Troy University Athletics
Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- mthancock@troy.edu
- Phone:
- 5705
Matt Hancock enters his third season with the Troy baseball program as the pitching coach after 10 seasons in the same role at the University of North Alabama.
Hancock has steadily improved the depth of Troy’s pitching staff in his three seasons as the Trojans’ pitching coach. In 2020, he helped coach one of the nation’s best pitchers in Levi Thomas, who ranked 10th nationally with 42 strikeouts in 23.0 innings, to 2nd team All-America honors. Thomas was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres.
In 2019, Hancock’s first year on the Troy staff, he helped coach Thomas to an 8-2 record on the mound in a season where the sophomore fanned 87 batters in 80.2 innings.
Hancock has aided in developing one of the nation’s most experienced relievers in Lance Johnson, who has emerged as one of Troy’s most trusted relief pitchers. Johnson was named to the 2020 Stopper of the Year watch list after he made a team-high 36 appearances, all in relief, and finished 2019 with a 2.80 ERA.
UNA experienced immense success with Hancock on staff – he helped lead the program to a 308-201-1 record and back-to-back NCAA South Region Tournament berths in 2011 and 2012. At the conclusion of the 2012 season, Hancock was named the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year.
The program also set multiple school records, including the single-season records for shutouts (9) and strikeouts (422) in 2018. Hancock also helped guide the Gulf South Conference’s first ever back-to-back Pitcher of the Year award-winner in Tyler Joyner, who was drafted in the 30th round of the MLB First Year Player Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. Joyner was recently named the Gulf South Conference’s Pitcher of the Decade.
As the program’s recruiting coordinator, he recruited and developed 42 all-conference players (15 of those pitchers) and 16 all-region players, including NCBWA South Region Pitcher of the Year and All-American Chad Boughner – UNA’s all-time wins (31) and strikeouts (280) leader.
Boughner was one of three 20-win pitchers Hancock developed, as Trey Mitchell and Riley Sanderson eclipsed the threshold in their careers, as well. In 2015, the Hancock-led UNA pitching staff set the school record with only 98 walks allowed all season.
In the midst of his time at UNA, he worked as the coach of the Alexandria Beetles of the Northwoods Summer League. In just three years, the squad had over 30 players selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft – four of whom have reached the majors.
Hancock lettered four years as a pitcher at North Alabama and helped lead the Lions to two regular season Gulf South Conference championships. He ranks third on the school’s all-time wins list with a 20-5 career record and was named to the GSC All-Tournament team in 2005. After one year as a student assistant coach and two years as a graduate assistant at North Alabama, Hancock was promoted to the assistant’s position with the Lions for the following decade.
Hancock is married to former UNA soccer star Emily Cotham; the two have a daughter, Hallie, and son, Bryce.
