BUFFSBLOG SCOOP: RICK GEORGE HAS MET WITH DUSTIN PEDROIA TO DISCUSS RESURRECTION OF BASEBALL PROGRAM, PER SOURCE

BuffsBlog has learned that CU Athletic Director Rick George recently met with Dustin Pedroia to discuss the possibility of Pedroia leading a resurrected CU baseball program as its head coach, according to a source.  The source also indicated that George has met with assistant coaching candidates that would serve with Pedroia.

Pedroia played for the Boston Red Sox from 2006 to 2019.  Pedroia was a 4x All-Star, won the AL Most Valuable Player and Silver Slugger Award in 2008 and received 4 Gold Glove Awards (2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014).  Pedroia is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

CU baseball has deep roots.  CU played its first intercollegiate baseball game in 1890, a 5-4 win over the Colorado School of Mines in Boulder.  The Buffs kept at it for 90 years, racking up 819 career wins.  The school eliminated the program in 1980 due to budget cuts and Title IX requirements. 

Today, CU and Iowa State are the only Big 12 schools without baseball. 

If baseball is added, it is likely that a softball program will also be added due to Title IX requirements.  

When asked for comment on this story, Rick George responded with, “None of this is accurate.  Not adding any sports at this time.”

Last week, Rick George attached a price tag to potentially reviving the baseball and softball programs in Boulder.  When a fan asked, “Any movement yet on Softball and Baseball?” George reposted it with a blunt response: “When we get a $10M gift, we will have some movement. Until then, no movement.”  

George spent 3 years as a Texas Rangers executive and is a baseball aficionado.  CU’s football team also happens to be coached by Deion Sanders, who famously played a decade in Major League Baseball.