On Friday, the Steve Sabins era for West Virginia baseball officially began as Sabins was announced as the head coach of the Mountaineers.
"I'm beyond grateful to be the head coach of West Virginia baseball. It's been an absolute honor, a dream come true. Nine years in the making to get this opportunity is really special," Sabins said.
Sabins is certainly no stranger to WVU as he's been on former head coach Randy Mazey's staff for the last nine years, serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.
"Coach Mazey took a risk on me nine seasons ago. At the time I was the youngest power five assistant in the country. 27-years-old, no recruiting experience, not from the region. There was a lot of reasons to not give me that opportunity and he entrusted me with a really big responsibility, and I came here and worked everyday to try and prove him right. This is the result of that," Sabins said.
Sabins will now replace Mazey, as this has been almost a year in the making for Sabins. Last summer Mazey announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2024 season, a season that ended with the history books once again being shattered.
Under Mazey and Sabins, the Mountaineers made a regional for the first time in over two decades (2017), hosted a regional (2019), won a Big 12 Championship (2023), and then made their first Super Regional in program history (2024).
The list of accomplishments is quite long for a program which has been the most northern school in a league and sport where schools in the south tend to dominate.
Sabins has gotten to see the ascension of WVU baseball, and he says it's about the people and culture within the building, something he hopes to continue to progress.
"I think my role and responsibility as a head coach is to bring in the most badass staff and players in the world and to the door and let them do their thing... I know that the people are the only thing that matters, and so if we're able to find those great people, I love the chase. I like convincing people that this is the best university on earth," Sabins said.
Now in order to make his case and convince people, Sabins wants his values of putting others before himself shown throughout the coaches and people involved in the program.
"I think it's people that are selfless, humble, and put the team first and come to work every day with the mission to help young people. That's easy to say, really hard to do because in sports there is a lot of ego and you do have to be extremely confident," Sabins said. "You're looking for selfless individuals that want to be part of something that's bigger than themself. You have to have talent, and you have to have skill, and as a staff you have to be knowledgeable and hardworking."
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
