Coach Andrew Cotter started his athletic career in high school, playing football. After graduating, he went on to Sacremento State to continue playing football. After one season, he transferred to Los Madanas, where he played his 2nd year, and won the East Bay Bowl Championship. Cotter was asked by Chico State to transfer at the end of the season and join their football program. But upon arrival that summer, he was notified that the football program had just been cut. Left without a sport, but still wanting to continue an athletic career, Cotter made the switch to Rugby, something he had never played before previously. In 1999, Cotter and the Chico Rugby team won the Division 2 National Championship in Dayton, Ohio. They beat top ranked colleges Auburn and UNLV to get to that championship game. In 2001, Chico State Rugby was bumped up to Division 1, where they made the Sweet 16 and beat Penn State. They finished 8th in the country that year. In 2002, Coach Cotter’s team missed the playoffs, but he graduated from Chico State University. After graduation, Cotter was invited to play for the Chico Mens Club, which is the next level of organized rugby after college. As a member of that club, he won another National Championship, this time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After this, Coach Cotter made the move to Sacramento State and got into the masters program. There he played for another club rugby team, The Sacramento Capitals. In 2003, he moved to New Zealand, partly for studying abroad, but also to play more Rugby. While in New Zealand, he played for the Kaikorai Demons in between 2003 and early 2004. For the rest of 2004, Cotter traveled around New Zealand playing for other club teams, and making stops in Australia and Fiji as-well. In 2005, he was back in the states, with a Masters degree and the new Rugby coach at UC Davis. Then in 2006, he began coaching football and teaching P.E. at Moreau.