Reggie Tredaway has been a part of the UTPA Baseball Family for over 30 years. Now in his fourth year as the head coach of the Broncs, Tredaway has already taken tremendous strides in returning the Broncs to their former glory.

In just three years, Tredaway has guided the Broncs to a 79-74-1 overall record, including two 30-plus win seasons. Each of the last two seasons the Broncs have been on the verge of reaching the NCAA Tournament, but have fallen just short. Last season’s 31-19-1 record was the best for the program in nearly a decade, and included wins over Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Southwest Texas State and Louisiana-Monroe.

With a strong mix of veteran pitching and talented newcomers in the field, the Broncs look to finally reach the postseason for Tredaway.

"I think that our program’s making progress," said Tredaway. "With the schedule we have this season we’ve got the RPI (Rating Point Index) that should get the attention of the NCAA selection committee. We’ve won 61 games over the last two years. I think that we’re definitely a program going in the right direction. With the addition of a new stadium, we’re already seeing positive things happen in our recruiting."

Tredaway and the Bronc baseball program have established a reputation for developing players and sending them on to professional ball. Omar Ortiz was a lightly recruited pitcher out of Brownsville before he developed into one of the best pitchers the program has ever seen. Ortiz was the first player ever to be taken in the first round from UTPA in the 1999 draft.

Ortiz is far from the only success for Tredaway and the Broncs. That same year two other pitchers, Joey Cole and Jason Bottenfield, were also taken in the draft. Last season pitcher Mike Cox was selected by the New York Mets to make it four pitchers drafted in just two years. Also last season Jesse Gutierrez was a standout at the plate, finishing first in the nation in slugging percentage and second in home runs per game.

"One of our goals is to have players go beyond college," Tredaway said. "We’d like to help them go on to the pros. We’ll continue to try to get players exposure with our schedule and with our success. That, of course, will help our recruiting as well."

Tredaway replaced coaching legend Al Ogletree, who retired in 1997 as the winningest active coach in NCAA Division I. Tredaway served as Ogletree’s assistant for 28 years, as a player for four years and assistant coach for 24. Tredaway starred for Sul Ross State when Ogletree coached the Lobos from Alpine, Texas, to the NAIA World Series in 1968. Tredaway then led the Broncs to the NCAA World Series in 1971, when the Broncs finished fourth in the nation at Omaha.

Long-time Broncs credit Tredaway with the most important hit in the team’s 46-year history as a four-year college and university. His bases-loaded triple lifted the underdog Broncs past the Texas Longhorns, 4-0, in the game that clinched the Broncs’ winning the NCAA District VI championship and going to Omaha.

Tredaway also made one of the Broncs’ all-time great catches, colliding with the concrete stands to clutch a foul ball for a vital out in a 1-0 victory over Harvard University in Omaha.

He still holds the Bronc record of nine RBI’s in a game. In addition, Tredaway handled 95 consecutive fielding chances at third base without an error, another record. He was a two-time NCAA All-American for the Broncs during his three years as a player.

Tredaway has contributed much to Bronc baseball. He suffered a broken leg that nearly ruined his junior season when he slid into third base, yet he came back that year to sock an NCAA playoff home run against Texas in Austin. Later, as the assistant coach, he suffered a broken jaw while pitching batting practice to the Broncs.

While still in college, Tredaway was drafted by two professional teams, first Montreal and later Oakland. But decided to remain in college to complete his degree.

After graduating from UTPA, Tredaway helped Ogletree lead the Broncs to 10 more NCAA Tournament appearances. Eight players were named All-American with Tredaway assisting Ogletree. Last season Gutierrez was named All-American.

As concerned about his athletes performance off the field as on, the Broncs have had 27 players named to the Athletic Directors Honor Roll or Academic All-Conference during his three years at the helm of the team.

Tredaway and his wife, Sondra, have been married 34 years and have two sons, Kevin, 33, and Chad, 27. Kevin is married to the former Cathleen Inman of La Feria, Texas. Chad is married to the former Trista Roberts of Mason, Texas, and was recently named to be the first head coach of the new Edinburg professional baseball team that will compete in the Texas-Louisiana League.

The Tredaway’s have five grandchildren Brett, 14; Brook, 13; Tyler, 8; Tara, 7 and Tanner, 1.