Northwestern College Head Baseball Coach Brian Wede was awarded the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA) Coach of the Year Award at the annual clinic held at The Marriott Hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Wede earned the top coaching honor among four-year college programs in the state of Iowa after leading Northwestern to both the GPAC regular and postseason titles in the 2018 season last spring. Wede’s squad qualified for the NAIA National Postseason play for the sixth time in program history, all during Wede’s 12 years as head coach (2007, 08, 10, 13, 14, 18).
“We are grateful to the IHSBCA for recognizing Coach Wede for this well-deserved award,” commented Northwestern College Athletic Director Earl Woudstra. “Brian has a proven ability to use the game of baseball to help young men learn to use their gifts, compete, and strive for excellence on and off the field. “Northwestern and our student-athletes benefit from Brian’s passion for baseball, his love for his players, and his commitment to the Christian mission of Northwestern College.”
Wede has guided Northwestern to seven conference titles, four regular season and three postseason, including the 2013 and 2018 season where his teams won both titles the same season. He holds a 346-258 overall record heading into his 13th season this spring, winning .573 of his games. Northwestern is 161-108 (60%) in GPAC play under Coach Wede.
“I am grateful to the Iowa HSBCA for the award,” stated Wede. “The Iowa HSBCA is one of the best baseball coaching associations in the country and have a great awards program that recognizes coaches, players, umpires and baseball diamonds for excellence. To be clear though, the 2018 team won this award. Those players fought through adversity well, dealt with a very tough spring in terms of weather, and found a way to win the GPAC regular season championship by three games to go with the postseason title. Last year’s team also recorded a 3.13 team GPA in the classroom and I could not be more proud of them for all they accomplished.”
