COACHING STAFF

Chris Coste returns to the RedHawks for his fifth season as full-time manager in 2025.

The Fargo native was officially named the fourth manager in RedHawks history on April 21, 2021 after serving as the team’s interim manager during the 2020 season. He previously served in the team’s hitting coach and bench coach roles during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively.

After securing the RedHawks’ first AAPB playoff series victory in 2021, he led the team the team to their first American Association championship and sixth league title in 2022. Their 64-36 regular-season finish was the organization’s best record in a decade.

Coste, a Concordia College graduate, pitched and played third base for the Cobbers from 1993 to 1995. He earned three consecutive All-American awards and still holds the school record for career batting average and ERA. Coste helped the Cobbers win the MIAC championship in 1995 and finish second at the NCAA Midwest Regional. He was inducted into the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

He started his professional career in 1995 playing for the Brainerd Bears in the North Central League and the Brandon Grey Owls in the Prairie League. He played for the RedHawks from the team’s start in 1996 until 1999. Coste had a .322 batting average with 429 hits, 44 home runs and 221 RBIs in 335 games with the RedHawks and won a Northern League title in 1998.

In 1999, Coste was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates but was released after spring training and returned to the RedHawks. His contract was purchased by Cleveland in 2000, and he spent six seasons in the minor leagues before making his MLB Debut for the Philadelphia Phillies on May 26, 2006 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Coste won a World Series championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and became the first player from the MIAC to win a World Series ring. All in all, Coste appeared in 299 Major League Baseball games combined between the Phillies and Houston Astros and had a career MLB average of .272.

Following his retirement as a player, Coste served as an in-studio analyst on Comcast SportsNet, appearing on the Phillies pregame and postgame shows. In 2017, Coste led the West Fargo Patriots American Legion team to a state tournament berth.

Coste has also written two books that chronicle his experiences in professional baseball from the Northern League all the way to the World Series: “Hey… I’m Just the Catcher: An Inside Look at a Northern League Season From Behind the Plate,” published in 1997 and “The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made it to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors.” The book, which chronicles Coste’s first season in the majors, contains a foreword by John Kruk.