He was the England national team's interim head coach between Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick.

After leaving Leicester he joined Toulon in 2017 on a temporary basis but succeeded in taking them to the final of the 2016-17 Top 14 season where they lost to Clermont.

In 2017 he was named as the head coach of Guinness Pro14 side Edinburgh Rugby,[2] leading them to the Pro 14 playoffs for the first time.

Joining Leicester Tigers, he established himself as the B of the "ABC club" alongside Graham Rowntree (A) and Darren Garforth (C).

[citation needed] Cockerill's performance earned him a starting place against New Zealand, where he stood up to Norm Hewitt during the haka (see book cover).

[6] Cockerill served as acting head coach of Leicester Tigers in the early part of the 2007–08 season before Marcelo Loffreda arrived from Argentina in the wake of the Pumas' third-place finish in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

On 13 December 2016, it was announced that Cockerill was to be fired from his position if he did not 'turn a corner' and subsequent defeats against various teams along with the players themselves asking for a change.