Zac Cole

Bio

Cole begins his fourth season as Head Coach for the Bucs in 2025-2026. In his first three seasons, the Bucs are 112-60, have qualified for the FCSAA Championships in all three seasons, and won their first FCSAA Championship in 2025. 

Cole led the Bucs to their best season in program history last year, winning their first Citrus Conference and FCSAA State Championships while reaching the Juco World Series for the first time. The Bucs tied a program record with 44 wins in their FCSAA Championship Game win to earn Cole FCSAA Coach of the Year honors. He was also named the Citrus Conference Coach of the Year as well as the NJCAA Southeast District and ABCA Regional Coach of the Year. Cole's Bucs spent the entirety of the 2025 regular season ranked inside the Top 25 of the NJCAA rankings, reaching as high as #2, the highest ranking in program history. Cole's Bucs were also strong in the classroom as Nik Pereira became the first male student-athlete in FSW history to earn CSC Academic All-American honors. 

FSW Baseball took another step forward under Cole's leadership in 2024, going 37-21 overall and reaching the FCSAA State Final Four for the first time in three seasons.  The Bucs shattered a number of offensive program records in 2024 while Victor Figueroa became the first FSW hitter in program history to be named the FCSAA Player of the Year, the FCSAA Male Athlete of the Year, and a 1st Team NJCAA All-American before being drafted by the San Diego Padres in July. A program record 12 players signed at the NCAA Division I level including seven to the Power 5 level. 

Despite a complete roster overhaul in his first season, FSW had a successful season under Cole's leadership in 2023, finishing 31-22 overall and going 11-10 in Southern Conference action to qualify for the FCSAA State Tournament.  FSW had more Major League Baseball Darft Picks than any other NJCAA school in the Nation with three as well as boasting the 2023 Southern Conference Player of the Year (AJ Shaver) and 2023 Southern Conference Fireman of the Year (Lucas Hartman). Shaver went on to be named a 2nd Team NJCAA All-American, the first FSW hitter in program history to earn the honors.  

Cole took over as the Head Coach for the Bucs in the summer of 2022 after spending three seasons as the Pitching Coach at the College of Central Florida where he helped the Patriots to their first Region VIII Championship and trip to the Juco World Series in nearly 25 years in 2022.  Cole's pitching staff produced the FCSAA Pitcher of the Year in Ben Chestnutt as well as a pair of Major League Baseball signees in Mason Ronan and Connor Godwin.  In his three seasons at Central Florida, the Patriots were 104-37. 

Cole also served for six years as a Head Coach and Manager in the Valley League, a prestigious Summer Collegiate Baseball League, leading his team to a Championship in 2018 and being named the Manager of the Year in the league the next season in 2019. 

Prior to getting into the junior college coaching ranks, Cole spent three seasons as a scout with the Baltimore Orioles organization. 

He began his coaching career at the Division I level where he was the Pitching Coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin, helping the Skyhawks break the single season strikeouts record in back to back seasons in 2012 and 2013. 

All told, Cole has coached 41 Major League Baseball Draft Picks including Texas Rangers 1^st Rounder and 2024 MLB All-Star Cole Ragans and four eventual Big Leaguers in Cole Sands, Brendan Donovan, Tyler Holton, and Alec Mills. 

As a player Cole began his career at the junior college level at Palm Beach State College before transferring to the Division I level to pitch for Tennessee Tech University.  He then played four years of professional baseball, including a season in the Baltimore Orioles organization.

As FSW Head Coach: