Ave Maria University Men's Baseball

Rob Cooper was hired as the Head Baseball Coach in June of 2025. Cooper brings with him over 30 years of baseball coaching experience, spending 25 of those years at the NCAA Division I level. Cooper has been a head coach twice in his illustrious college baseball career, spending nine seasons with the Wright State Raiders in the Horizon League and 10 seasons with the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Big Ten. At Wright State, he coached the Raiders to seven 30-win seasons, winning two Horizon League Regular Season Championships and three Horizon League Tournament Championships. He was also named the Horizon League Coach of the Year twice, in 2010 and 2011. At Penn State, by just his third season, Cooper had doubled the Nittany Lions year to year win total, posting a record of 28-27. In 2015, he helped Penn State become the first U.S. baseball team at any level to defeat a Cuban National Series team when the Nittany Lions took a four-game trip to the island following the restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba and the United States. In total, Rob Cooper has close to 500 wins as a head college baseball coach. Cooper also has international experience, having been selected to four coaching stints with USA Baseball in 2000, 2007, 2009 and 2013. In his final stint, he was the skipper for USA Baseball's 18U National Team and helped lead the stars and stripes to an 8-1 record in World Cup play. Team USA won their final seven games in a row to capture the gold medal. Following the tournament, Cooper was selected as the Rod Dedeauz USA Baseball Coach of the Year. Before becoming a head coach, Cooper was an assistant coach at Miami, Wake Forest, Tulane, Sacremento City College and Oral Roberts. Along with his collegiate experience, Cooper was also an associate scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1990-92. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Miami in 1994 and master's in sports sciences/education in 1996. Cooper is married to his wife, Maureen, and has two sons, Jake and Tyson.

Kelton Little is in his first official season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Ave Marai Gyrenes. Before joining the staff, Little pitched six season for the Gyrenes, making 49 appearances with six starts. Little won five games throughout his career and logged 70 strikeouts. He was a two-time Sun Conference All-Academic Team Honoree and a two-time Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete. During his redshirt sophomore season in 2022, Little was named the Ave Maria Male Comeback Player of the Year.

Justin Roberts was hired in the fall of 2025 ahead of the 2026 baseball season as a pitching coach for the Gyrenes. Before coming to Ave Maria, Roberts was a student manager and GA for the Georgia Southern Eagles.

Jimmy Coffey joins the Ave Maria Baseball coaching staff as a graduate assistant for the 2026 season. Coffey, a graduate of Ave Maria in 2025, played four years for the Gyrenes, appearing in 156 games and making 146 starts. Coffey tallied 140 hits over his four years and batted .299. In both 2023 and 2025, Coffey collected over 50 hits and batted over .300. In both of those seasons, the Gyrenes made it the postseason and to the final day of the Opening Round. Along with hits, Coffey had a great discipline at the plate, drawing the tenth most career walks in Ave Maria history.

Sebastian Cabeza joins the Ave Maria Baseball staff as a graduate assistant for the 2026 season. Cabeza transferred to Ave Maria in 2025 as senior and immediately found a role as the starting catcher for the Gyrenes. He started 38 games behind the dish and played in three more games. As a catcher, Cabeza caught 19 runners stealing in 2025 for caught stealing rate of 22%. At the plate, Cabeza totaled 31 hits with five doubles and three home runs for a batting average of .248.