Cody Hatt - Men's Basketball Coach - University of Texas Athletics

Cody Hatt

Title:
Director of Operations

6th season at Texas, 1st as assistant coach

Cody Hatt begins his sixth season on the coaching staff at The University of Texas and his first season as an assistant coach. The 34-year-old Hatt, who was promoted to the full-time assistant role on Sept. 23, 2020, served as Director of Men’s Basketball Operations for the previous four seasons and worked as a special assistant during his first year at UT in 2015-16.

During Hatt’s first five seasons alongside Smart on the Texas staff, the Longhorns have compiled a 90-78 (.536) mark and advanced to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances (2016 and 2018) while also winning the 2019 NIT Championship. UT registered a 19-12 record and tied for third place in the Big 12 Conference (9-9 mark) during the 2019-20 season. Texas was the No. 4 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, but the league’s postseason tourney and all postseason college basketball was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to his duties as Director of Operations, Hatt spent time during both Spring 2018 and 2019 on the road in a recruiting capacity and assisting with on-court workouts while the UT staff had an assistant coach vacancy. He again served in that role this past spring and summer after Luke Yaklich left for the head coaching position at Illinois-Chicago in late March 2020.

Since his arrival at Texas, Hatt has had a presence in organizing on-campus recruiting efforts while also overseeing all facets of the program on an administrative and logistical side on a daily basis. Over the past two years, he also has run point with Coach Smart on UT’s non-conference schedule.

Following the 2016-17 season, Hatt served as the point person in a series of upgrades inside Denton A. Cooley Pavilion designed to enhance the overall student-athlete experience. New basketball floors, wall graphics and scoreboards were installed along with a complete remodel of the locker room and player lounge area.

During the summer of 2016, Hatt served on the support staff for the USA Under 18 National Team led by head coach Shaka Smart. The team, which featured notable players Jarrett Allen, Mohamed Bamba, Matt Coleman III, Markelle Fultz, Michael Porter Jr., P.J. Washington and Trae Young, posted a 5-0 mark and earned a gold medal at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Valdivia, Chile.

Hatt served as a graduate assistant at VCU under Smart during the 2014-15 season. The Rams posted a 26-10 overall record, including a 12-6 mark in the Atlantic 10 Conference and a No. 25 ranking in the final AP poll. VCU captured the 2015 Atlantic 10 Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Round of 64 before falling to Ohio State (72-72) in overtime. This marked the program’s first A10 title and ninth overall conference title for VCU. The Rams became the first team since Xavier in 2006 to win four games in four days at the A10 Tournament.

VCU finished the year at No. 15 in the NCAA RPI with the nation’s toughest non-conference schedule and eight-toughest overall schedule. The Rams posted 14 wins against the NCAA RPI Top 100, with nine of those victories coming away from home. VCU ranked third nationally in turnover margin (+5.4) and fourth in steals per game (9.5 spg).

Prior to joining Smart’s staff at VCU, Hatt served as head boys’ basketball coach, assistant dean of students and academic advisor for one year (2013-14) at Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, Vt. He also spent one season (2012-13) as the assistant boys’ basketball coach at Vermont Academy.

He began his undergraduate career with a one-year stay at Springfield College (Springfield, Mass.) in 2004-05. Hatt transferred to Norwich University (Northfield, Vt.) and was a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship team while also earning All-Academic GNAC honors during the 2005-06 season. A three-year varsity player under coach Paul Booth, Hatt was named the Norwich Male Scholar Athlete of the Year as a senior in 2007-08.

Following graduation, Hatt served two years (2008-10) as a content editor at ESPN in Bristol, Conn., where he worked on shows such as “SportsCenter” and a variety of other specialty shows across various network platforms. He then spent one year (2010-11) as a content contributor for “New England Recruiting Report” and an event manager for Hoop Mountain, a national leader in basketball tournaments, camps and showcases. Hatt assisted NERR founding editor Adam Finkelstein in prospect evaluation, event coverage and features and supplied relevant content for Finkelstein’s web site and national scouting service.

Hatt earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in communications with a concentration in digital media technology from Norwich University in 2008. He received his Master of Education degree in sport leadership from VCU in 2015.

A native of Springfield, Vt., Hatt was a four-year varsity starter at Springfield High School. He was a two-time all-state selection and two-time captain who scored over 1,000 career points.

Hatt (born Dec. 6, 1985) and his wife, Lisa, have one daughter, Lyla.