Rio tabs Vedda as Director of eSports

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande has named Robert "Diddy" Vedda as its new Director of eSports.
     Vedda, a 28-year-old native of North Ridgeville, Ohio, comes to Rio Grande from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill., where he had served as the school's eSports head coach since October 2021.
     "It seems like an exciting time to be at Rio, with all of the construction projects and growth going on. The eSports program is built on a solid foundation and has a ton of potential. I'm very excited to get there and make an impact," said Vedda, who also founded the eSports program at Cleveland State University in January 2019 and served as its head coach until accepting the position at Illinois College. "I appreciate the opportunity and I'm looking forward to working with the crew at Rio. Hopefully, I can take what I've learned in my previous work experience and apply that to the potential that Rio has and to the investment that Rio is making."
     Vedda is a December 2018 graduate of Cleveland State, where he was a member of the Vikings' wrestling program.
     "What I learned in wrestling was hard work, facing adversity, taking responsibility for your own performance and learning from your mistakes - the core lessons of sports," Vedda said. "When I started coaching eSports and doing a lot with League of Legends I saw the similarities. The grit from wrestling is what I took away and it's what I try to apply to coaching eSports."
     Vedda inherits a program at Rio Grande which is preparing for its third season of competition.
     "We're very excited to have Bobby as our new eSports coach. He has the experience and a sense for how college eSports works and operates. He's dedicated to the growth and success of our program both in competition as well as academics," said Rio Grande athletic director Jeff Lanham. "We had some very good candidates, but his experience will help us move the program along at a faster pace."
     In the past two seasons, Rio Grande has fielded two teams in both Valorant and Rocket League, as well as teams in Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch.
     Vedda, who will become the program's first full-time head coach, said he also plans to add a team in League of Legends - the game which he oversaw primarily in each of his previous coaching stops.
     "It's exciting to be selected for a position that was just created. It's a responsibility that I'm going to take seriously," he said. "First and foremost, I need to find a couple of competent grad assistants and I also want to launch a social media promotional campaign to get as many eyes as we can on what we're doing."
     Vedda admitted that the chance to return to the Buckeye State was among the factors that piqued his interest in the position.
     Vedda added that he's aware that his mid-summer hiring won't help the immediate recruiting effort, but he's not going to let it deter his plans on the direction in which he hopes to guide the program.
     "The timing of arriving in early July will probably make it difficult to have a really strong class coming in August," Vedda said. "It's not going to be easy but, when I get a full year to get things going, I'm confident that we can attract some good kids here."