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Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How to save higher ed, according to Gordon Gee
MORGANTOWN, — Gordon Gee owns somewhere around 2,000 bow ties. About half are 'in retirement,' gradually being repurposed into quilts for his granddaughters. A couple dozen or so hang in his office at West Virginia University, where he's served as president for the past 11 years. The designs in his collection range from traditional to whimsical — classic stripes and polka dots to flamingos, Santa Claus heads, hearts and flip-flops. Ever since encountering his first bow tie in a doctor's office as a teenager in Vernal, Utah, the accessory has become his signature: a symbol of delight, abundance and a refusal to blend in. It's as eclectic as his leadership style, which has won him both admirers and skeptics throughout his 45-year career in higher education. On the day I met Gee in his office, the campus was winding down for the summer and he was preparing for his final commencement, capping the close of his second tenure leading WVU. He arrived a few minutes late, delayed by sorting through decades of belongings as he prepared to vacate the presidential residence on campus in June. He was gearing up for graduation festivities and dressed for the part: a bow tie emblazoned with the university logo, a yellow vest and blue-and-yellow socks peeking out beneath his trousers. West Virginia is where Gee's career as a university president started when, at 36 years old, he was appointed president. Now, after a 45-year journey leading five major universities — two of them twice — 81-year-old Gee is ending his career where it began. He is one of the most significant — and colorful — figures in modern American higher education. Over four decades, he's led more universities than any other person in U.S. history: the University of Colorado, Brown University and Vanderbilt University, as well as two stints as president of WVU and Ohio State. An ardent champion of public education, he pushed for ambitious changes in each school, raising billions and transforming the universities' structure, governance and athletics. But this charismatic, bow-tied man rarely managed to avoid causing a stir. Most recently, Gee led West Virginia through a sweeping and contentious 'Academic Transformation' in response to a deepening budget crisis and falling enrollment after the pandemic. The overhaul resulted in the elimination of 28 academic programs and about 300 jobs, including faculty and library positions, changes Gee believed were necessary to keep the institution financially viable. The changes drew national attention and sparked fierce protests from students and faculty. Gee recalled waving at them from his office window as demonstrators gathered outside his office in Stewart Hall. Despite the backlash, Gee says his decisions were guided by a central question: Was West Virginia University truly serving its students and the people of West Virginia? 'I think what we did is we reinvented the university — we repositioned it,' he told me. As he prepares to step down, Gee believes he is leaving the institution on 'solid financial footing,' with its bond rating reaffirmed. The new president, Michael Benson, who is leaving a job as president of Coastal Carolina University, is set to take the helm in July. At a time when public trust in higher education is eroding, intensified by the Trump administration's scrutiny of Ivy League schools, Gee believes universities are in the midst of an existential reckoning. The way forward, he believes, is through bold, student-centered change. 'Higher education has been in the same model for so many years,' Gee said. 'The reality is this: we either change as institutions — or we die.' Gee's office inside a Romanesque building on campus resembles an eclectic museum of curiosities. On his desk are a smattering of coins and pins — keepsakes collected from people he met over the years. He works at a hefty wooden desk with hand-carved features, his own 'resolute desk,' a nod to the storied Oval Office original. When he leaves WVU, the desk will go with him. Above it hangs an expansive landscape of Morgantown, painted by a WVU graduate. Gee calls himself an 'accidental president' when reflecting on how he came to the job that became his life's work. In 1981, while serving as dean of the law school at West Virginia, he had a call with the board of governors about the possibility of becoming president. Before hearing back from the board, he spotted the front page of The Dominion Post, a local newspaper, and saw a headline announcing he would be the university's next president. The formal offer came soon after. 