COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS ATHLETICS

Bio

Chris Cota will enter his 24th year and 23rd season at the helm of the Cougars baseball program in 2024.

However, Cota actually began his career at College of the Canyons as right fielder for the Cougars in 1985 and 1986. He starred on the 1986 squad that won the CCCAA State Championship, the last COC team to accomplish that feat. That 1986 state championship team was inducted into the COC Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023.

In 1986, Cota was drafted and signed by the Chicago White Sox. He went on to play four seasons in the White Sox and California Angels organizations.

He served as an assistant coach under longtime COC head coach Len Mohney for 10 years before he was named as Mohney’s replacement following the 2000 season. Aside from Mohney himself, there are few coaches who can match Cota’s knowledge of the Cougar baseball tradition.

In his first season as coach of the Cougars, Cota guided the team to a 21-19 record as the club ended the 2001 season with a nine-game winning streak.

Over the past 23 seasons, Cota has amassed a 496-368-5 record and has captured the Western State Conference title five times, in 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009 and most recently 2017. In each of these seasons, Cota was named WSC Coach of the year. The Cougars had thier season cancelled midway through the 2020 campaign. Canyons did not compete in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 Canyons returned to action and ended the season in the second round of the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs. In 2023 the Cougars advanced all the way to the Southern California Regional Finals.

Cota, who graduated from nearby Saugus High School in 1983, received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from California State University, Northridge in 1994. He also received a master’s degree in education, with an emphasis on physical education, from Azusa Pacific University in 1995.

— Bio current as of Jan. 2024