MORGANTOWN — Steve Sabins is well aware of the obvious, which is to say he’s about to become the guy after THE guy.
In truth, so many small steps have already been taken for Sabins to replace Randy Mazey as WVU’s head baseball coach, whether it was retooling the Mountaineers roster through recruiting or developing chemistry through fall workouts.
The first major step comes at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPN+), when the Mountaineers travel to John Sessions Stadium for the first game of a four-game series against Jacksonville.
It’s Sabins’ unveiling as to whether or not he can build on the momentum created by Mazey during his 12 seasons with the Mountaineers.
Those 12 years accounted for a Big 12 regular-season title, four trips to the NCAA tournament and the school’s first-ever appearance in a super regional last season.
“Is that sustainable?” Sabins says in asking the obvious question. “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”
A different type of coach
Sabins, who enters his 10th season in Morgantown, is not Mazey, and he won’t even make an attempt to fit in Mazey’s shoes.
While they spent nine years together building the Mountaineers into a top 25 caliber program, Sabins’ approach to running the Mountaineers will have a different feel.
He refers to Mazey as an old-school kind of guy, noting that Mazey was a two-way player in college, who took over the Mountaineers at a time when coaching staffs were about half the size they are now, as well as the overall interest in college baseball paling in comparison to its current state.
“He really relied on his own experiences a ton,” Sabins said of Mazey. “He called pitches. He ran the offense and made bullpen decisions. He really ran the game.”
That is not the approach Sabins will take with the Mountaineers.
He plans to run the offense, but assistant coach Justin Oney will call pitches.
Assistant coaches Jimmy Roesinger and Drew Hefner will position the defense and assistant coach Jacob Garcia will handle the scouting reports.
“It will be more diverse when it comes to the coaching aspect of it,” Sabins said. “We’ll rely on more people inside the organization. That will be different.”
No pressure
There is still the question of Sabins continuing to build on the momentum that Mazey created.
Expectations for the Mountaineers, as a new season is about to begin, are at an all-time high.
A program record for season-ticket sales has already been broken and WVU being picked fourth in the Big 12 is the highest the team has ever been selected in its 13 years in the league.
Sabins calls it “flattering,” and handling those expectations is something he’s talked about with the players extensively.
“If you fall in love with yourself, you get your butt kicked,” he said. “If you look ahead, you get your butt kicked. If you get too worked up in what other people think, you end up getting your butt kicked.”
Sabins is the last guy who wants to get his butt kicked, especially in his first season in a growing program in a sport that is growing in popularity.
Any step backwards right now could be a major blow. Added pressure? Not in Sabins’ eyes.
The real pressure comes when the Mountaineers become a program that’s expected to win the Big 12 and host super regionals every season.
That seemingly is the next rung on the ladder for WVU, yet it’s not there yet.
“This is my 10th year, so I’m more proud to create those expectations by winning and putting a quality product on the field,” said Sabins, who has been WVU’s recruiting coordinator since 2018. “If you continue to do that, those expectations will rise. Those expectations are really a privilege for us. We’re very lucky that people think we can build competitive rosters here and play high-quality baseball.”
The first step to maybe one day reaching that next plateau begins today in Jacksonville. It will be taken, Sabins said, with advice given to him by Mazey fresh in his mind.
“Randy didn’t sweat the small stuff. He was more laid back,” Sabins said. “I’m a little bit more of the organizer and the planner kind of stuff. I would pull my hair out and he would always say never make a decision until you have to.
“I think about that quite a bit, because there are so many decisions in this seat, and you want to let some things unfold.”
