In June 2024, Steve Sabins was named the 20th head coach of the West Virginia University men’s baseball team. This follows an incredibly successful nine-year run on the Mountaineers’ coaching staff, where he spent four years as an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator. Sabins has most notably spent the last three years of his career as the associate head coach under former head coach Randy Mazey.
During his tenure, Sabins has played a vital role in elevating the Mountaineers’ program to extraordinary heights. His efforts on the recruiting trail helped land WVU’s first-ever top-25 recruiting class in 2018, which was ranked 21st nationally. Sabins followed this with yet another successful recruiting class in 2019, which was ranked 23rd in the country. From 2020 through 2023, Sabins continued to bring in top-tier recruiting classes, making recruiting a cornerstone of WVU’s growing success.
Sabins helped guide the Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular-season title in 2023, their first conference championship since their days in the Big East in 1996. That season, West Virginia held a 40-20 overall record earning them the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Lexington Regional. Star sophomore JJ Wetherholt was named Big 12 Player of the Year and became WVU’s first-ever unanimous First-Team All-American.
Over the years, Sabins has helped develop dozens of All-Big 12 selections and sent numerous players to the professional ranks, including first-round MLB Draft pick Alek Manoah in 2019, who was selected as the 11th overall pick by the Toronto Blue Jays and most notably JJ Wetherholt who was the 7th overall pick selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2024 MLB Draft. Under his leadership, the program has consistently achieved on the field and in the classroom, with record numbers of players named to Academic All-Conference teams.
Sabins originally joined WVU after four seasons at Oklahoma State, where he rose through the ranks from Graduate Assistant to eventually becoming a volunteer Assistant Coach. His experience also includes Head Coaching roles in collegiate summer leagues, where he helped turn multiple teams into champions.
As a player, Sabins starred at Embry-Riddle College, where he was named Sun Conference Player of the Year and an NAIA All-American.. Sabins holds degrees from Embry-Riddle and Oklahoma State and brings a deep understanding of baseball from his experience in playing multiple levels of baseball.
Now as the head coach of the Mountaineers, Sabins brings a decade of dedication to WVU and a vision of continued growth for Mountaineer baseball. With a history of success behind him, the future of WVU baseball is a bright one.
