Cody Hatt heads basketball at Texas U

A former Cosmos basketball star player now serves as Director of Men's Basketball Operations at The University of Texas.

www.texassports.com

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Cody Hatt continues a family tradition 
 By BILL MURPHY
The Shopper – December 10, 2013

SAXTON'S RIVER, VT - Cody Hatt was a standout basketball player for the Springfield Cosmos. He was a four year varsity performer, who was known as a first rate player and a smart one too. It certainly helped growing up in a basketball family, where your grandfather qualifies as a legendary Cosmo hoop coach, your father is your hoop coach and your mother, a coaches daughter and wife, may have had greener blood, than any mortal who ever existed. One more item, which cannot be forgotten. You also had a twin brother, who manned the backcourt with you and the two of you grew up learning the game together.

Years have passed and Cody Hatt has come full circle. He presently sits in the same chair, although it has a different color to it, as his two generations of coaching role models sat, but in many ways, this young man comes from a different direction. One might call it a generational thing, but it clearly appears that Cody is out to become a coach, out of a slightly different mode.

It was only three short years ago, Hatt was sitting in two straight employment settings, which although had connections to the hoop game, had him with a different set of job expectations. First, the former Cosmo spent time at ESPN, then he moved on to the website media and evaluation side of the sporting world. Hatt spent two and a half years at ESPN, where he performed numerous tasks in his tenure, including serving as a content editor and he spent some time in production for "Sportscenter" and speciality shows such as "Game Day"and "Baseball Tonight." The former Cosmo was on the move except Hatt says, "If you go to bed every night and wake up every morning thinking about something else, then maybe you should follow that direction. I didn't want to wake up and be thirty and wish I had done something else."

Hatt thought about his future and decided to move towards one day being a coach. On his way to that dream, he had the opportunity to contribute to the "New England Recruiting Report," a website put together by Adam Finklestein, who is well known along the college hoop recruiting trail, especially with his historical connections with Hoop Mountain and ESPN.com. Hatt met Vermont Academy coach Jesse Bopp, while performing his regular routine and the two instantly were attracted to each other by their personalities and their love of the game. Bopp eventually asked Hatt if he wanted to assist him with the Wildcats and the rest has played out to the tune of Bopp moving on to work as an assistant in Division I College Basketball for VCU and Hatt given the opportunity to take over for Bopp, with only his assistant's role at VA as his proving ground.

Watching Hatt a year ago during Wildcat games as an assistant, it was clear he had his hand on the pulse of the team. Bopp has a strong future as a coach, but if he had a weakness on game day, it was that there were times he became lost in how the officials were handling the game. It was at these times that Hatt was there for the players and his low-key manner of communicating, appeared to keep the athlete even keeled when things around them were partially coming unglued.

This low key manner was present on this years opening day in a 81-77 win over Holderness. Hatt kept calm when things went against his team and he let the athletes know not to worry. "I thought we had more talent than they did, but we all respected the fact, that they could come in here and beat us," he relayed to us after the game. He went on to say "I told the guys in the huddle when we were down a little bit, we're gonna win the game. That's not a bravado, that's a confidence."

In the interview, Hatt showed plenty of confidence. He is more low-key than his predecessor as we mentioned, he is also way more low-key than both his dad, Mike Hatt and grandfather, Richie Wyman, who both had successful stints as varsity coaches, that is at least on the surface. Hatt asks that we come to practice, if we wish to see his intensity.

"I believe you coach certain guys certain ways. In games, you need guys to be balanced for the next play. They need to hear what I am saying, rather than hear the way I am saying it. I want them to know that my manner is based on the faith I have in them and I couldn't be more pleased with what they give me on a daily basis." Hatt went on from his Cosmo days and played basketball at the college level at both Springfield College and Norwich University. He became a regular at Norwich, where he spent three years and received the communications degree, which moved him on to ESPN. Hatt's experience under three coaches at the two Springfield's and Norwich, plus a lifetime of observing coaches galore, gave him an opportunity to shape his own direction, picking and choosing what he saw to be most effective. You can also bet, this fabric of a coach will continue to be molded, as he experiences the ebb and flow of the coaching game himself.

Bopp may be at VCU and the big time now, but Hatt will never forget the opportunity Bopp gave him and will be forever grateful. "I consider this his program. I will always work for him. He is my boss, the present Wildcat boss articulates.

VA is 2-2 in the early season, but Hatt has already experienced adversity and adjusted well. KJ Santos, the teams premier player, was injured in the teams second game, but the Wildcat showing over the weekend in a loss to New Hampton, clearly showed he had the team ready to play against a strong team. Santos will still be on the sideline when VA hosts Lawrence Academy this Friday evening at 6:30 p.m.

His mom Sherry tells us, "He's loved this game since he was very little. We were proud and excited with his communications degree and his opportunity at ESPN, but even before he started there, he told us I want to coach. We told him to give the job a chance." He did what he was told, but now he is doing what he was born to do.

When asked who Hatt was today, as opposed to when he left Springfield upon graduation, he was ready with an answer, which showed how polished the young man has become. "I think people judged me as a kid growing up in a small town with a dad as a basketball coach. Like anybody, I've had a chance to live some experiences and develop in my own way. I have believed in what I am doing. I believe in my abilities to connect with kids and coach this game. I am a little older and more seasoned. I've had a chance to work in the corporate world and be influenced by some special people, who hopefully saw some potential in me to be successful at a high level and now I have a chance."

Not only does he have a chance, he has sprinted out of the gate.