PEORIA — The Bradley Braves baseball team has a new man at the helm.
Justin Dedman has been hired as the sixth head coach of the program, taking over for longtime coach Elvis Dominguez, who retired in late May.
Dedman, a Lincoln native, spent the last two seasons as recruiting coordinator at Loyola Marymount University.
“This is home. Central Illinois is where my passion for baseball began,” Dedman said in a statement from BU. “Bradley University is ready to accelerate on the national baseball scene. This program has a rich tradition, tremendous upside, and a desire to be great.
“We are ready to build an environment that is intensely competitive and joyful, a holistic development destination for future pros and champions.”
Over the course of his coaching career, Dedman has coached and mentored 34 MLB Draft picks, including first-rounder Sam Bachman (9th overall, 2021) and catcher Hayden Senger (New York Mets), and helped produce 10 All-Americans as well as 9 players currently in AA or AAA.
He spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons as assistant at Marymount. Before that he spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons as director of player development with Missouri, including a 30-win season in the latter year.
He served as an assistant coach for four seasons at Miami (Ohio), working with the hitters in a program that won 72 games over 2018-19.
He spent seven years on the Lee University (Tennessee) coaching staff, and has had stints as director of operations at Ole Miss, and been part of programs at Austin Peay and Denison.
Dedman has a career coaching record of 575-326 (.638). He helped take Miami (OH) from a 22-34 record the year before he arrived to 35-20 and 37-19 records in 2018 and 2019. At Lee, he was part of five World Series teams, helping recruit and develop 18 MLB Draft picks and five top 10 rounders.
At Loyola Marymount his recruiting and hitting coach expertise added up to an attack that led the West Coast Conference in 8 offensive categories.
“We are excited to welcome Justin Dedman to Bradley University,” said Bradley vice president for intercollegiate athletics Dr. Chris Reynolds. “He brings a terrific range of experience, a great understanding of player development, and a strong commitment to mentoring student-athletes that aligns well with our institutional values. We are incredibly confident Justin will make a positive impact on the field and in our community.”
On the lineup card
Dedman was a regular outfielder and occasional starting pitcher and reliever at Denison. He earned second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors as a senior after batting .417 with 25 runs scored and 14 RBIs.
He posted a .363 career batting average in 91 total games and was a part of three NCAC division championship squads.
In 2004, Dedman started in the outfield as a nationally-ranked Denison team set a school-record for wins and record (31-7).
He graduated from Denison in 2005 with a degree in English-Writing and a minor in Spanish.
He began his journey from baseball’s ground floor, serving in 2006 as assistant general manager with the Granville Settlers of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, doing everything from media relations to ticket sales, field maintenance and concessions sales.
He joins the Peoria community with his wife, Brittany, and their two children, Norah and Maddux.
Green light from college peers
Praise for Bradley’s hiring choice poured in from the college baseball community:
● “Justin is one of the finest people in our game and nobody deserves this opportunity more,” said Loyola Marymount head coach Donegal Fergus. “I have long admired his intellect and passion for the game, and I am lucky enough to call him a friend. I was so fortunate to get to work with him for the last two years. Bradley is getting a tremendous coach, but an even better man, father and husband.”
● “Justin is a fantastic leader of men,” said Jacksonville State head coach Steve Bieser, former Missouri Tigers head coach. “He is extremely dedicated to developing young men on and off the field. He is a forward thinker and has a real passion for the game. The future is bright for Bradley baseball.”
● “I am very happy for Justin, Brittany, their family and Bradley University,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said. “Justin is a great match for that baseball program. I have known Justin for a long time and first and foremost, he is a wonderful human being. Secondly, he is a teacher and educator of the game of baseball. His impact will far exceed the ball, glove and bat.”
(This story has been updated to add new information)
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.