Mark Kotsai, director of Atleticos de Auckland

Oakland, Calif. – The team announced on Tuesday that Mark Kotsai will replace Bob Melvin as head coach for Oakland Athletics.

Kutsai will be promoted from his position as the third head coach and take over the team he played with as a defensive player in four of his 17 seasons in the major tournaments. The contract is for three years and has an option in 2025.

Melvin left Oakland to manage the San Diego Padres in late October. The 46-year-old Kosai was the third base coach in athletics recently and was previously a bench coach under Melvin, who arrived in mid-2011 to replace Bob Geren.

The athletics team did not qualify for the playoffs this season after three consecutive trips to the postseason.

Oakland won the MLS Western Championship during the pandemic’s shortened 60-game season in 2020, after consecutive years advancing as a collegiate team. In the playoffs, the athletics outplayed the White Sox in the wild card round to end a nine-game losing streak in the postseason—a major league record dating back to the 1973 World Series—before losing in four games in the American League Series against the Houston Astros.

The MLB Network was the first network to report the hiring of Kotsay on Monday.