Between The Eers: One More for the Skipper
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 It's the most wonderful time of the year.
00:16 That's right, baseball season is here.
00:19 Pitchers and catchers reported for spring training in Major League Baseball.
00:24 This week, college baseball gets underway.
00:27 And it is also the final season for WVU skipper Randy Mazey.
00:35 And I know, look, we're primarily a football show here, I get that.
00:39 We do some basketball, we sprinkle in some women's basketball,
00:43 but we're also gonna do baseball.
00:45 We did baseball last year.
00:47 And for most of you that don't know, I'm mainly a baseball background guy.
00:54 That's where my strength is, it's my background.
00:58 Played in college a little bit, and that's kind of my first love is baseball.
01:06 So I figured, look, with the season starting tomorrow down there in Florida,
01:11 in the land floor against Stetson, we have to give a little bit of love here.
01:17 To the man that not only resurrected this program, but
01:21 has really put it in a position to be successful for many, many years to come.
01:26 And that is again, Randy Mazey, and
01:29 they're entering his final year as the WVU head coach.
01:33 And I don't think people understand just how good of
01:38 a job that Randy has done with this team.
01:43 And it's almost like folks have kind of become blind to it.
01:50 Because when you start to win, and it's a gradual thing, right?
01:56 It's not like he came in, they won 35 games right out of the gate, and
02:01 all of a sudden there's this high expectation.
02:04 But when you gradually improve year after year after year,
02:09 and you're starting to see progress into making NCAA tournaments.
02:16 And feeling like you have more of a chance to advance to get to a super.
02:21 They haven't got to one yet, but just having that feeling.
02:26 And having guys like John Means and Ryan McBroom,
02:31 Alec Manoa, Michael Grove, JJ Weatherholt.
02:36 Having those types of talents that really kind of highlight your program.
02:43 It just speaks volumes to what he's done here.
02:47 Those types of guys weren't coming here, okay?
02:50 Let's be honest, those types of talents were not coming here,
02:56 nor were they being developed here in the previous regime.
03:02 And really in any regime under West Virginia baseball.
03:08 But Randy has turned this thing into an absolute,
03:13 I don't wanna say powerhouse, but it is one of the most
03:19 respected programs I think in college baseball.
03:24 Because of the success they had, they out punched their way.
03:29 And for a somewhat northern team, they're pretty damn good, consistently.
03:36 That's usually not the case.
03:38 There's usually only a handful of these teams that are, you would say,
03:43 probably north of, I don't know, maybe Virginia, that are usually worth a damn.
03:47 West Virginia is one of those teams.
03:51 And again, I think people kind of have grown blind to it because of the gradual
03:55 progress.
03:56 They just think, he's gonna win 30, 35 games this year.
04:00 They're gonna finish in the top half of the Big 12.
04:03 They're gonna make the NCAA tournament or get close to it.
04:06 And for the baseball program, that's pretty decent, right?
04:11 It's not football, it's not basketball, it's not the main revenue driver by
04:14 any means.
04:15 But it's pretty good when nothing else is going on.
04:19 But that's not it.
04:23 You have to go back to when Randy took this job.
04:29 And credit Oliver Luck, because you have to get
04:36 the perfect candidate to be able to do what Randy did,
04:43 when he first got here, and what he's done since.
04:49 That is an absolute grand slam hire.
04:55 A plus guy, A plus coach, A plus team builder.
05:02 I mean, it's 100% all the way around a grand slam hire.
05:09 He comes in, they break ground on the new stadium.
05:13 They build all these facilities that help them compete in recruiting and
05:19 compete during the season.
05:21 And it's translated to a whole bunch of success.
05:25 For those of you that are kind of late in the game or
05:28 don't really know much about the baseball program, Google for me, Hollyfield.
05:35 WVU Baseball, Hollyfield.
05:40 Just take a gander at that.
05:42 That's what they played in.
05:45 Before Randy Mazzie got here,
05:47 before they made the transition to Mon County Ballpark.
05:51 That's where they played their home games.
05:53 And I don't think that it was probably anywhere but
06:00 dead last in terms of field and field condition and
06:07 atmosphere, environment, just the niceness,
06:13 the aesthetic of it, probably anywhere but last in the Big 12.
06:19 And I'll be honest with you.
06:21 I never saw Hollyfield in person.
06:27 I've heard a lot of things about it.
06:29 I've seen several, several pictures of it.
