Kotila played high school basketball at Glen Lake School in Maple City, Michigan, before enrolling at Michigan Technological University. He was a four-year starter for the Huskies, earning the team's outstanding newcomer honors in 1978-79, garnering the team’s most improved player award in 1980-81 as well as team MVP honors and the Raymond L. Smith Award as the university's outstanding senior male student-athlete in the 1981-82 campaign. Kotila scored 1,394 points in 102 games for MTU. He ranked third all-time in career points, when his playing career at Michigan Tech came to an end in 1982.
Coaching career
In 1985-86, Kotila served as head men's cross country coach at Michigan Tech and was an assistant men's basketball coach between 1985 and 1987, before being appointed as MTU head men's basketball coach. He stayed on the job until 1994 and had a record of 82 wins and 120 losses. He went to Denmark, where he coached in the pro ranks. From 1995 to 2001, Kotila served as head coach of Horsens IC in the country’s top division Basketliga, leading the team to a Danish national championship title in 1998 and a Danish cup title in 1996. During his four-year stint at Skovbakken Bears, Kotila won two national championships and one cup title with the club. In the 2004-05 season, he was recognized with Danish Basketliga Coach of the Year honors. He also coached the Bears in their first ever appearance in the EuroCup. In May 2006, Kotila signed a two-year deal with Icelandic top flight side UMF Snæfell. In the 2007-08 season, he led Snæfell to winning the Islandic cup tournament and to the runner-up spot in league play, Kotila was named All-Icelandic League Coach of the Year by eurobasket.com that season. He left the team afterwards, returning to Denmark, where he was named head coach of Team Fog Næstved in June 2008. In his five-year stint at Næstved, Kotila was named Basketliga Coach of the Year in the 2010-11 season and guided the team to a third-place finish in the national championship in the 2011-12 campaign, which was the best result in club history. Following the conclusion of the 2012-13 season, Kotila decided to step down as Næstved head coach. Besides his job as head coach in the pro ranks, Kotila has also been working alongside Craig Pedersen as basketball coach at EVN school in Nyborg, Denmark since 2008. In 2017, he took over the job as commissioner of Denmark’s top flight Basketliga.
