Buzz Verduzco: A Griffon For Life
There are many ways one can describe the culture of a university’s athletics department. Depending on where you look, the culture within the coaches, assistants, student-athletes and others can be tight or can have its clicks. It can be passionate and can be also reserved, cooperative yet sometimes argumentative.
There are several dichotomies within an athletic department. At Missouri Western, one troubling trend has emerged in the past few years- nobody is staying around.
Especially since COVID-19 changed the world, almost no team has remained the same. Players come and go, that’s to be expected; but to see a new lacrosse team need a new coach after one year, a soccer program that’s gone through five different head coaches since the start of 2019, longtime volleyball and softball coaches saying goodbye while the university also lost their Director of Athletics? That’s not normal.
Call it a loyalty issue or just business, but just a single head coach from the 2018–19 school year is still around. It’s a man that is the epitome of an outlier, who has been at the helm since 1999, has seen the school transfer from a state college to a state university, and has seen everything a college coach could see.
That man is Charles “Buzz” Verduzco and he is hanging up his cap after this, his 23rd season as Griffon Baseball’s head coach.
Verduzco has been involved in baseball his whole life. Originally from Stockton, CA, Verduzco came to Missouri Western from Washington State University, where he was an assistant with the Cougar program for more than 10 seasons. He served as the Cougars’ hitting and fielding coach as well as lead recruiting coordinator. Additionally, Verduzco directed Cougar baseball camps and was the alumni relations coordinator for the NCAA Division I program. Verduzco has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington State in 1985. He had a great mentor in legendary coach “Bobo” Brayton at Washington State, whom he both played and coached for.
Coming to Missouri Western 23 years ago, Verduzco had one man’s work to go off of. His predecessor, Doug Minnis, was the only head coach in the program’s history, taking the job in 1970 when the team first established. These were big shoes to fill, as Minnis turned Griffon Baseball into an immediate winner. The first 11 years of the program saw winning seasons and Minnis became a Missouri Western Hall of Famer in 1990.
One aspect of Minnis’ life and career was that he beamed with Griffon and St. Joseph pride. Even after his retirement from the team, he remained in town and was a fixture at the university. He was a part of both the Gold Coat Club annual membership drive and the Griffon Athletics Hall of Fame committee until his death in 2019 at the age of 90. His memory lives on through a plaque at the Spring Sports Complex, enshrined at the opening of the complex in 2011.
If anyone was going to follow up that life and career within this community, Verduzco has done a pretty good job.
Through 23 years as head coach, Verduzco has always made his presence felt in a variety of ways. In recent years, his Griffon Baseball has volunteered their time directing parking at Griffon Football and Griffon Basketball games. When he isn’t out there, he can likely be found working at the concession stand, helping sell 50/50 tickets or just sitting court side. Either way, Verduzco rarely, if ever, misses out on anything going on in the world of Missouri Western athletics.
While the representation at events goes a long way in a community like Missouri Western, his biggest responsibility is, obviously, winning ball games. Through his career, he has won a whole lot more than he has lost. Through the 2022 season, Verduzco has amassed a 614–514 overall record, going 428–337 in MIAA competition. It’s well known that the MIAA is one of, if not the best, athletic conferences in all of Division II and Verduzco has largely made the Griffons contenders his entire time at the university.
Verduzco has turned several young men with big time dreams into legitimate, well-rounded ball players and human beings. In his time, 114 Griffons have earned all-MIAA recognition, which included a program-record 12 All-MIAA selections in 2017. Notable stars include 2013 MIAA Pitcher of the Year Brandon Simmons and MIAA Player of the Year Michael Schulz. Schulze was also named the Daktronics National Player of the Year on top of his MIAA notoriety. Eight Griffons have been all-Americans in his time, five of which were honored in the 2013 season that saw the Griffons win the MIAA Championship and make the NCAA Regional on the back of 40 wins. Three Griffons that coached have had their names called in the MLB Amateur Draft, most recently Michael Schulze (19th round to the Cardinals) and Grant Fink (23rd round to Cleveland) in 2013.
However, any collegiate coach will say that their lasting impact is based on their student-athletes behavior off of the field. Verduzco has always cared deeply about his players, including his son, Chaz, who played with the team from 2019–22. He has always put an emphasis on the team’s performance in the classroom. This has led to countless Griffon Baseball players making academic all-MIAA, including some making all-region. Every year when the university recognizes their star student-athletes academically, Verduzco’s team has as many, if not more, getting recognized than any other team.
However, even for someone who has been at the university for so long and has done so much as Verduzco has, there comes a point where it’s time to move on. On Jan. 31, Verduzco confirmed that he would be retiring from his position.
Missouri Western Director of Athletics, Andy Carter, was one of the first to extend his congratulations and gratitude for Verduzco.
“We thank coach Verduzco for his contributions to the Missouri Western Baseball program,” Carter said to GoGriffons.com. “His service over the last 22 seasons has laid the foundation for the bright future of Griffon Baseball.”
One thing that Verduzco made adamant was that he was going to continue to work as hard as ever in his final year.
“I’ve come to the end of my run with Griffon Baseball,” Verduzco said in a statement to GoGriffons.com. “I’ll leave with a lot of memories. I don’t have the words to express the deep gratitude to those who supported this program and me through my 23 years here. My goal for this last season is to make all Griffons proud, former and present. Right now, I have one focus, and that is to empty my tank with one last season — one last Griffon team. The student-athletes have always been my priority, and this last season won’t be any different.”
And really, should anyone be surprised at that?