06:33 Just judging from what I've seen, that is worse than the high
06:41 school field that I played on in Glendale, John Marshall High School.
06:48 John Marshall has arguably one of, if not the best,
06:54 at least at the time when I played back in, let's see, 2011 to 2014,
06:59 had one of the best diamonds in all of high school baseball in West Virginia.
07:03 And we took pride in it.
07:07 We made sure that it was one of the best looking fields out there.
07:13 Players took care of it.
07:14 It was a sense of pride for us.
07:17 And many compliment on it, said, damn, if you put some seeds in this place,
07:23 you could probably pass for a minor league field.
07:25 But there was also some other fields that were not so
07:32 nice, that were not the John Marshalls of the world.
07:38 And I'd probably even argue that some of those fields
07:43 probably look better than Hollyfield.
07:46 So that just goes to show you how much of a game changer
07:51 Mon County Ballpark is, how much of a game changer just the overall
07:58 facilities and resources that West Virginia have now,
08:06 compared to what they did have, has played into their success.
08:11 It can't be talked about enough.
08:16 But again, back to Randy Mazey.
08:18 I'd tip to him, man.
08:22 This guy has been, again, world class, both on and off the field.
08:30 He's done everything to represent the state and
08:34 this community in the best way possible.
08:36 He develops his kids.
08:41 He puts guys in the majors.
08:44 He puts guys in the minors.
08:46 There's guys, and just because I listed some of those guys in the major leagues,
08:50 there's more coming.
08:50 There is, without a doubt, more on the way, some already in the minor leagues.
08:58 And he might just have the number one overall pick in his last year.
09:06 He talked about going out with a bang.
09:12 And we look at this team, and there's some reason for hope and optimism, I think.
09:20 There's a lot of pretty solid returning pieces, a lot of young returning pieces.
09:26 And we'll get to the end of that.
09:28 I think we're gonna do our spring, or excuse me,
09:30 I think we're gonna do our baseball preview tomorrow.
09:33 But it would be really cool to be able to put Randy Mazey
09:41 in a position to go out in his final year with a trip to Omaha.
09:47 That'd be really cool, something this program has never done.
09:54 And I think it's, without a doubt, possible.
10:00 When you got a guy like JJ Weatherholt,
10:02 when you've got other surrounding pieces that can help elevate,
10:06 it's hard to believe I'm saying this, but elevate JJ's game.
10:11 That's the key, because if those guys around JJ start hitting and
10:17 start putting together quads, what I like to call quality at bats,
10:22 you can't just pitch around Weatherholt.
10:27 You're gonna have to throw to him, and
10:29 all of a sudden, man's probably gonna hit 400 again.
10:33 So I think it's without a doubt possible that this team could get to Omaha.
10:39 It's also possible that there's so many question marks with the pitching.
10:45 Say JJ Weatherholt doesn't get that much help around them, and
10:51 they're fighting, and they end up missing out on the turn.
10:55 It's kind of one of those years.
10:56 It's kind of like a boomer bus kind of feel to it.
11:00 But regardless of what happens this year,
11:05 folks need to understand, recognize,
11:10 respect, and really pay tribute to what Randy Mazey
11:15 has done with this program from literally awakening it from its sleep.
11:23 Right, I mean, this thing was 10 feet under the ground.
11:27 And he pulled it out, and all of a sudden, within 10 years,
11:32 he has a share of one of the best,
11:36 best conferences in all of college baseball in the Big 12.
11:42 That is a damn good coaching job.
11:45 Not only do I think people in West Virginia
11:49 probably don't realize how good of a job he's done, but I think nationally.
11:55 Like when he retires, there's probably not gonna be this big
12:00 media type of response, and everyone kind of wishing him well in retirement.
12:11 And there's not gonna be all this publicized
12:14 stuff about his retirement, but there should be.
12:19 One of the best coaching jobs in college baseball.
12:25 Maybe even all of college sports.
12:26 To be able to drag that program from where it was to where it is and
12:33 where it's going.
12:33 [MUSIC]
12:36 Hat tip to Randy Mazey, one of the best in the business.
12:41 You'll get him, Skipper.
12:42 So that'll do it for me here today on Between the Ears.
12:46 Make sure you smash that subscribe button on YouTube.
12:49 Give us a like and a follow on X at Mountain Ears now.
12:53 And we'll be back tomorrow to round out the week here on Between the Ears.
12:57 [MUSIC]