New Georgia hitting coach Will Coggin will not be taking a cookie-cutter approach when he starts working with Bulldog hitters this fall.
From Charlie Condon, all the way down to the last player on the bench, Coggin spoke about his philosophy when working with hitters during a Sunday telephone interview with UGASports.
“My philosophy as a hitting coach is it’s going to be an individual plan for each guy. We’re going to try and maximize each player’s ability. If a guy is a power hitter, that hits doubles and extra-base hits, we want to help him do that well,” said Coggin, who spent the last four seasons as an assistant at Kentucky. “If there’s a guy who can steal bases, can really run, play defense at a high level, we want them to be that. We want them to be who they are, and the best version of themselves.
"There are a lot of different ways to win in baseball. You can put the ball over the fence, you can pitch and play good defense at a high level. We just want to recruit good players and let them be the best version of themselves.”
Coggin comes to Athens with an impressive resume, not only in the area of player development but also helping some of the SEC’s best players improve their games even more.
His work with former Mississippi State star Jake Mangum helped him win the league batting title as a true freshman. He also played a key role in the development of 2017 SEC Player of the Year Brent Rooker, who made his debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2020.
He also helped Nate Lowe, who Coggin coached both at St. Johns River State College and at Mississippi State.
“He’s a winner. He’s won at every step of his career: he’s been to Omaha as a player, he won multiple conference championships while coaching at St. Johns River State College, and the SEC title at Mississippi State,” said Kentucky coach and former Mississippi State assistant Nick Mingione when Coggin was hired at Kentucky. "He was an integral part of the success we enjoyed in Starkville and will be an indispensable piece of reaching our goal at Kentucky of reaching Omaha.”
Georgia coach Wes Johnson is no doubt expecting the same.
“I definitely feel we have some really good pieces returning and we have some good pieces coming in from our 23 high school class,” Coggin said. “It’s still kind of an ongoing deal where we’re still trying to evaluate our roster, make decisions on maybe a last-second pickup needs that we have for next year.”
Coggin said he’s already familiar with many of the players he’ll be working with, although he’ll start to learn much more once fall practice gets underway in September.
“The first thing I’ll do is learn them, watch them move around, and come up with a plan,” Coggin said. “We’ve had some guys who have had some success. We’re not trying to change everything about them. They got to Georgia for a reason, they’ve had success in their careers. We just want to stack on top and make adjustments when necessary.”
It’s no accident that Coggin found his way to Georgia as a part of Johnson’s first staff.
The two coached together in 2016, when Johnson served as the pitching coach for Mississippi State, the same season Coggin served as both an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with the Bulldogs.
“I really enjoyed working with Coach Johnson and always said I’d like to work with him or for him in the future,” Coggin said. “Obviously, back when I was a player at Mississippi State, a coach there, and at Kentucky, I always believed Georgia is a great destination place. The state of Georgia is too talent-rich and Athens is obviously an awesome place and an awesome college town. It was definitely a place I could see myself coaching at one day.”
Although he served as the recruiting coordinator at both MSU and Kentucky, Coggin said he will not hold that title at Georgia.
“Everybody will be a recruiting coordinator,” said Coggin, noting that he, Johnson, and the rest of the staff plan on taking full advantage of the fertile recruiting base that the state of Georgia offers.
“Obviously, with the state of Georgia being so rich, just a great state for baseball … we’re going to have an inside-out recruiting approach,” Coggin said. “We’re going to recruit our state, work really hard in our state, and then branch out from there. We want the best players in the state and we want to keep them home.”
Coggin said the Bulldogs plan on being active in the NCAA transfer portal.
Georgia already has transfer commitments from Penn pitcher Brian Zeldin and Columbia catcher Weston Eberly. Per Coggin, it does not appear the Bulldogs are done.
“We will be active in the portal. We will be looking to fill some current needs, and it will be used as just that – to fill some current needs that we have and hopefully add some key contributing pieces that can make an impact right away,” Coggin said. “I think the long-term plan is to really do a great job in the high school market in Georgia. But the transfer portal, if you’re doing things right, is a great way to just patch some needs on our current roster. I think it’s a nice blend, and that’s just a year-to-year thing. But the long-term solution is doing a great job of bringing in high school classes.”
