New Bears coach Matt Eberflus finalized his coaching staff Friday with the hiring of Justin Hinds as assistant defensive line coach and Kevin Koch as a coaching assistant.
Hinds has 13 seasons of coaching experience, including the last 10 at the collegiate level. Last year he worked at Western Carolina as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Prior to that, Hinds served as defensive line coach at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania (2018) and Central Michigan (2019-20).
As a player, Hinds was a two-time All-New Jersey Athletic Conference defensive lineman during a four-year career at Rowan University, where he earned a bachelor's degree.
Hinds began his coaching career at Rowan, his alma mater, as a defensive assistant in 2009. He then served as an assistant high school coach in New Jersey at Plainfield High (2010) and Woodbridge High (2011).
Hinds later returned to the college ranks, coaching defensive linemen and outside linebackers in 2012-13 at Wagner, where he earned a master's degree. He then worked with defensive linemen as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State (2014) and Florida (2015) before serving as defensive line coach and academic coordinator at Valdosta State in 2016-17.
Koch joins the Bears after spending the last five seasons at Northwestern, serving as a defensive graduate assistant (2017-18) and defensive quality control analyst (2019-21).
Prior to that, Koch worked at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill., where he coached tight ends and running backs and served as special teams coordinator while also leading the program's recruiting efforts in the Chicago area.
As a player, Koch was the starting quarterback and a team captain at Minnesota State University Moorhead, earning All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference honorable mention recognition as a senior in 2011. He graduated from Minnesota State Moorhead in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science.
The Elmhurst, Ill., native started his coaching career at Robert Morris College in Illinois before returning to Minnesota State Moorhead, his alma mater, to serve as defensive backs and special teams coach for two years.
