By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Buzz Verduzco just concluded a 23-year-long tenure as Missouri Western's head baseball coach this past May.
Following his retirement, another coaching opportunity came his way - this one at the high school level and in the same city.
Verduzco says St. Joseph Central athletic director David Lau approached him about the opportunity to take over as the Indians' next head softball coach.
"I was able to visit with David Lau, who used to be at Missouri Western," Verduzco told KFEQ Radio. "He approached me and I needed some time to think about it. I talked to my wife (Tracy) about it and I knew I still wanted to help kids, so this was the perfect opportunity, actually."
Verduzco was officially announced as Central's next head softball coach on June 26. He succeeds Kendra Hodgin, who had been the head coach there for the previous five seasons.
For decades, Verduzco has coached college baseball. He was an assistant at his alma mater, Washington State, for 10 years before taking over as Missouri Western's head man in 1999.
He recorded 629 wins with the Griffons, including 16 winning seasons, an MIAA championship in 2013 and four NCAA tournament berths.
As much success as he had coaching baseball, Verduzco knows shifting to high school softball is a big change.
He's relied on former Missouri Western softball coach Jen Bagley-Trotter (2002-2021), current Griffon softball coach Joe Yegge and others as he gets ready for this change.
"Jennifer, we worked together for over 20 years at Missouri Western," Verduzco said. "She's been an awesome support and great resource. Coach Yegge, who I've gotten to know over the last year, he's been terrific. There's been a lot of different people I can run to."
Verduzco, who was inducted into the St. Joseph Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this summer, says he's proud of what he and his teams achieved over the years at Missouri Western as he reflected on his long tenure.
"Maybe some people look at it as a small market school, compared to other teams in the league," Verduzco said. "That didn't bother us. We wanted to make sure we put everything into it we could to make it a contender nationally and regionally and to make a lot of noise within the conference, which we did, and we were proud of that."
Full interview
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