nationally in interceptions and finished the 2012 season ranked 23rd in the national polls with a school-record 10 wins and a Kanza Bowl Championship. Hart also coach the defensive backs at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa in 2011.
Hart earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University in 2010 while serving as a coaching intern. He played two seasons at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California, where he ranked among the top five safeties in the national Junior College ranks. He earned two All-Western State Conference awards and his team won two bowl games. The Durham, North Carolina native also received a scholarship to play on the Division I level as a defensive back at Western Michigan.
Maurice and his fiancée, Desiree, reside in Fayetteville, N.Y., with their daughters, Kieryn and Kamri.
