In fact, Wedge is the first college coach to have managed in the major leagues since former White Sox player/manager Don Kessinger returned to his alma mater, Mississippi, to become the program’s head coach in 1991.
It also was an extraordinarily decisive act on the part of Boatright. The official announcement of Wedge’s hiring came just three days after the program parted ways with Todd Butler—and just two days before regionals got underway.
That timetable wasn’t happenstance. That was the search going as planned. Boatright made up his mind on Wedge when he heard the former catcher speak at his 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame induction.
“At that point, I knew if I were in the position and ever needed a baseball coach—regardless of what his role was, where he was, who he was managing—he was going to have to look me in the eye and turn me down,” Boatright said at Wedge’s introductory press conference.