Early career Cosmi was born in 1958 in
Ponte San Giovanni, a
Perugia frazione. His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse after
Fausto Coppi's
brother, a cyclist himself, who died following a fall during a sprint. He worked nine years as primary school teacher, and played amateur football during his freetime for local teams such as Deruta, Cannara, Spello and Pontevecchio, in the role of
midfielder. He started a coaching career in the late 1980s in Ellera, as
under-18 youth team coach. his thesis was entitled "Il Trequartista" ("the
advanced playmaker," in Italian football jargon).
Perugia After being noted by
Luciano Gaucci, in 2000 Cosmi was surprisingly appointed head coach of
Perugia, in the
Serie A. He guided the team for four consecutive years, winning a
UEFA Intertoto Cup, showing valid coaching abilities and launching several players, including
2006 FIFA World Cup winner
Marco Materazzi (who reached a career high of 12 goals in a single season under Cosmi's tenure),
Fabrizio Miccoli,
Fabio Grosso and
Fabio Liverani. Cosmi's period at Perugia would last four years, during which he led the fringe Umbrian club to victory in the
2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Genoa and Udinese In 2004, Cosmi left Perugia, after the team went relegated at the end of the season, and joined
Genoa of
Serie B, with the clear goal to bring the
rossoblu back to Serie A. At the end of the 2004–05 season, Cosmi managed to win the league and guide his team to Serie A, but he subsequently left because of disagreements with club chairman
Enrico Preziosi, before Genoa itself was relegated to Serie C1 due to match-fixing. After his short but successful experience with Genoa, Cosmi was signed as the new coach of
Udinese, in order to replace
Luciano Spalletti, who gained the qualification to the preliminary rounds of
Champions' League the previous season. But it was Cosmi who led the team on the European competition, defeating
Sporting Clube de Portugal in a two-tier qualifying round. However, after a disappointing series of results, including elimination from the Champions League and Serie A results much below expectations, Cosmi was finally fired on 10 February 2006.
Brescia and Livorno On 28 February 2007, he was appointed head coach of Serie B club
Brescia. On his very first match after replacing
Mario Somma, Cosmi led
Brescia to an astonishing 3–1 result against Serie B leaders
Juventus. He was fired in September 2008 due to poor results to make room for a new boss,
Nedo Sonetti. On 20 October 2009, Cosmi made a Serie A comeback as new head coach of bottom-placed relegation battlers
Livorno. In his first game in charge, he guided Livorno to a surprising 1–0 away win against
Roma, which was immediately followed by a second consecutive 1–0 win, against
Atalanta, only three days later. Despite fairly good results at the helm of Livorno, Cosmi resigned from his coaching post on 24 January 2010, in the wake of a 2–0 home loss to fourth-placed
Napoli due to disagreements with club chairman
Aldo Spinelli. Two days later, on 26 January, Cosmi and Spinelli met each other in attempt to clarify each other, also following the supporter fanbase's criticism of the way Spinelli handled the issue. Following the meeting, both parties agreed that the head coach's resignation offer would have been rejected and Cosmi would return at Livorno with immediate effect. This, however, lasted only a few more weeks, and Cosmi was dismissed later on April following a string of negative results that left Livorno down at the bottom of the table.
Palermo After more than a year without a job, Cosmi returned into management on 28 February 2011, taking over coaching duties at
Palermo as a replacement for
Delio Rossi, who was dismissed from the Sicilian club following a record 0–7 home defeat to
Udinese. At Palermo, Cosmi reunited with former players
Fabrizio Miccoli and
Fabio Liverani, as well as ex-player and team staff member
Giovanni Tedesco. After three losses and one victory against A.C. Milan, Serse Cosmi was released by club president Zamparini after a disappointing 4–0 loss to
Catania.
Lecce On 4 December 2011, Cosmi was unveiled as new head coach of bottom-placed Serie A side
Lecce, replacing
Eusebio Di Francesco.
Later career On 27 June 2012, Cosmi was appointed the new coach of
Siena in
Serie A on a two-year contract, but on 17 December, he was sacked. On 24 February 2014, Cosmi returned into management as new head coach of Serie B club
Pescara, replacing
Pasquale Marino but failing to turn the team fortunes and missing out qualification for the promotion playoffs. He left the club by the end of the season. On 11 March 2015, he was named manager of
Serie B side
Trapani replacing long-serving
Roberto Boscaglia. Cosmi led Trapani to the
2016 Serie B promotion playoffs, where they were defeated by
Pescara in the final round. He was sacked by Trapani on 28 November 2016, after obtaining only 11 points from the first 16 rounds of the
season, and after his car was set on fire by the club's supporters. On 7 December 2017, Cosmi was named as the replacement for Fulvio Fiorin at
Serie B side,
Ascoli. He was replaced by
Vincenzo Vivarini on 12 July 2018. On 6 March 2019, Cosmi was appointed as manager of
Venezia. On 4 January 2020, Cosmi returned to
Perugia after 16 years, replacing
Massimo Oddo. He signed a contract until 30 June. Cosmi was appointed as manager of Crotone on 1 March 2021, following the sacking of
Giovanni Stroppa, signing a contract until the end of the season. After failing to save his team from relegation to Serie B, with Crotone ending in 19th place in the league, the club announced they would not confirm Cosmi for the following season. On 4 September 2022, Cosmi returned into management as the new head coach of Croatian club
Rijeka. His experience at the club however proved to be short-lived, as he was dismissed on 13 November 2022 following a 2–7 loss to
Dinamo Zagreb. On 24 February 2026, Cosmi returned to management after almost four years, taking over as the new head coach of Italian Serie C club
Salernitana. ==Style of management==