Visionary Basketball Group

Coaching Instructor
Director of VABC Operations-Melrose/Business Operations

Coach Cottrell started coaching by developing a basketball program for Kid’s Sports Family Fun & Fitness in Hadley, MA. His program taught young kids the fundamentals of basketball. Knowing the importance of individual training, he created a program by the name of Next Level Basketball. This program was for individuals that had been cut from try-outs needing to enhance their basketball skills. Coach Cottrell’s program was proven to be effective in helping each individual to enhance his or her skills. The program gave them the confidence to try-out for their teams the following year. They were all able to turn failure into a success story. Coach Cottrell has been able to develop his unique style of coaching and teaching techniques from a combination of his playing career, training work and years of coaching experience.

Coach Cottrell has over 12 years of coaching experience on a scholastic level. He was the Women’s First Assistant Coach at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley MA, the Boy’s Varsity Head Coach at Palmer High School in Palmer, MA and the Men’s First Assistant Coach at Emmanuel College in Boston, MA.

Coach Cottrell is originally a native of Annapolis, Maryland, where he attended Annapolis Senior High School and was member of the 1990 Maryland 4A State Championship team. While playing at Annapolis Senior High School, he drew the attention of Street and Smith Basketball Magazine and then received the invitation to participate at the Nike ABCD All American Basketball Camp. Coach Cottrell is a USA Today All American Honorable Mention and a McDonald All American Honorable Mention. Coming out of high school Coach Cottrell was highly recruited and chose to sign a letter of intent to play for Coach John Calipari at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst during his senior year in high school.  

 After high school Coach Cottrell attended prep school at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine. There he experienced being a member of an undefeated team which won the New England Prep School Championship.

Coach Cottrell received a Bachelor’s Degree of Independent Concentration in Wellness Health and Fitness at UMass where he was member of a freshmen class that was at the beginning of the “Refuse To Lose” era. During the years of 1991-1996 UMass was nationally known for its “Refuse to Lose” attitude and the ability to conquer giants. While Coach Cottrell was a Minuteman, he experienced his team breaking into the top 25 to becoming #1 in the country--winning five straight Atlantic 10 Championships and 5 NCAA appearances which ended at the Final Four his senior year. Coach Cottrell received several awards while playing at UMass, but the one he is most proud of was his “Most Improved Player” award. To be voted by the coaches to be the most improved player, made the long hours of working out in the gym during the off-season and while in season worth it.

Coach Cottrell had the opportunity to play in Austria and when he returned to the US, played for the Delaware Blue Bombers in Wilmington, Delaware for three seasons. Following that, Coach Cottrell decided he wanted to begin his coaching career.