'It was something that would not happen in today's world,' Gee told me. 'It was highly unusual, very West Virginia.' Gee may have aspired to a presidency someday, but the promotion came far sooner than expected, said John Fisher, a member of the dean search committee who later became Gee's chief of staff. 'I think people feel very comfortable with Gordon in a very short period of time,' Fisher said. A hallmark of Gee's leadership is that people don't work for him, but with him, he added. Gee was 36 when he stepped into the role. There was no playbook for being a university president, he told me, and he faced a steep learning curve. One of his first tasks was understanding the university's mission as a land-grant institution — part of a national system established under the 1862 Morrill Act to deliver practical education in agriculture, engineering and the sciences. In a state that ranks among the poorest and least educated in the country, Gee came to see the university's mission as inseparable from his own: to spur economic growth, expand health care and bring opportunity to every county of West Virginia. He's gearing up for his last tour of all 55 counties in the state, his annual summer tradition. 'The advantage and the disadvantage of this university is the fact that it is so tied to the future of this state,' Gee told me. 'It represents the hopes and dreams of all West Virginians.' Gee learned how to be a university president by trying things others hadn't. Early on, when he became aware of dust blowing from the air vents in the operating room of the state-owned and outdated university hospital, he knew changes had to be made. Though he had no background in health care, he understood the political risks: If the state Legislature funded a new hospital, they might relocate it to Charleston. So Gee proposed an unorthodox solution — creating a nonprofit public university corporation. He persuaded the West Virginia Legislature to separate the hospital from the university, paving the way for the school to ultimately take ownership of the hospital and build a new facility. The result grew into WVU Medicine, a sprawling system of 25 hospitals. 'We wanted to make certain that no one in West Virginia had to leave the state to get health care.' He later applied the same model at the University of Colorado. Gee's sense of purpose came through leading public universities — at Colorado, then at Ohio State, and ultimately back at West Virginia, where he had the longest tenure. Institutions hired him to shake things up, he told me. 'I made a living on being very disruptive,' he said. At Ohio State, he introduced selective admissions to what had been an open-access institution — a controversial move, particularly in rural parts of the state. Gee said many parents viewed him as 'the devil incarnate' for limiting access. But he believed the old model was failing students and families: Tuition was spent on students who weren't committed, and many would leave without graduating. He also undertook a major academic reorganization, consolidating five arts and sciences colleges — a task he likened to 'moving a graveyard' — and shifted the school from a quarter to a semester calendar. Public universities were more open to change than elite private ones, he found. At Brown University, where Gee served as president for three years starting in 1998 — his shortest stint — his attempts at reform quickly clashed with tradition. 'They wanted to remain a wonderful Ivy League institution, and when I started the disruption, I could tell that it was going to be hand-to-hand combat,' he said. After Brown, he became chancellor of Vanderbilt University, where he eliminated the athletic department and consolidated several programs — part of a broader effort across his career to streamline operations and cut bureaucratic redundancy. Gee believes higher education has grown 'isolated' and 'arrogant.' He points to the ongoing maelstrom at Harvard University. While he disagrees with the Trump administration's 'sledgehammer to a problem' approach, he's unequivocal about one belief: To regain public trust, universities must commit to self-examination and meaningful change. Instead of acting as 'architects of change,' universities have become victims of their own inaction, Gee said — unwilling to address thorny issues like free speech, open inquiry and cultural change. Now, he said, those problems are catching up with them. 'We need to make sure we're constantly asking the right question of how we make the institution better,' Gee told me. 