Matt Cover will be entering his third year as pitching coach for the Otero Rattlers. Matt was born and raised in Pueblo. He is the oldest of three boys in the family. His brother Brian attends CSU in Fort Collins and his brother Kevin is a senior at Pueblo South High School. Matt’s parents are Jim and Shelia Cover. Matt has been blessed to have an extremely supportive family that helps him to continue reaching his goals in life.
Matt graduated from Pueblo South in 2000. He then went on to play baseball at Lamar Community College under coaches Scott Crampton and Bryan Conger. During his sophomore year LCC went to the Junior College World Series and finished 3rd with a record of 59-5. After Lamar, Matt went on to play at CSU-Pueblo for Stan Sanchez and Dan Ochs where he enjoyed playing in his hometown. Matt has coached high school summer baseball in Pueblo since 2001. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of the game and loves to motivate young players to be the best that they can be. In doing so, he fell in love with coaching and has been given the opportunity to share that knowledge and compete at the junior college level.
Matt has many goals for this year’s team here at Otero Junior College. He has been blessed to work with some great people. The pitching staff is full of hard working individuals with many goals in their heads since day one. Matt’s goal for this spring is to win a national championship and he feels that all is possible when you have an entire team working towards this one goal. Matt has been part of a final four team in the nation and feels that this group is capable of making its first trip to the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado. Matt knows this team will be challenged throughout the course of the entire season. And with this group of young men, he feels that his ultimate goal of winning a national championship is very reasonable. “There is something about this team that drives them as a group to accomplish their goals as a team,” stated Matt.
Matt is proud to be a part of this institution and baseball program. The entire coaching staff will continue to do everything they can to prepare this group for the tough road that lies ahead of them. Matt is excited for this group to start playing and find out what they are made of, which he believes is a group of individuals forming an “Army of One.” With this army of one, all goals can be accomplished.
During his down time, Matt enjoys being with his family, listening to loud music, hanging out with friends, and learning more about the game of baseball.
Coach Travis Richter is entering his 2nd spring season as an assistant coach for the Rattlers. Coach Richter graduated from Pomona High School in 2003. After graduating high school he attended Otero Junior College where he was outstanding on and off the field. In 2004, Coach Richter was named 1st Team All-Region IX Player. In 2005, academically he was named to the NJCAA Academic All-American team.
Before coming to Otero Junior College as an assistant, Coach Richter was the assistant baseball coach at Pomona High School for three years under the direction of E.J. Mapps.
Coach Richter is extremely excited about the upcoming spring season. He believes that the Rattlers have a great chance to do some great things this year. Coach explains that the team has worked hard this fall and deserves to win.
When Coach Richter is not on the field he enjoys spending time at the golf course, as well as spending time with his family.
