UTEP Football Head Coach Scotty Walden announced John Cotton as the lead offensive analyst on June 11. He ventures to the Sun City after multiple stops, including most recently working in several capacities for Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Cotton wore many hats with the Javelinas from 2020 through the 2023 campaign, helping them produce back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2010-11. He coached linebackers and was the Special Teams coordinator for all core units. They garnered a spot in the top two in the conference for special teams in each of those years. He also spent time as a recruiting, video, equipment room and summer camp coordinator.
During the 2019 campaign, the Houston native served as quality control-special teams during a memorable year with Memphis. The Tigers won the AAC, finished 12-2 and played in the Cotton Bowl. Memphis finished the regular season ranked in the top three of ESPN’s Special Teams Efficiency Rankings.
In 2018 he was a defensive and special teams graduate assistant at Marshall, with the Thundering Herd going 9-4 and winning the Gasparilla Bowl. He helped MU secure the No. 4 total defense in CUSA.
Prior to that, he was a defensive and special teams graduate assistant in both 2016 and 2017 with Hardin- Simmons. The team was 9-2 and earned runner-up honors in the conference both years on the way to punching consecutive appearances to the DIII Playoffs.
Cotton has mentored 13 All-Conference players in three seasons as a position coach, including six who have grabbed first-team accolades.
He earned a B.S. in kinesiology at the University of Texas in 2015 before earning his master’s in education at Hardin-Simmons in 2018.