'And how do we do it in ways that make common sense for the public that supports us?' Gee's disruptive streak — and his affinity for rural communities — took root in his upbringing in Vernal, Utah, a small town that didn't yet have a movie theater or television when he was growing up. His family owned an oil business that was started by his grandfather, along with several car dealerships and the only bank in town. For a time, all signs pointed to Gee becoming a third-generation banker. But eventually, the family sold the bank. Gee's childhood revolved around The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Boy Scouts and 4-H. His family emphasized the value of education. His mother was a schoolteacher, and Gee became a voracious reader and a regular at the local library. He served as student body president in both elementary and high school, graduating as valedictorian. 'I was the guy that everyone loved to hate,' Gee told me. At the University of Utah, where he studied history, Gee's path took a decisive turn. Although Gee initially considered a medical career, his plans shifted after meeting Neal A. Maxwell, a prominent educator and future member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Maxwell became a close mentor and friend, encouraging Gee to consider law as a route to leadership in higher education. Even in college, Gee's ability to work the room and befriend others stood out. 'He liked practical jokes, often on himself as well as anyone else,' recalled Cecil Samuelson, the former president of Brigham Young University who belonged to the same fraternity as Gee at the University of Utah. 'He was comfortable in his own skin, and he always wore a bow tie,' Samuelson said. After serving a mission in Bavaria, Germany, Gee earned both a law degree and a doctorate in education from Columbia University, completing both in four and a half years. He went on to clerk for a federal judge before becoming a judicial fellow and staff assistant to Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative on the Supreme Court who had been nominated by Richard Nixon. Gee later returned to Utah, where he joined the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU as a professor and associate dean before moving to West Virginia to become the dean of the law school and within two years, a university president. In 2006, Samuelson invited Gee to give a speech at the BYU Forum. 'Everything I know about being a Latter-day Saint, I've learned from running universities,' Gee said in the address. 'If you think this is a popularity contest, you're in the wrong business.' Gordon Gee While he was cognizant of politics, he managed to stay above the fray. 'He was not viewed as a political figure,' Fisher said, but as a president 'working to try to make the university the best it could be.' Throughout his career, Gee became known for his fundraising prowess — or 'friend-raising,' as he calls it. During his tenure, the West Virginia University Foundation raised record-breaking funds — in the last fiscal year, it brought in more than $282 million, the most ever in the foundation's 70-year history. He's viewed his presidency more as vocation, not a job — even a kind of ministry. Nearly every night, he spends two to three hours writing notes and emails to people he has met that week. Benson, who will succeed Gee on July 15, told me he's gotten a note from Gee after every single interaction and meeting he's had with him. 'He does it in genuine ways,' Benson said. 'Gordon has a unique trait to make everyone feel important.' Although Gee and Benson had known each other, Gee didn't know that Benson had applied for the job. 'He's going to be a great president,' he said. Sure enough, the day after I met Gee, I received an email from him, which said: 'As you can tell, the university presidency is a wonderful world in which to live but it is also very intense.' I asked Gee what it was like, personally, to watch his university community reeling from the upheaval that followed the announcement of layoffs and program cuts which included language programs. The experience, he said, was painful. 'If I didn't grieve for them, then I obviously wouldn't have a sense of human kindness in me,' he said. 'But I believed in the higher purpose.' In 2023, the university faculty voted no confidence in Gee, a move which is largely symbolic. While the the Board of Governors backed Gee, the faculty resolution accused Gee of financial mismanagement and failure to protect the academic integrity and mission of the institution. He anticipated the fallout, Gee said, and had calibrated the process and its timing: In 2023, he first announced his retirement, and shortly after, rolled out the sweeping academic cuts to address a $45 million budget shortfall or a structural deficit, which is a more accurate term, according to Gee. 