Mazey wants focus to be on the players, not him
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MORGANTOWN -- It has been almost a year since West Virginia University baseball coach Randy Mazey made public his plans to retire after this 2024 season, an announcement that set in motion a season-long celebration of what he had accomplished in his 12 seasons running the show.
He had taken over a tired program, one that time had left behind, but now the present was catching up on the Mountaineers rapidly and he was the man they chose to lead them into the future.
It was a future that included a move from the Big East to the Big 12, from an antiquated Hawley Field into a new stadium, in Granville now known as Kendrick Family Ballpark, a move that would see crowds grow from the hundreds to the thousands, to see their vista expanded to a great number of games televised nationally and into a role in the national picture.
This final year for Mazey they seemed set for a big-time run with a chance at a date in Omaha at the College World Series, but a series of injuries, none more important than a torn hamstring for JJ Wetherholt that kept him out of 24 games when he seemed poised to become maybe the first pick in the major league draft.
Calling upon the experience of 34 years coaching and overseeing a team that believed in him and the atmosphere he had created for West Virginia baseball, they found a way to survive through the season and now, at 6 p.m. on Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C., they make their first appearance ever in an NCAA Super Regional, one step (or two victories, if you prefer) from reaching the World Series.
Obviously, the game has changed and Mazey wants them to see that this is no longer about his retirement but, instead, he wants them to adopt what's left of the season as their own. If, indeed, they have to this point played for him, he says now they must play for themselves.
"I've been to Super Regionals, I've been to the College World Series a bunch. They haven't," Mazey said. "This is in no way, shape or form about me or how good I feel about doing it. I feel good because they are getting to experience something they have never experienced.
"I'm going to try as hard as I can to win the Super Regional so they can experience the College World Series because you can't put into words what that feeling is like. They will remember it the rest of their lives."
Mazey was speaking right after the Tucson Regional was won and he wanted to get across the idea that the ball was now theirs to play with.
"They say they are motivated by me. Well, I'm motivated by them. I want to win a Super Regional for these guys."
At that time, Mazey was keeping his composure, but a short while later, when he was asked to revisit his answer on this, his voice began to crack and an occasional sob would interrupt his flow.
"I try not to talk about that much and try to keep it to myself, but you have no idea how bad I want these guys to experience that," he said. "When I make a bad call or call the wrong pitch or bunt when we're not supposed to bunt, that's why it bothers me so much.
"I want it for these guys and the entire university, community and state. I want it so bad for everybody. That's why it's so stressful when it doesn't go well every day. That's why it hurts so bad, because it means so much."
He will have a tough time convincing his players, though, that this isn't about him for they let the world know that they are doing it as much for him as for themselves.
It won't be easy, of course, to beat a North Carolina team that has been to the Super Regional in four of the last seven years and is playing at home. Mazey, however, hopes to use that as motivation rather than intimidation.
"You don't get to that point without being able to pitch, hit and play defense," Mazey said. "They have dynamic players and big draft picks. They're playing with a ton of confidence. The thing that I'm counting on, because I know those people from being in the ACC, I promise you some of their fans have made hotel reservations in Omaha. I guarantee you that's happened in Chapel Hill.
"That's going to work in our favor, because they're going to underestimate the little Mountaineers coming down there. That's how we built this program on people underestimating us, so this suits us really well to go down there and be the underdog.
"Nobody is going to pick us to win and that's beautiful, because half the battle of coaching is motivating your team. If some of these media folks would come along and motivate them for me, I can't thank them enough for picking UNC to win this thing."
The lesson he wants to get across to his players is that all that matters is winning one inning at a time.
"It doesn't matter who the best team is. It's the team that plays the best," Mazey said. "We have some guys in the lineup coming off a pretty good weekend and hitting with confidence. Be careful with a team that you're underestimating that has a little bit of confidence. The last two times I've been to Omaha, I won super regionals on the road, so I'm not too unfamiliar with that concept."
Mazey has selected left-hander Derek Clark, who weaved a nifty four-hitter in the opener in Tucson and then came out of the bullpen two days to get the final outs of the clinching game, to start the opener.
"We have to go with the hot guys. It's going to be Clark and (Tyler) Switalski," Mazey said on MetroNews Statewide Sportsline. "Who knows after that? We're not going to save anybody for Game 3. We're going to throw whoever we need to throw to win Game 1 and Game 2 and when it's all over, we'll figure out who's going to throw Game 3.
"It's not going to be easy. Those guys can really hit and they're very motivated. They have a tremendous atmosphere, so we're going to take it one inning at a time, but all hands on deck."