Matt Bragga

Bragga was a 4-year letter winner for the Kentucky Wildcats baseball team from 1991 through 1994.[1] He signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds organization and played two years of minor league baseball for the Butte Copper Kings[2] and the Charleston AlleyCats.[3]

In 1996, Bragga began his coaching career as an assistant at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama.[4] The following season, he accepted the head coaching position at Bevill State Community College.[5] In 2001, Bragga accepted a position as an assistant coach at Birmingham–Southern College.[6] The 2001, Birmingham–Southern finished 55–11 and won the NAIA World Series.[7]

On December 5, 2003, Bragga accepted the position of head baseball coach at Tennessee Tech university. He spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Tennessee Tech. After Bragga's first 3 seasons, Tennessee Tech had compiled a record of 46-109 (.297), but in his last 12 years as head coach he accumulated 400 wins and 283 losses (.585). He compiled 6 conference championships in his last 10 years at TTU, culminating with a 53-win campaign in 2018 when his Golden Eagles were 1 win away from reaching the college World Series in Omaha Nebraska.

On June 15, 2018, Bragga was announced as the new head coach of the Rice Owls baseball program.[8]

On May 23, 2021, Bragga was fired after compiling a record of 51–76–1 in 3 seasons.[9]

On November 8, 2021, Tennessee Tech announced that Bragga would return to Tennessee Tech as the 16th coach in program history (he was also the 13th) starting November 11, 2021.[10]