'We determined that we were going to be very transparent, which is very difficult,' he said. 'Universities are very opaque institutions.' He believes that the cuts were essential for the long-term stability of the institution — and for preserving future jobs. 'There are many people now who have jobs who would not have had jobs had we not made those decisions,' he said. Gee stands by the choices he made: 'I believe that people of good will, if they had the same information that I have, would make the same decision.' Over the years, Gee has grown accustomed to criticism — from scrutiny over what some considered lavish spending at Vanderbilt to offhand remarks about Roman Catholics and questions over his administrative decisions. But Gee, whose self-effacing nature seems to make him only more relatable, is quick to admit his mistakes. 'Sometimes there was legitimate criticism,' he acknowledged. 'You always learn from those kinds of things.' Without thick skin and 'nerves like sewer pipes,' a university president doesn't stand a chance, he told me. 'If you think this is a popularity contest, you're in the wrong business,' he said. Samuelson told me one of the biggest challenges of being a university president is earning the trust of diverse constituencies — faculty, students, donors. 'And I think that's one of the things about Gordon Gee. People would say: 'Maybe we didn't always agree with him, but we felt he was fair and trustworthy. We could count on him to do what he said he would do.'' I asked Gee what accomplishment he was most proud of throughout the span of his career. 'After 45 years, the fact that I survived,' he joked. Then, in a more serious tone, he spoke about building a robust, high-quality health system in West Virginia that now serves about 90% of the state's residents and includes facilities like a new children's hospital and a planned cancer center. 'I came to realize very early on that without a healthy population, we can't do any of the other things,' he said. As we stepped out of the historic Stewart Hall, the college's film crew was waiting outside for Gee, ready to film his farewell message to the graduates, who were mingling for various end-of-year festivities. He then floated from one picnic table to another, chatting with students about their highlights at West Virginia and their plans after graduation. It was already 80 degrees and wasn't yet summer, but Gee didn't seem fazed. 'It's time to sit by the pool,' one woman told Gee. 'Sit by the pool?' Gee responded as if such a thing was utterly inconceivable. 'Not a fat chance. I'll do something.' After losing his first wife to cancer and his second to divorce, he's now engaged to be married again. In May he told graduating seniors, 'my best days lie ahead.' Gee hasn't committed to the next project — he's considering several possibilities, all of which would keep him in West Virginia. Before we said goodbye, I asked Gee where his audacity comes from. Some of it, he said, came with age. He couldn't have imagined carrying out the changes at West Virginia as a 36-year-old president. He would have been too worried about public perception, he said. Not anymore. What changed? He paused before answering. 'I wish I knew. It's in my DNA,' he said. 'I have no fear.'
Dominion Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Steve Sabins' path to WVU baseball coach took patience, leap of faith
MORGANTOWN — It wasn't exactly a journey of 1,000 decisions that guided Steve Sabins to West Virginia. Rest assured, there were plenty of steps the WVU baseball coach took that ultimately brought him to Morgantown. Others were made for him. There was one instance where he was given the opportunity to back out. In a sort of leap of faith, Sabins also passed up his first opportunity to become a head coach in 2023 in order to stay with the Mountaineers as a head coach in waiting. Such is the way of life for any college assistant coach who is looking to become a head coach. It is a nomad's journey, one where families are uprooted and moved from one side of the country to the other for the next climb up the ladder. Or maybe it's more like the old TV show 'Quantum Leap,' where Sam Beckett continually traveled through time with the hope the next leap would be the leap home. Sabins' journey has now taken him to his first NCAA tournament as a head coach in what was his first season since taking over the program for longtime coach Randy Mazey. The 24th-ranked Mountaineers (41-14) will play Kentucky (29-24) at noon Friday in the opening round of the Clemson, S.C. Regional with either Clemson or USC Upstate waiting on Saturday. 'If you get in the tournament, you've got a shot,' Sabins said. 