Pat Cottrell was hired onto the coaching staff in January 2025.
Cottrell joins the Rockets with nearly 15 years of collegiate coaching experience across several levels. At Toledo, he will be the team's primary hitting coach and the co-recruiting coordinator.
Most recently, Cottrell spent three seasons at UT Martin, where he served at the program's hitting coach, worked with the infielders and outfielders and was the recruiting coordinator. Cottrell helped the Skyhawks' offense flourish, especially in 2023, where UT Martin led the league in batting average (.329), on-base percentage (.429), runs scored (191), RBIs (175) and doubles (63) in conference games. The Skyhawks went 14-10 (.583) in the Ohio Valley Conference that season, the most conference wins and highest conference winning percentage in program history. While at UT Martin, Cottrell coached six All-OVC picks, including first-team selection Andrew Fernandez as wellas five second-team picks in 2023. Caleb Hobson, who earned second-team all-conference in 2023, was drafted in the 13th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies to become the highest draft pick in program history.
Before UT Martin, Cottrell was the head assistant baseball coach at Pensacola State College (2016-20), the University of South Carolina – Beaufort (2014-16) and Alabama Southern Community College (2011-14). He served as hitting and infield coach and recruiting coordinator at all three schools among other duties. These programs achieved several accolades with Cottrell in the dugout, including ASCC reaching the state championship game in 2014 and South Carolina – Beaufort winning its first-ever regular-season conference title, setting a school record for wins (42) and reaching a top-10 national ranking in 2016.
Cottrell's coaching career started as a student assistant baseball coach in West Florida for the 2011 season. West Florida won the NCAA Division II national championship with a 52-9 record, hitting .326 and fielding .971 on the season. Cottrell served as the infield and assistant hitting coach for the national champion Argonauts.
Prior to beginnning his coaching career, Cottrell was drafted in the 33rd round of the 2004 MLB Draft and played five seasons in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. His final two seasons were played with the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. He was a part of the 2007 Southern League Champion squad and received the Eric Walker Community Champion Award that year.
A native of Chatom, Ala., Cottrell graduated from West Florida in 2011 with a degree in Physical Education.
