Braxton Ipson enters his fourth season as a member of the Trailblazer Baseball coaching staff, and his first year as the program’s recruiting coordinator, in the 2025-26 academic year.
Ipson currently oversees all infield defense and serves as the team’s third base coach while assisting in all aspects of the program including team offense, team academics, hitting, baserunning, and fundraising. Ipson has also been the camp coordinator for the past three years.
The infield has been a bright spot for the Trailblazer’s under Ipson. During the 2025 season, Utah Tech co-led (with UCLA) all of Division-I in the country for double plays per game (1.00/game), and finished t-fourth in the country for total double plays with 55 in 55 games.
That season also saw two of the four Trailblazer starting infielders receive All-WAC Honors with Ryan Kroepel being named to the First Team as the Trailblazer’s primary third baseman and Kyle McDaniel being named to the Second Team as the Trailblazer’s primary second baseman.
The duo finished third (Kroepel - .3671) and fourth (McDaniel - .3666) in the WAC in batting, while McDaniel closed the season breaking the Utah Tech NCAA-era school record by reaching base safely in 41-straight games.
Utah Tech has increased their win totals each year since Ipson’s arrival, including a 10-game improvement from 2024 to 2025. The 2025 campaign also featured the Trailblazer’s first WAC Tournament bid in its brief D-I history. Along with that came the program’s first Division 1 postseason victory on May 20th as No. 8 seed Utah Tech knocked off No. 5 seed CBU 6-5 in 11 innings in the opening round of the WAC Tournament.
Since joining the staff in 2023, the Trailblazer’s have also picked up six wins against Power 5 opponents including wins against Oklahoma State, BYU, Utah, and Washington State.
Ipson returned to Utah Tech after serving two seasons as an assistant baseball coach at his prep alma mater, Dixie High School. The Flyers finished second and third, respectively, in those two seasons and saw 14 players go on to play college baseball across the country.
Ipson played four seasons for then-Dixie State, starting in 48 of 88 games. He finished his career with 16 extra-base hits, including five home runs and 41 RBI, along with a career .980 fielding percentage while primarily playing first base. Ipson was also a three-time academic all-conference selection, including earning academic all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors in 2019 and 2020.
A native of St. George, Ipson graduated from Dixie State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2020. In June 2024, Ipson earned his Master’s degree in Sports Management from Louisiana State University. He and his wife, Clara, are the parents of two children – son Britain, and daughter Scarlett. They are expecting another in September 2025.
