Following a stellar year, West Virginia baseball head coach Steve Sabins has been named the 2025 ABCA East Region Coach of the Year. Read more: Sabins Earns Prestigious Honor in First Year at the Helm
This marks the second straight season that a WVU head coach has taken home this honor, with former head coach Randy Mazey earning the award in 2024. Sabins followed it up by earning this honor in not only his first year as head coach of the Mountaineers, but also in his inaugural season as a head coach.
A Season That Spoke Volumes
Plenty of skeptics came out of the woodwork when Sabins was named the new head coach of the Mountaineers in July 2024. At the time, those doubts were warranted since Sabins had never been a head coach before.
Once the season began, it didn’t take long for those worries to be put to rest. Sabins quickly proved he was the right choice to carry on Mazey’s legacy, winning his first 13 games as a head coach.
While that undefeated record wouldn’t last, Sabins went on to orchestrate one of the best seasons WVU baseball has ever had. Under Sabins, the Mountaineers won their first outright Big 12 regular season championship. Even after an early exit in the Big 12 Tournament, the Mountaineers still earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Clemson Regional.
Many rookie head coaches might begin to unravel in those high-stakes games, and some feared Sabins would face the same fate. Instead, he pressed all the right buttons, leading his squad to a flawless 3-0 record and securing WVU’s second-straight Super Regional appearance.
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Sabins’ and the Mountaineers would soon meet their match when they took on LSU in that Super Regional. The eventual champions took care of WVU in the first two games.
While that loss stung for everyone involved, it doesn’t take away the job that Sabins accomplished in his first year. There isn’t a more honorable loss in sports than losing to the future champion.
Joining Elite Company
By earning East Region Coach of the Year honors, Sabins joins an elite group of WVU coaches who have done the same.
Aside from winning it in 2024, Mazey also won it in 2017 and 2019. In the 12 seasons he was at the helm, he brought WVU to new heights and built the foundation for what the program looks like today.
Related: A Look Back: Memorable Moments for the Mountaineers
Sabins was not the first WVU coach to win this award in his first season as a head coach: former head coach Greg Van Zant accomplished the feat in 1996. While not to the same degree as Sabins, Zant won the award after leading the Mountaineers to a 33-25 record.
Dale Rumsburg also earned the title in 1994 after leading the Mountaineers to a 40-21 record.
Looking Ahead
In his first season in charge, Sabins led the Mountaineers to a 44-16 record. He proved that he can successfully guide the Mountaineers through a difficult Big 12 conference, winning 19 conference games.
Sabin’s efforts in the Clemson regional also showed that at the biggest stage, he’s not going to back down.
With a full season under his belt and experience at a Super Regional, Sabins is poised to accomplish what no WVU baseball coach has done before: winning a national championship.
Sabins Earns Prestigious Honor in First Year at the Helm
