Florida baseball has fired pitching coach David Kopp, a team source told Gator Country on Friday.
Kopp spent five seasons with the program after joining Florida as a volunteer assistant coach in July 2021. He was promoted to pitching coach during the 2024 offseason and held the role for the last two seasons.
The move comes after Florida’s pitching staff turned in its worst performance of the 2026 season during the Gainesville Regional. The No. 1-seeded Gators allowed 44 runs in four games and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
“Honestly we need to evaluate this because we have to be more consistent all the way around,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the Gainesville Regional. “At this time of the year we should not be having these issues with the walks and that type of thing.”
Florida finished the 2026 season ranked 40th nationally in ERA (4.61), 18th in WHIP (1.32), tied for 11th in walks allowed per nine innings (3.31), and 12th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.6), and 7th in strikeout to walk ratio (3.21).
During Kopp’s first three seasons at Florida from 2022-24, six Gators pitchers were selected within the first three rounds of the MLB Draft, including 2024 first-round pick Jac Caglianone, 2024 third-round pick Brandon Neely, 2023 first-round pick Hurston Waldrep, and 2023 second-round pick Brandon Sproat. The 2024 MLB Draft also saw Fisher Jameson selected in the 10th round and Ryan Slater taken in the 18th round.
In 2025, right-hander Jake Clemente and left-hander Pierce Coppola were both selected in the seventh round.
Kopp also served as the Pitching Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at Florida Atlantic from 2018-21 after a one-year stint in the same role at Florida Southern in 2017.
The Gators will now begin their search for a new pitching coach, who will inherit a staff returning significant top-end talent, including SEC Pitcher of the Year Aidan King, junior right-hander Jackson Barberi, and redshirt sophomore right-hander Joshua Whritenour.