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A few weeks after losing pitching coach Jim Belanger to Florida State and parting ways with recruiting coordinator Roland Fanning, the Kentucky Wildcats have named their two paid assistant coaches for 2019.
On Thursday, the program announced the hirings of new pitching coach Dan Rozel and recruiting coordinator Will Coggin as Nick Mingione’s assistants for the 2020 season.
Excited to announce the additions of pitching coach Dan Roszel and recruiting coordinator Will Coggin as our new assistant coaches!
— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) July 25, 2019
"They bring a wealth of experience and success to our program. They are winners who can connect with and develop young men." - @Coach_Mingione pic.twitter.com/tEJw65WQiR
Roszel comes to the Wildcats from East Carolina, where he spent nine seasons and helped guide the Pirates pitching staff to three NCAA Tournament appearances. In his time at ECU, 14 pitchers he coached would go on to be drafted, and 19 were named All-Americans.
The biggest name Roszel coached came from his days at Florida Gulf Coast when he helped develop future MLB star Chris Sale.
As for Coggin, he formerly coached alongside Mingione at Mississippi State. In Starkville, Coggin played in a big role in recruiting several of the Bulldogs’ recent teams. He also helped the Bulldogs reach the super regionals twice and won both an SEC regular-season title and conference tournament crown.
After a disappointing 2019 campaign, Kentucky will hope these hires help lift the program back to the contender it was in 2017 and ‘18.