'That's all you could ever ask for in this world.' As an example of just how interesting life's twists and turns can be, Sabins' shot nearly came at a number of different schools. If you reach Sabins' coaching history, it is rather short compared to so many others. He worked his way up the assistant ranks at Oklahoma State for four years. 'I was a volunteer coach at Oklahoma State, so I was on camp money,' Sabins recalled. 'I was working in the batting cage with seven-year olds trying to pay bills. My wife floated us with a real job.' He then came to WVU as an assistant under Mazey in 2016. 'Mazey tried to scare me away from not taking the job,' Sabins said. 'He was like, 'It snows here. You and your wife are going to have babies and you're going to be pushing a stroller in the snow.' He tried to scare the hell out of me.' Turns out pushing a stroller in the snow still beats working with young campers in the batting cage. 'I told him I would take a Big 12 job if it was in Iraq,' Sabins said. 'This was a dream come true for me.' It could have been so much different. West Virginia was not the first job Sabins applied for. He admits now that he wasn't even Mazey's first choice as an assistant coach back in 2016. 'I interviewed for a job at Loyola Marymount. I interviewed for a job at Appalachian State,' Sabins said. 'Randy saw something in me, but there was another assistant at the time who turned the job down first. A million things had to happen for the job to fall to me basically.' It would be easy to say the rest is history, except Sabins could very well have been the head coach at Cincinnati this season rather than at WVU. The Bearcats gave him his first offer to be a head coach in 2023. 'That was insane,' Sabins said. 'It was the most tight, tense, high-pressured and high-leveraged situation I had ever been in,' Sabins said. 'Ultimately I was extremely thankful for Cincinnati and extremely thankful for West Virginia. Cincinnati was gracious enough to think I could lead their program. 'When you're an assistant coach and you have to provide for your family, the difference between a five-year contract and a one-year contract is very different.' Mazey had previously expressed an interest in retiring, but there were no guarantees. 'It was a mentally taxing time,' Sabins said. Mazey and WVU athletic director Wren Baker — 'Within a 24-hour period after the offer from Cincinnati,' Sabins recalled. — put together a plan that Mazey would coach the 2024 season and Sabins would take over the Mountaineers in 2025. 'For me it was great,' Sabins said. 'I tell recruits all the time and talk about delayed gratification. I wanted to be a head coach and make a good salary, but I essentially turned down a head-coaching salary to wait a year to take this one. 'That's a lot of money and a lot of risk and things can change and stuff can happen.' He felt confident in his decision, Sabins said, because of the nine years he had already spent in Morgantown building and recruiting. 'I loved this place,' Sabins said. 'I recruited the players, and I thought we could win at a high level.' WVU vs. KENTUCKY WHEN: Noon, Friday WHERE: Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Clemson, S.C. TV: ESPNU (Comcast 266, HD 853; DirecTV 208; DISH 141) RADIO: 100.9 FM WEB:
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Big 12 Coaches Split on West Virginia's Outlook in 2025
Welcome to The Shotgun/Throwdown, your daily West Virginia sports roundup (that we didn't already talk about in another article) with some sophomoric humor and daily distractions thrown in for good measure. And if there's something we missed, be sure to talk about it in the comments. Unreasonable Doubt — A WVU Basketball Podcast: Filling the Gaps (w/ EerSports' Andrew Corbett) | The Smoking Musket After some Braydon Hawthorne thoughts, Andrew Corbett (@andrewwcorbett_ on X) from joins the podcast to discuss what he thinks will happen with the commits that haven't been officially announced by WVU, who's his favorite player on the roster that WVU has officially announced, what needs should be filled with the remaining roster spots, and more! FOOTBALL Anonymous Big 12 coaches tell Athlon what they think about WVU | EerSports On the outside, the projections aren't great. Observers know what Rich Rodriguez does inside the walls will tell the story. Advertisement ChatGPT is in love with WVU Football in 2025 | EerSports EerSports checked in to ChatGPT and asked the AI feature to simulate WVU's 2025 football season. The exact entry was, "Create a simulation of the 2025 season for WVU Football, giving a game-by-game breakdown with statistics, and using this depth chart for guidance." Everything you see below here is exactly what