Nathan Ott will begin his sixth season overall and fifth season as a full-time assistant coach after serving as a volunteer coach during the 2007-08 season. Ott joined the staff after a stellar four-year career with the Thunderbirds.
In all, SUU throwers have tallied 13 new school records and 134 top-ten marks during Ott's tenure.
The 2012 season resulted in five total conference championships for Ott's team, with two shot put titles, one hammer title and one discus title for Kayla Kovar and an outdoor shot put title for Chris Johnson. Kovar also set new school records in the indoor shot put and weight throw and the outdoor shot put and discus. Johnson also set a new record in the outdoor shot put, while nine other throwers made their ways into Southern Utah's top-ten records. Kovar went on to take 23rd and 25th place respectively in the shot put and hammer at the NCAA West Prelims, while Cody Olsen placed 36th in the javelin and Johnson recorded a foul in the shot put.
UCLA transfer Kayla Kovar joined the throws team in 2011, during the fifth season of Ott's tenure. As a freshman, Kovar took the conference shot put title during the indoor season and also set a new indoor record in the event. Hector Perez and Cody Olsen earned respective titles in the shot put and javelin during the outdoor season, and Kovar and Olsen went on to finish 35th and 34th on the regional level in their respective events.
Several school records fell in 2010 as top marks were broken in three events during the year. The women's hammer record was broken multiple times by multiple athletes, showing the depth and talent of the Thunderbird squad. In addition, SUU throwers rewrote the top-ten lists with 28 marks now etched in the record books. Thunderbird throwers made up half of Southern Utah's NCAA regional appearance as five of the ten athletes were under the tutelage of Ott (discus, hammer and javelin), appearing in six different events. Koplin, returned to the regional meet, placing eighth in the women's hammer (190-10) to advance to the NCAA Championships, finishing 12th in Eugene.
In 2009, SUU throwers had one of the most record-breaking seasons in school history as four school records were broken during the indoor and outdoor season. Under Ott's tutelage, Southern Utah student-athletes recorded 25 marks that rank in the top ten in school history in various events. In addition, five student-athletes advanced to the NCAA West Regionals, including Kristi Koplin and Carlos Valle who qualified in multiple events (hammer/discus and shot put/discus, respectively). In all, Coach Ott had athletes represented in the shot put, discus, hammer and javelin.
During Ott's first year of coaching, he coached Greg Watson to a record-breaking mark of 216 feet six inches in the hammer throw at the SUU Invitational. Watson later qualified for the NCAA national competition.
Ott finished his collegiate career at Southern Utah, holding the school's all-time mark in the hammer with a distance of 201 feet five inches. He was a two-time NCAA Regional qualifier and champion of the men's hammer at the 2007 Mid-Continent Conference championships. In addition, Ott was the leading scorer for the T-Birds at the outdoor conference championships in 2006, collecting three second-place finishes for 24 points. During his career he medaled in every throwing event but javelin.
Ott is a native of Cedar City, Utah and works with the throwers in addition to other duties as assigned.
