On Friday night, West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey will have the first of many lasts. With it being his final season at the helm of West Virginia baseball, Mazey accomplished a lot in his time here, but knows his job is not yet finished.
On Friday night, West Virginia will face Stetson in their season opener. That will be the beginning of head coach Randy Mazey’s final year as the head coach of the Mountaineers and it will be the first of many lasts over the next few months.
“I’m trying not to think about it that way. My wife makes me think about it that way,” Mazey said. “Every time I get home from something, she says, do you realize that’s the last time you’re ever going to do that. I don’t think that part will hit me until the last game, last home game, type of thing.”
Mazey decided to call it quits last summer, announcing he would finish this 2024 season, before handing the program off to Steve Sabins. This season will be the 12th for Mazey in Morgantown, and his decision has everything to do with the best interest of Mountaineer baseball at heart.
“All I’ll tell you about my decision is I did it in the best interest of this baseball program, this university, this state. All the things that I’ve grown to love so much,” Mazey said. “Had I not decided to do it when I did, I don’t know how the next two-three-or-four years would have gone here. I did it for the right reasons so I feel good about it.”
For Mazey, this decision did not come easy, but family was a big part of it. Mazey is a father of two, with the oldest, Weston, a senior at Morgantown High School and he’s committed to play baseball at WVU. For Mazey, the family aspect hit him last spring. He said WVU was facing Texas Tech, but all he could think about were his two kids who were at a nearby park, and he wasn’t there to see them compete.
“The kicker for me was we were playing Texas Tech last year here. I think we were beating them 17-2 on a Sunday. We were in the seventh or eighth inning and the game was pretty much in hand,” Mazey said. “Wammer had a baseball game in Mylan Park at the same time. Sierra had a softball game on the field right beside him. And I thought to myself, I’d rather be there right now.
“When that thought occurred to me, I thought, that’s not fair to my team, to the community, to the state, for me to want to be somewhere else at that moment. I think that was the straw that broke the camels back. If you’re ever doing a job and for any moment in time, you wish you were somewhere else, then it’s probably time for somebody else to run this program.”
Mazey also reflected about all the time he had missed with his family and how he wants to be able to spend more time with them going forward. He also understands the work he’s done in his 11 seasons, and he’s gotten West Virginia baseball to a spot where they are legitimate contenders in the Big 12. With that, he didn’t want to lose that program and the identity WVU baseball has created in the Morgantown community, helping add to the promotion of Sabins to be the next head coach.
“In this profession, you miss so much of life. You miss so much of your family and I wanted to spend more time with them then I’ve ever been able to do and I feel like we’ve got this program to a place now that’s not just successful but it’s sustainable,” Mazey said.
“I didn’t feel like somebody coming in from the outside who didn’t know anything about this community or about this state would be the right thing for this program. Sabins has been with me for a long time now and he kind of knows how to do this thing. It’s important to me and all I can say about Sabins is, in trusting him with my son who’s coming here to play, so that should speak volumes about how I feel about him. The fact that I’m perfectly happy that my son will be under his guidance while he’s here.”
When Mazey first arrived at WVU, many called him crazy. Hawley Field certainly was non-comparable to the field at Monongaila County Ballpark, where the Mountaineers currently call home.
“When we got here, back when we got here, you had visions of all this. Realistically, a lot of people thought I was crazy for coming here. the first time I’d take them to Hawley Field, they’d say, ‘what are you doing Maze,'” Mazey explained.
“You look back the last 20 years and there’s some programs people consider to be sleeping giants so to speak. Everybody in the coaching profession always thought this was one of them. When the opportunity came here to do that, it wasn’t just a power five program, it was a power five program you really thought you could make a difference in.”
Mazey has certainly received the love ahead of this season. The Mountaineers sold over 1,000 season tickets, a mark that is an all-time high.
“I still want to be able to match this community with this program and this program with this community. It’s two different entities that I happen to love and I love the players because I know a lot about them. I want the community to know a lot about them and they’ll love them equally as much as I do,” Mazey said.
“And I want the players to love this community the way I do. I’ll continue to be involved with getting the community excited about West Virginia baseball and getting the state excited. I just won’t be out there in uniform. Other people can teach kids how to hit curveballs, but I think I’ve got a bigger mission to keep the state of West Virginia involved in this program.”
Mazey said as he looks across the college baseball landscape now, he doesn’t see many programs that have the opportunity that West Virginia had when he took over.
“It takes a village and there’s a lot of people involved that convinced me we’re going to invest in this program and invest in the resources and let you do the things you know how to do. You just left those meetings thinking, this program is in tough shape right now, but there’s no doubt it can be better, just don’t know how much better. Looking back on it, I think we’ve made it much better. There’s not many sleeping giants even left out there,” Mazey said.
Star shortstop JJ Wetherholt had high praise for his skipper. He called him a father figure, and that his relationship with Mazey is special.
“Coach Mazey’s just been everything you could dream of at a head coach position. he’s been like another father to me and taught me so much stuff,” Wetherholt said.
“You can have a funny conversation that has nothing to do with baseball. You can have a conversation that has everything to do with baseball, it’s just a great balance. He means a lot to me. He’s just been a great mentor and he was a big reason why I came here and it’s been everything I’ve ever hoped for,” Wetherholt added.
Going into 2024, everyone knows there’s a lot to still be accomplished and that they want to accomplish it with Mazey. Whether that be reaching a Super Regional, hosting another regional, or possibly making it all the way to Omaha, there is a lot still left to accomplish for the Mountaineers.
“We just hope to have a good year. Obviously we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but we want to come out, swinging against Stetson, and hopefully carry that into more, and more wins,” Wetherholt said. “We don’t obviously want to get too big headed and we’re going to Omaha right off the bat, send coach Mazey home the right way. Obviously, years, Do we want that, sure. But we got to focus on Stetson and the games that are coming up.”
On Friday night, Mazey officially begins his final season as the head coach of West Virginia. He’s gotten West Virginia to places they’ve never been, but his focus is on going to even greater heights in 2024.
“I think we’ve accomplished a lot in my time here, but there’s still some things that would be cool to do in my last year that we haven’t done yet,” Mazey said. “I’m not limping off into the sunset just yet. I like this team and what they’re capable of accomplishing. That would be really cool if we can send me off with a bang so to speak. That’s what my goal for right now is.”
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