Rod Cocci enters his fifth season as the men’s and women’s throws coach in 2023-24. This is his eighth season with the program overall since joining the men’s staff as a volunteer in 2017. Cocci has over 20 years of coaching experience since beginning his career in the 2001-02 season, and has become known primarily for developing talent. His coaching philosophy places an emphasis on creating detailed individualized throwing and strength training programs based on each athletes’ specific abilities.
Since taking over the throws program in 2019, Cocci’s student-athletes have rewritten both the men’s and women’s record books. They have put together eight school record marks and have over 40 inclusions in the Rutgers All-Time Top 10 performance lists across all throwing events.
The throws unit continues to progress into a nationally competitive program. Under Cocci’s supervision this unit has placed over 20 athletes into the NCAA postseason across all throwing events, with 14 of those entries coming in the past two seasons. In addition to this, full event squads have ended the season ranked within USTFCCCA’s national top 20 seven times (both men’s and women’s indoor shot put, women’s javelin, men’s discus, and men’s javelin). In addition to a Big Ten Championship gold medal in men’s javelin, Rutgers throwers have scored or reached finals at the Big Ten Championships 14 times in past three seasons.
The 2022-23 season saw continued growth and success from familiar faces as well as several newcomers. Jasmine Van Note reset her own shot put records (indoor and outdoor), while Adam Hunt set a new top mark for the men’s program in the 35lb weight throw at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Kyle Lipscomb (men’s discus & hammer) and Steve Coponi (men’s javelin) both contributed with key performances as Lipscomb qualified for NCAA preliminary round in two events for the second time, and Coponi, who also qualified for the postseason for the second time, made the Big Ten Championship podium for the third straight time.
Additionally, Alianna Eucker (women’s javelin) and Kostas Bouzakis (men’s discus) each qualified for the postseason, while Samantha Gravatt made the podium at her first Big Ten Championship meet amidst a highly competitive women’s javelin field.
In addition to specific programming, Cocci emphasizes team-building to create a tight knit unit with a highly competitive and encouraging environment for his athletes to thrive in. This atmosphere, along with vast indoor and outdoor training areas, and state-of-the art weight rooms have made Rutgers an attractive training ground for elite post-collegiate throwers. Over the past four seasons, Cocci has welcomed current and former U.S. World team members, Sam Mattis, Rudy Winkler, Rachel Dincoff, and Monique Riddick as volunteer assistant coaches while they continued to train towards their goals. Currently, Riddick assists with training shot putters while training for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Prior to arriving at Rutgers, Cocci was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 discus thrower at Fordham University in Bronx, New York. Cocci began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas State University. At A-State he assisted in training three Sun Belt Conference champions and three NCAA finals qualifiers in discus, indoor weight, and hammer. Upon returning to New Jersey, he founded the Venom Track Club out of Seaside Heights. The USATF certified Venom Track Club has trained many place winners in several Division I conferences primarily in throws and distance events. This includes a Big Ten champion in women’s hammer, multiple ACC champions in women’s shot put, hammer, and the men’s 800m, as well as an NCAA DIII National Champion in women’s javelin. Cocci also served as a coach at Toms River High School North, where the girl’s throwers found great success in achieving 16 NJ Sectional State Titles, two Eastern States Championships, an outdoor overall NJ State Champion, and seven All-American honors.
Cocci holds a BA in Media Studies from Fordham University, and a Master’s Degree in Speech Communication from Arkansas State University. He currently resides in Green Island, New Jersey with his wife Stephanie and their son Lincoln & twin daughters Octavia & Bellatrix.
