Pitt baseball added a new assistant coach in Chris Collazo, as the program announced the hiring on Friday.
Collazo arrives to the program with 12 years of coaching experience. At Pitt, he will serve as first base coach, work on defensive assignments and help train the infielders and hitters primarily. He is the second coach that has joined the Pitt baseball staff this offseason, with Brandon Romans coming on in July to coach third base and work with the hitters and outfielders, along with leading recruiting.
Prior to coaching, Collazo starred at Monmouth, playing as an infielder from 2006-09. His 247 career hits are second best in program history and he earned First Team All-Conference honors in 2008 and 2009, NJBCA All-Rookie honors in 2006 and First Team All-NJBCA selection honors in 2009. He also earned NEC Conference tournament MVP honors in 2009 and won the tournament twice in 2007 and 2009.
He started out with Felician College, a Division II school in New Jersey, serving as an assistant coach as the program went on a 24-game winning streak and three hitters earning all-conference honors. Collazo also coached for Seton Hall for a fall season in 2011.
Wagner was the next destination for Collazo, where he spent three seasons from 2012-14 coaching the hitters and infielders. He then coached at Villanova for the 2015 season, where he led the hitters to a 28 point increase in batting average from 2014.
Collazo spent the next seven seasons from 2016-22 as an assistant coach with Monmouth. Numerous players earned All-MAAC honors throughout his tenure as assistant coach and the team won 20 or more games in six seasons.
He coached last season at Delaware, helping the team make the conference tournament for the first time since 2018. Three players earned all-conference honors and two made the First-Team All-Conference.
“I’m excited to be a part of this program and am excited to help continue the tradition and success of Pitt baseball,” Collazo said in a press release. “I’m extremely thankful to Coach Bell for the opportunity and I cannot wait to start working with our outstanding student-athletes.”
