
Who is Steve Sabins? West Virginia coach has Mountaineers in NCAA super regionals
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5 men's NCAA baseball tournament players to watch
The Mongomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Tennesseean's Aria Gerson break down the top players to watch in the men's NCAA baseball tournament.
The super regional round of the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament is filled with familiar faces in the dugout, stalwart coaches who have come to define the sport over the course of their respective careers.
There's 64-year-old Dave Van Horn, who has been the coach at Arkansas for two decades and has the Razorbacks well-positioned for their 10th College World Series appearance under his watch. There's Tony Vitello, the unapologetically brash Tennessee coach who's a year removed from leading the Vols to their first-ever national title. There's Jay Johnson, the LSU coach who guided the Tigers to a CWS championship in 2023 and had Arizona within a game of doing the same in 2016.
Among those still in the hunt to take their teams to Omaha, Nebraska for the 2025 CWS are greener, lesser-known figures.
REQUIRED READING: NCAA baseball tournament bracket: Super regional matchups, schedule, pairings for CWS
West Virginia is in the super regionals for just the second time in program history, with this run coming under the watch of coach Steve Sabins. The fresh-faced Sabins is in his first season as the Mountaineers' coach, but has quickly made his impact felt, leading them to a Big 12 regular-season championship and an NCAA tournament regional title.
Though they dropped the first game of their Baton Rouge Super Regional series against No. 6 LSU on June 7, falling 16-9, they can make the CWS for the first time in program history with two wins against Johnson's squad.
As West Virginia goes for that historical feat, here's a closer look at Sabins and his background:
Steve Sabins West Virginia
Sabins isn't just in his first season as West Virginia's head coach. He's in his first season as a college baseball head coach, period.
He was hired into the role in June 2024, taking over for the retiring Randy Mazey. Mazey's career ended on a high note, with the Mountaineers advancing to the super regional round for the first time ever before being eliminated by No. 4 North Carolina.
Sabins has successfully picked up where his former boss left off. Entering its June 8 game against LSU, West Virginia is 44-15 and won an outright conference regular-season championship for only the second time since 1997, making it through Big 12 play with a 19-9 record.
Though Sabins is in his first season as head coach, he wasn't a stranger to the Mountaineers' program. He was an assistant at West Virginia for the previous nine seasons, from 2016-24, first as an assistant coach and later as the associate head coach. He was also recruiting coordinator from 2021-23.
As an assistant, Sabins helped bring in some of the most prolific recruiting classes in program history. In 2018 and 2019, West Virginia signed back-to-back top-25 classes, the first time it had ever done so.
Prior to West Virginia, Sabins spent four seasons in various roles at Oklahoma State, serving as a graduate assistant, volunteer assistant and player development coordinator.
The Austin, Texas native graduated in 2011 from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where he played his final two college seasons after previous stops at Oklahoma State (2009), Daytona State College (2008) and Angelina College (2007).
REQUIRED READING: LSU baseball vs West Virginia prediction for Game 2 of Baton Rouge Super Regional
Steve Sabins coaching career
Here's a look at Sabins' resume over his college baseball coaching career:
2025-present : West Virginia head coach
: West Virginia head coach 2022-24: West Virginia associate head coach
West Virginia associate head coach 2018-23 : West Virginia recruiting coordinator
: West Virginia recruiting coordinator 2016-21 : West Virginia assistant coach
: West Virginia assistant coach 2015 : Oklahoma State volunteer assistant
: Oklahoma State volunteer assistant 2014 : Oklahoma State player development coordinator
: Oklahoma State player development coordinator 2012-13: Oklahoma State graduate assistant
Steve Sabins record
In his first season as a head coach, Sabins has led West Virginia to a 44-15 record heading into its June 8 game against LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.
Steve Sabins age
Born on May, 11, 1987, Sabins is 38 years old.
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