FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Following a national search, High Point University athletic director Craig KeilitzCraig Cozart as the head baseball coach for the Panther program on Friday. announced the hiring of
“This is a truly exciting time for the future of the High Point University baseball program,” said Keilitz. “I am thrilled to be bringing Craig Cozart to the University, this community, the athletic department and most importantly our baseball program. He is a highly motivated and very energetic coach. Craig has a tremendous work ethic and has an even higher moral character. During his coaching career, he has proven to be an outstanding recruiter and has also demonstrated a strong ability to develop players. I truly believe that things happen for a reason, and I could not be more excited about the direction of our baseball program under Coach Cozart.”
Cozart comes to HPU following a highly successful 12-year coaching stint at UCF, where he moved up the ranks from student assistant to associate head coach during his tenure. Cozart even served as the interim head coach for the Knights over the final 12 games of the 2008 season, guiding UCF to an upset win over No. 27-ranked Tulane.
“I want to thank Dr. Nido Qubein and athletic director Craig Keilitz for giving me the opportunity to lead this team,” said Cozart. “High Point University is an extraordinary place and exceeds anything that I had anticipated. I think that the vision and the plans that Dr. Qubein have put in place have made HPU second to none for a college atmosphere and a place of learning. There is a tremendous amount of momentum right now all around the campus and especially in the athletic department. I feel that Craig Keilitz is the guy that will give us the leadership and pave the way for things to be done athletically at High Point that have never been done before. We are going to put together a staff and a program that will exemplify what High Point is all about, which to me in a word is excellence. The team we put on the field will be exciting to watch and will be a team the community can embrace. It is going to be a fun brand of baseball to come and watch. My wife and I are excited about being able to raise our family here and that’s truly the way we feel. This is a place that we want to come and settle in and become part of the community. I’m just excited to be a Panther.”
At UCF, Cozart helped guide the Knights to a 455-274 overall mark during his 12 seasons on the coaching staff. The Knights made five NCAA Tournaments appearances during that stretch and also captured four conference championships. Cozart’s coaching career at UCF also featured six Top 25 final national rankings including a Top 10 finish in 2001, when the Knights boasted a program best 51-14 record. In addition, Cozart was a member of three NCAA Tournament squads and three conference championships as a player at UCF from 1993-96.
A key member of the Knight coaching staff over the past decade, Cozart helped develop UCF into one of the nation’s elite Division I baseball programs and built a tradition for pitching excellence while serving as the Knights’ pitching coach.
UCF’s pitching staffs consistently ranked among the nation’s statistical leaders under Cozart’s guidance. The Knights’ 2008 staff finished the season ranked fourth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings while lefthander Mitch Herold posted a 3.04 ERA to rank 68th in the country. From 1997 to 2001, Cozart’s teaching techniques helped the UCF pitching staff improve from a 33rd ranking in ERA with a 4.60 to a 10th place ranking in 1998 (3.94) to a best of 3.62 during the 2001 season, which ranked 16th nationally in ERA. Under his leadership, UCF boasted a Top 20 national ranking in team ERA four times and regularly had pitchers listed among the national leaders in pitching statistics.
With a great eye for talent and an outstanding ability to develop pitchers, 26 hurlers under Cozart’s watch have been selected in the Major League Baseball amateur draft including a pair of selections during this year’s recently completed draft. An even more impressive note is that only three of those 26 players drafted under Cozart’s tutelage had been previously drafted coming out of high school. Cozart has produced a pair of first-round draft picks in his career including Matt Fox (2004 – Minnesota Twins) and Justin Pope (2001 – St. Louis Cardinals). Fox and teammate Kyle Bono both earned All-American honors, while UCF freshman Taylor Meier garnered Freshman All-American accolades in 2004 under Cozart’s development.
Cozart also spearheaded the recruiting efforts for the Knights program with each of his last three recruiting classes at UCF garnering Top 40 national rankings including the 2008 class, which was ranked seventh by Perfect Game Cross Checker.
An outstanding pitcher in his own right at UCF, Cozart earned second team All-Atlantic Sun honors in 1995 and was a three-time all-academic team member. Cozart led the Knights in wins for two consecutive seasons in 1995 (10) and 1996 (7) and finished his career second all-time in UCF wins (24), fourth in appearances (65), fourth in starts (40) and fourth in strikeouts (204).
During one stretch of his junior season, Cozart won eight consecutive starts spanning more than a month and a half. In his last start during the streak, he bested 12th-ranked Miami in Coral Gables allowing only two earned runs in 7.2 innings. Drafted in the 45th round by the Atlanta Braves in 1995 and again in the 28th round by the San Francisco Giants in 1996, Cozart decided to forego the professional ranks to further his education and begin his coaching career at his alma mater.
In 1995, Cozart was also selected to participate in the NCAA Youth Education through Sports (YES) baseball clinic at Creighton during the College World Series.
Cozart, 34, earned his bachelor’s of arts degree in education in December of 1996 from UCF. He is married to the former Michelle Cutright, a UCF volleyball standout during the 1990s. The couple has three sons, Caleb (7), Jacob (5) and Samuel (1).
