John Coppolella

John Coppolella (born July 28, 1979) is a former American baseball front office executive who served as the general manager of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2015 through 2017. Coppolella resigned as general manager of the Braves after he committed amateur signing infractions. MLB banned him for life as a result of those violations.

John Coppolella
Born (1979-07-28) July 28, 1979
Whittier, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Notre Dame
OccupationFormer baseball executive
Years active2000–2017

Early life

Coppolella was born on July 28, 1979, and is of Italian descent.[1][2] He graduated magna cum laude with a business management degree from the University of Notre Dame.[3][4]

Career

Prior to graduating, Coppolella was offered and initially accepted a job at Intel. He chose to continue exploring opportunities in baseball, and ultimately turned Intel down for an internship with the New York Yankees, working for the MLB team from 2000 through 2006.[5][6]

Atlanta Braves

In 2006, Coppolella joined the Braves as their director of baseball operations. He held that position until 2011, when he served as director of professional scouting. In 2012, Coppolella was promoted to assistant general manager. After Frank Wren was fired as the Braves' general manager after the 2014 season, John Hart took over as the president of baseball operations of the Braves,[7] with Coppolella heavily involved in the team's transactions,[8] including the trades of Craig Kimbrel and Jason Heyward. The Braves announced on October 1, 2015, that Coppolella was promoted to general manager, and signed to a four-year contract.[9][10] On October 2, 2017, Coppolella resigned his position as general manager, after Major League Baseball disclosed several infractions regarding the Braves' signings of international players.[11][12] Even before then, Coppolella had been under fire for disregarding MLB rules against tampering with players on other teams and cutting pre-draft deals with amateur players.[13]

On November 21, 2017, Coppolella was banned for life from baseball by MLB as a result of their investigation into the matter.[14]

Personal life

Coppolella is married and has three children.[15][16]

References
  1. Kahrl, Christina (December 4, 2015). "MLB's 30 general managers ... who are they?". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  2. Bowman, Mark (December 23, 2016). "Family at forefront of Coppolella's Christmas". MLB.com. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  3. Bowman, Mark (October 1, 2015). "Braves name John Coppolella general manager". MLB.com. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  4. "Ex-Braves GM John Coppolella permanently banned; team loses prospects". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  5. Bowman, Mark (November 7, 2014). "Coppolella's work ethic took him from intern to exec". MLB.com. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  6. Morris, Ian (September 23, 2014). "The case for John Coppolella as the Braves' next GM". SBNation. Retrieved October 1, 2015 – via Yahoo! Sports.
  7. O'Brien, David. "Hart says 'yes' to Braves, will head baseball operations". Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  8. Schultz, Jeff. "Braves' moves have Coppolella's fingerprints". Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  9. Cooper, J.J. (October 1, 2015). "Braves Promote John Coppolella To General Manager". Baseball America. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  10. "Braves promote John Coppolella to general manager". ESPN.com. Associated Press. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  11. Bowman, Mark (October 2, 2017). "Coppolella resigns as Braves' general manager". MLB.com. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  12. "John Coppolella resigns as MLB investigates whether Braves broke international signing rules". ESPN.com. October 2, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  13. Passan, Jeff (October 2, 2017). "John Coppolella's resignation just the start of the Atlanta Braves' problems". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  14. "Braves penalized for int'l signing violations". mlb.com. November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  15. "Chat: John Coppolella". Baseball Prospectus. August 26, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  16. Bowman, Mark (January 26, 2016). "Coppolella discusses busy offseason in Q&A". MLB.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016.

Sporting positions
Preceded by
John Hart		 Atlanta Braves General Manager
2015–2017		 Succeeded by
John Hart
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