ChatGPT spit out after that request - errors and all. BASEBALL Sabins must decide between top starting pitchers, but expresses confidence in Kirn and Kartsonas | WV MetroNews Nine members of West Virginia's 2023 baseball roster remain with the program today, eight of which have played in the 2025 campaign. Two years removed from a season-ending loss at Kentucky, the Mountaineers get their first crack against the Wildcats since that 10-0 defeat come noon Friday in the opening game of the Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. GBN Podcast: NCAA Tournament Clemson Regional preview | Gold and Blue Nation On the latest edition of The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast, presented by Mountain State Oral and Facial Surgery, hosts Nick Farrell and Ryan Decker break down all four teams in the Clemson Regional. They dive into the stats that tell the story of each team's season, and talk potential weaknesses for every opponent West Virginia could face. Advertisement WVU ATHLETICS Six Mountaineers Continue Postseason at NCAA East First Rounds | West Virginia University Athletics The West Virginia University track and field team continues post season competition with the NCAA East First Rounds on May 28-31 at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. The Mountaineers are scheduled to begin competition in Jacksonville today, beginning with the first rounds of the women's 800 meters at 7:50 p.m. ET, followed by the 10,000-meter semifinals at 9:10 p.m. Are We Ready To Call Geno Smith A "Top 10" QB? | Raider Ramble Offseason chatter is in full swing but some folks are already calling Raiders quarterback Geno Smith a top 10 player for his position. Advertisement Maxx Crosby shuts the door on Shedeur Sanders talk with major Geno Smith praise | Just Blog Baby Raiders DE Maxx Crosby praised QB Geno Smith when asked about the team passing on Browns QB Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft. Promising Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback makes big changes for second season | PennLive Beanie Bishop has re-worked his body to stay the starting slot cornerback. 'He's Here To Take My Spot': Beanie Bishop Not Letting Guard Down Following Steelers' Slot CB Additions | Steelers Depot Pittsburgh Steelers second-year CB Beanie Bishop Jr. is leaving nothing up to chance, knowing his job is always under threat. JJ Quinerly seeing limited action in early Dallas Wings schedule | Blue Gold News West Virginia alum JJ Quinerly hasn't gotten a lot of run early in her WNBA career, but she did score five points in just more than four minutes of action in the Dallas Wings' 109-87 win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday evening. The game marked the Wings' first win of the year after opening the season with four consecutive losses. Advertisement Alek Manoah's visit to Blue Jays a reminder that help is on horizon | John Schneider spotted Alek Manoah coming just at the last second, and the six-foot-six, 285-pound right-hander offered his manager a big bear hug. Manoah, who's with the team for its weekend series in Florida, represents just what the Blue Jays are missing — a fifth starter to slot into the rotation. Former WVU coach Josh Eilert lands a new job | Blue Gold News Former Mountaineer men's basketball coach Josh Eilert has a new job, as Wichita State has announced his hiring as an assistant coach for the Shockers. Big 12's decision to drop to 18 games goes beyond injuries | ESPN Another college basketball season in the books means another offseason to reset, recruit and reassess the growing needs of the game. Following a yearlong experiment with a 20-game conference schedule, the Big 12 announced its intention to return to 18 games for the upcoming season. Advertisement Why the Big 12's Fight Over College Football Playoff Format Could Reshape the Sport | Heartland College Sports 'We're going to war.' That quote from a Big 12 athletic director, delivered in response to the SEC and Big Ten's push for a self-serving College Football Playoff format, sounds dramatic. Maybe even reckless. But at this point in the sport's evolution—or rather, de-evolution—it might be the only sane response left for those still trying to preserve the last threads of competitive integrity in college football. SEC's Sankey: A lot of factors support including bowls in CFP | ESPN Despite the roaring success of first-round home games in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Wednesday said a lot of factors support the continued inclusion of the major bowls in the next iteration of the CFP. Oklahoma State beats Virginia for 12th NCAA men's golf title | ESPN Eric Lee beat Josh Duangmanee 2 up to give Oklahoma State its 12th NCAA men's golf title and first in eight years, with the Cowboys beating Virginia 4-1 on Wednesday at La Costa. Baylor football player Alex Foster, 18, dies following shooting | ESPN Baylor defensive lineman Alex Foster, 18, died early Wednesday after he was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a car in his hometown of Greenville, Mississippi, the Washington County Coroner's Office said. Have any tips, suggestions or requests for what you want to see in The Shotgun/Throwdown? Don't hesitate to leave a comment below or contact us on social media. Advertisement Follow us! Twitter: @smokingmusket Facebook: The Smoking Musket More from
