MORGANTOWN — It is not sunshine and rainbows that mark the beginning of Steve Sabins’ career as West Virginia’s head baseball coach.
Actually, it’s quite the opposite.
“We’ve got a six-feet embankment of snow all around the fences,” said Sabins, who takes over for longtime coach Randy Mazey. “If someone hits one to the wall, we can’t tell if it was caught or not. The ball just blends in with the snow.”
It may not feel like it now around Morgantown, but the college baseball season is less than two weeks away. WVU will travel to Jacksonville for a four-game series on Feb. 14. Then there is a three-game series in Nashville, Tenn. against Lipscomb before the Mountaineers attempt a home game against Ohio University on Feb. 25.
It is an exciting time around WVU these days to be a rookie head coach.
The WVU women’s basketball team had a successful first season under Mark Kellogg last year and the men’s team has created excitement under first-year coach Darian DeVries this season.
The football program just brought back Rich Rodriguez, who will begin his second first year with the Mountaineers in the fall.
“I absolutely love what’s happened with the basketball teams,” Sabins said. “There’s obviously a lot of excitement for the football program. Yeah, I think it’s an exciting time for the university as a whole. There is a great sense of anticipation. Everyone wants to see how it’s all going to play out.”
That includes the baseball program, too, which just announced last month it had sold a record 1,200 season tickets for the upcoming season.
Then, the Mountaineers were selected fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll — the highest WVU has been picked since joining the conference — and catcher Logan Sauve was named to the Big 12 preseason first team.
All of it is worth bragging about, and make no mistake, Sabins is nowhere near displeased by the news.
It’s just his vision for the program goes beyond the current excitement. He does have much to live up to in the immediate, sure, but he is forward in his thinking, as well as realistic.
“Obviously the big question is can you sustain it?” Sabins quickly points out. “The program hit so many peaks under Randy, and we built higher expectations.”
Those peaks included winning a piece of the Big 12 title in 2023, hosting a NCAA regional in 2019 and playing in the school’s first-ever super regional last season.
“Honestly, we haven’t really done anything,” Sabins continued. “It’s the truth.”
This is where Sabins’ vision of the bigger picture kicks in. He is not being disrespectful to what’s been built, yet he also knows if you compare what WVU has accomplished to schools such as Oklahoma State, North Carolina or Tennessee, the Mountaineers pale in comparison.
“Is this the top of our peak or do we have bigger peaks ahead of us?” Sabins said. “Is this it or do you still have more left in you?
“That’s the story we need to find out. Obviously you can’t tell that story in just one season. It takes a long period of success, but that’s what I want to be a part of.”
He is armed with seven returning starters and a pitching staff that is filled with several hard-throwing young men who are no longer freshmen and sophomores.
WVU is also without slugger J.J. Wetherholt, who was the No. 7 pick of the draft last season and will also not have the services of outfielder Griffin Burkholder.
The former Virginia high-schooler had signed with the Mountaineers, but was selected in the second round by Philadelphia and opted to begin his pro career rather than go to college.
“Heck yes I’m disappointed by that,” Sabins said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy for him. The day after he was picked, he came to our offices and we all sat and around and cried and we had a great discussion.
“The kid is a rock star. I believe his signing bonus was $2.5 million. I strongly believe — if he was my son — I would still rather he developed in college. He’s going to spend four or five years in the minors. I believe college gives you a different way to mature and grow up. I would want him to build that type of foundation before going pro.”
Sabins’ preparation for his new job actually began last fall. New recruits began to make their mark. Returning players like first baseman Grant Hussey — the school’s all-time home run leader — Sam White and Sauve continued to settle in.
He’s got a heavy competition going on at third base, the only position that’s likely still up in the air.
“For us now, it’s just about going out and executing,” said Sabins, who has been with WVU as an assistant and also a recruiting coordinator since 2016. “We handled the preparations, the teaching and implementing our system in the fall.
“There’s excitement, but I wouldn’t say there is pressure. I understand the expectations, because I helped build them. If there weren’t any expectations, then I wouldn’t be here.”
