Justin Dedman enters his third season with the RedHawks in 2020. He was hired as an assistant coach by Miami baseball head coach Danny Hayden in June 2017.
Dedman’s responsibilities include working with the RedHawk hitters. During the 2019 season, Miami had significant improvements across the board, hitting .293 (a 24 points improvement over 2018), to go with 40 home runs (10 more than 2018) and 376 runs scored (72 more than 2018). That helped the RedHawks to 37 wins after recording 35 in 2018. Those 72 victories are the most wins in a two-season stretch since they had 78 combined between 2005 and 2006.
With Dedman’s help, Miami found itself among the nation’s leaders in several offensive categories. The team set a school record with a .398 on-base percentage in 2019. That ranked 16th nationally. The RedHawks also set a school record with 29 triples, ranking fourth in the nation. Miami was 15th in the nation with 111 steals and 22nd in hit by pitches with 87.
The team also set program single-season records for hits (560) and walks (273).
Under his tutelage Dedman saw Landon Stephens and Cole Andrews earn First-Team All-MAC honors and Cal Elvers earn Second-Team All-MAC honors in 2019. That comes after Ross Haffey, Hayden Senger and Will Vogelgesang earned First-Team All-MAC honors in 2018. Senger was then drafted by the New York Mets in the 24th round of that year’s draft.
Dedman came to Oxford after serving as an assistant coach at Lee University for the previous seven seasons. During that time, Lee held a 291-116 (.715) winning record there and went to five World Series. Under his tutelage, the Flames produced 16 MLB Draft picks and four more who signed free agent deals with professional clubs.
Prior to his stint at Lee, Dedman served as the Director of Baseball Operations at Ole Miss for one season and was a volunteer assistant at Austin Peay in the fall of 2009.
Dedman spent the previous four years at his alma mater, Denison University, as an assistant coach for the first two seasons before being promoted to head coach in 2008, leading the Big Red to a North Coast Athletic Conference Western Division title in his first campaign at the helm.
While a student-athlete at Denison, Dedman was a Second-Team All-NCAC selection as a senior after batting .417 with 25 runs scored and 14 runs batted in. He posted a .363 career batting average in 91 total games and was a part of three NCAC division championship teams. In 2004, Dedman started in the outfield as a nationally-ranked Denison team set a school record for wins and overall record (31-7). In addition to his regular duties in the outfield, Dedman also saw time in both starting and relief roles within the pitching staff.
Dedman graduated from Denison in 2005 with a degree in English Writing.