Dominion Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
COLUMN: A year later, WVU has the same motivation that carried it to 2024 regional title
MORGANTOWN — The first point that needs to get across about the Clemson, S.C. Regional that the 24th-ranked WVU baseball team is set to open at noon Friday with a first-round game against Kentucky is that no one in the region is even close to being thought of as unbeatable. That includes No. 12 Clemson, the top seed and the host team in the regional. The Tigers enter the NCAA tournament having got banged around by North Carolina, 14-4, in the ACC tournament title game. The last time the Tigers (44-16) played inside Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Duke took two of three against them. Kentucky (29-24) has lost four straight heading into the NCAA tournament and eight of its last 12. Granted, some of those defeats came against teams seemingly from the American League Central — based on the Wildcats' strength of schedule rating — but no one is comparing this Kentucky team to its 2024 version, when the Wildcats advanced to the College World Series. USC Upstate? Well, the Spartans (36-23) won the Big South and have won six in a row, but they are the long shot and were shut out by Clemson, 7-0, earlier in the season. Which brings us to WVU (41-14), which has spent the last portion of the season proving just how beatable it is. After a 34-4 start, the Mountaineers were once on pace to approach a 50-win season. Now, WVU is a 50-50 shot just to reach 42. If the Mountaineers were a stock, there wouldn't be a lot of buyers at the moment, which brings us to the point they know how this feels. They were in the exact same rut last season, having taken a quick exit from the Big 12 tournament and looking every bit like a team that had no gas remaining in the tank. And then WVU traveled across the country and won the Tucson, Ariz. Regional. 'We just had fun,' was how WVU outfielder Kyle West attempted to explain the quick turnaround. 'We acted like monkeys. We went and watched one of the 'Planet of the Apes' movies. We just carried all the fun we had off the field onto the field and just played for one another, because we didn't want it to end.' Now, one can make the argument that WVU won that regional last season without having to play host Arizona, which was upset in the opening game by Grand Canyon. True, but the Mountaineers also won that regional with its star player — J.J. Wetherholt — batting .250 and not getting a single base hit until the third game. 'We knew that for some people, it was going to be their last games,' West continued. 'For the whole team, it was going to be our last time as that team. Going into it, we were just trying to play for as long as possible to remain with each other.' West's words ring even more true a year later. Despite the rough finish, this is a team that brought another level of national respect to the WVU baseball program. It's the first WVU team to surpass 40 wins. It won a Big 12 regular-season championship. And there are a ton of guys in the starting lineup who are likely not going to be back next season, whether that's through graduation, the MLB draft or otherwise. In a WVU uniform all at the same time, this regional may represent the final time we see West, as well as teammates Grant Hussey, Sam White, Logan Sauve, Skylar King, Jace Rineart, Griffin Kirn, Jack Kartsonas and Carson Estridge. Not to look ahead, but that's a lot of starters WVU head coach Steve Sabins must replace next season. It's also a ton of guys who may not want this season to simply end in South Carolina. If the feeling of togetherness was enough motivation to write one heck of a story in 2024, it's definitely there again in 2025. 'Anybody can win any given day,' West said. 'It doesn't matter who you are or what your record is. You just have to play your best baseball every time you step on the field and give yourself a chance to win. 'It doesn't matter if you're a No. 1 seed or a No. 4 seed, anyone can win it.'
