Raoul Martial "Rod" Dedeaux (born February 17, 1914 or 1915 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a former college baseball coach who compiled what is arguably the greatest record of any coach in the sport's amateur history.
After attending the University of Southern California and playing professional baseball briefly – he appeared in 2 games as a shortstop for the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers – he turned to playing and coaching in the semi-pro and amateur ranks. When his college coach Sam Barry entered the United States Navy during World War II, he recommended Dedeaux to take over the team in 1942 for the war's duration, and upon Barry's return in 1946 they served as co-coaches, with Dedeaux running the team each year until Barry finished the basketball season. The arrangement was so successful that USC won the College World Series in 1948.
After Barry's death in September 1950, Dedeaux became the sole coach, and proceeded to build on the early success to establish the strongest program in collegiate baseball. Prior to his retirement in 1986, Dedeaux's teams won 10 additional CWS titles – no other coach won more than 3 until 1997 – including five consecutively from 1970-1974. He also developed dozens of future major leaguers, including Ron Fairly, Tom Seaver, Dave Kingman, Fred Lynn, Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson. He served as coach of the United States team at both the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with baseball being a demonstration sport prior to its elevation to full medal status in 1988. He retired as the winningest coach in college baseball history with 1,332 victories, and remains a beloved annual presence at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in 1970, and in 1999 was named the Coach of the Century by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
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