Cotton joined the staff in 2020 as an assistant defensive line coach before moving into his current role as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for the 2021 season.
The 2020 season was pushed back to the spring of 2021 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Javelina defensive line saw Xavier Henderson compile nine tackles with one for loss and a half-sack between the two games in March, while Jacob Clarkson finished with five tackles, two for loss, and Tevita Mounga added five tackles and a fumble recovery.
Prior to his time in Kingsville, Cotton spent the 2019 season as the special teams quality control coach for Memphis as the program finished the year 12-2 with an appearance in the Cotton Bowl against No. 10 Penn State as the AAC Champions. The Tiger special teams unit finished the regular season ranked in the top three of ESPN’s Special Teams Efficiency rankings as Cotton helped coach three student-athletes who went on to play in the NFL, including Antonio Gibson (Washington), Chris Claybrooks (Jacksonville) and Riley Patterson (Minnesota).
Before Memphis, Cotton spent the 2018 season as the special teams quality control coach for Marshall as the team finished 9-4 with an appearance in the Gasparilla Bowl. His stop before that was two years as a defensive graduate assistant coach at Hardin-Simmons in 2016-17 as the program finished 9-2 and reached the NCAA Division III playoffs in both seasons with him on staff.
Cotton got his coaching start at Spring Branch ISD in the summers of 2012 and 2014 at the Memorial High School strength and conditioning summer camps.
Cotton completed his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at Texas in 2015 and finished his master’s degree in kinesiology at Hardin-Simmons in 2018.
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