Dominion Post
3 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
NOTEBOOK: State natives played a major role in No. 24 WVU's baseball success this season
MORGANTOWN — Kyle West's recollection of his conversation with WVU baseball coach went back to the old days. Well, maybe they weren't the old days, but certainly they were different from the current state of the program. 'He was telling me there was a time when you couldn't pay 4,000 people to come watch a game here,' the WVU outfielder recalled. 'Now, we're playing in front of 4,000 people every game.' There is a great sense of pride in West, a native of Hedgesville, in playing some type of role in the Mountaineers' climb into national respectability. He was second on the team with 14 home runs a season ago when WVU advanced to its first-ever super regional. West leads the 24th-ranked Mountaineers this season with a .354 batting average, as WVU (41-14) prepares to face Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, at noon Friday. 'As a West Virginia native, being able to play in a postseason atmosphere for this state and this community, it means a lot to a lot of people,' he said. That would include many of his teammates who are also West Virginia natives, as the Mountaineers will travel to the Clemson, S.C. Regional with a roster armed with impact players from around the state. Former Parkersburg South star Grant Hussey is the school's all-time home run leader with 44. Mannington native Jace Rineart leads the Mountaineers with 50 RBIs. Ben McDougal (Bridgeport) will likely see action as a reliever, while Bryant Yoak (Big Bend) has appeared in 13 games as a relief pitcher this season. 'The pride I carry is immense,' West said. 'It's not every day you get to play for your home state. I think it's one of the most important things I've done in my career.' The Clemson Regional has other ties to the state, as well. USC Upstate freshman relief pitcher Cayden Mackey is a former Parkersburg South standout. Former Morgantown High standout Ryan Fluharty also played at USC Upstate, but entered the transfer portal and is no longer with the Spartans. WVU also has local ties on its roster who will be making a trip home to play in the regional. Center fielder Skylar King is a Columbia, S.C. native, who was once ranked the No. 19 prospect out of the state when he signed with the Mountaineers. WVU outfielder Ben Lumsden will be closer to home. His hometown of Simpsonville is located just 47 miles from Clemson's campus. Of the four teams — WVU, Clemson, Kentucky and USC Upstate —in the regional, Clemson center fielder Cam Cannarella stands out above the rest when it comes to the 2025 MLB draft. The junior is the only player on any of the rosters ranked among the top 150 prospects for the draft. He's ranked No. 34 overall by ESPN and 38th overall by Cannarella, the 2023 ACC Freshman of the Year, leads the Tigers with a .339 batting average. He also has three home runs and driven in 45 RBIs. He's also known for his defensive abilities, including over-the-shoulder catches on deeply-hit fly balls. 'He's fiery, he's composed, he's elite defensively, and he's still developing,' Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said. 'Cam makes winning plays. Period.' It takes three wins to advance out of regional play, which may set up WVU's largest pitching hurdle. Outside of starter Griffin Kirn, the Mountaineers have found little consistency elsewhere lately. Kirn, a senior lefty who pitched at the Division II level last season, is the only WVU starter to register a win over the Mountaineers' last nine games. That win came against Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament. Other than that, you'd have to go back to WVU's 5-0 win against Texas Tech on May 4 to find the last time a WVU starting pitcher notched a victory. Jack Kartsonas was WVU's starter in the Big 12 semifinal loss against Arizona, but he's struggled as of late and allowed 10 runs over his last three starts. 'I think Kartsonas has really stabilized himself as the No. 2 starter,' WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. 'He's older. He's a veteran and competes at a really high level. I feel comfortable with Kartsonas and Kirn.' Kirn will likely get the start against the Wildcats (29-24). 'As a coach, when you make decisions, it feels like a lot of times it comes down to who are you willing to lose with?' Sabins continued. 'I'm willing to lose with both of those guys.' If the Mountaineers were to advance to a third game, it would likely be a pitcher-by-committee type of game. The good news is relief pitcher Carson Estridge is set to return for the NCAA tournament after not being eligible to pitch in the Big 12 tournament. Estridge is 3-1 with five saves this season, but has also struggled late, allowing 10 runs over his last four appearances. The news is not so good for starting pitcher Gavin Van Kempen, who has been dealing with shoulder soreness. 'He's working to get ready for the regional, I just don't know if that's a realistic possibility or not,' Sabins said. 'He appears to be further away than Estridge. I just don't feel good where GVK would be at.'
