High School Football Coach with 8 Championships Tackles Cannabis Delivery

With eight state championships under his belt, Jack Cochran is one of the most successful high school football coaches in Connecticut history.

Now, he's hoping to continue his winning streak with a new business venture as the founder of the state's first-ever legal cannabis delivery service.

Aptly named Green Coach Delivery, Cochran expects to begin serving select areas in Connecticut later this month.

"At this point in my life, for me it was good," Cochran, 57, tells The Messenger of his next chapter. "I enjoyed challenges."

The New London native, whose celebrated career was at times also marked by controversy, finished with a record of 160-24-2 when he stopped coaching full-time in 2012 for health reasons.

In 2005, Cochran led his team to a jaw-dropping 90-0 victory. According to the Hartford Courant, his habit of running up the score inspired a rule that penalized teams for winning by more than 50 points. The so-called “Cochran Rule” is no longer in place, according to the paper. 

Off the field, Cochran went on to own and operate an Italian restaurant, The Recovery Room, and volunteered as an assistant football coach.

Cochran's also been a teacher, bail bondsman and bounty hunter. 

About two years ago, his life took another turn during a birthday party for one of his former high school players, Jordan Reed, who went on to play in the NFL.

Reed, who had used marijuana to help with the pain of football injuries, was in the medical marijuana business in Colorado and California. 

Intrigued, Cochran soon planned to partner with Reed and others on a marijuana delivery service.

While the deal fell through, another door opened when Connecticut legalized cannabis sales in 2021.

“Everything kind of fell in place,” says Cochran, who says his personal experience with marijuana includes smoking it as a high school student during summer breaks.

Cochran is now building a diverse team of drivers to make deliveries from dispensaries to homes in nondescript vans and cars -- with no stickers, emblems or "anything that makes it look like you’re moving cannabis."

A van Cochran refurbished and painted green will be parked in the lot of a dispensary for marketing, he says.

Most Green Coach Delivery staffers come from inner-city areas “disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs,” Cochran says. 

Giving back to underserved areas is another priority, something Cochran loved doing during his coaching days.

Through his partnership with the New London-based non-profit Community Level Up, with its focus on kids and teens, Cochran hopes to provide mentorship and eventually offer football camps. 

"As the company grows," he says, "I want to be able to give back."