MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Nine days out from the start of his 11th season as West Virginia’s manager, Randy Mazey was already swinging for the fences.
Mazey touched on things that ranged from expectations, a different offensive style more predicated on power than speed, candidates to have breakout seasons and challenges awaiting the Mountaineers throughout February, but he was particularly passionate regarding certain topics greatly that often go hand-in-hand and impact college sports at the highest levels.
When asked whether it was still in his program’s best interest to recruit and develop young talent in the era of the ever-popular transfer portal heavily impacted by name, image and likeness opportunities, Mazey had plenty to offer.
“The traditional formula for winning what we’ve done here is outworked everybody, recruited really well, had a great team culture and developed our kids,” he began. “That’s always been our formula for having success, but now in the transfer portal era, things have changed a little bit. With NIL and the transfer portal, math has become a really important part of the formula. It’s no secret. People I guess hate to admit it, but at West Virginia, if we let people cherry pick our best players after every year and convince our best young players one way or another to get in the transfer portal, whether it’s NIL association or not, there’s literally no way to have success.”
Mazey likened it to a business losing five of its better employees to a competitor without notice annually.
“Realistically, what are you chances,” Mazey asked, “of having a successful business?”
Addition and attrition have become the norm for athletics programs in major college athletics, and West Virginia baseball is no different.
Last year’s team finished 33-22 but did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers then lost two of their top hitters to the transfer portal — outfielder Austin Davis to TCU and catcher McGwire Holbrook to Florida State.
Davis led WVU with 74 hits and 56 runs, had a .330 batting average and was second with 29 stolen bases, to say nothing is his exceptional defensive play.
Holbrook hit .327 and was second in a number of major categories — doubles (13) home runs (6) and RBI (43).
Mazey never mentioned any specific former player by name, though it’s clear the loss of both is likely to be felt in the near future.
Instead of expressing his displeasure with the current model, Mazey pleaded with West Virginia fans to become more involved in an effort to help the program keep its top players.
“As a state and as a fan base, we have the opportunity to control that to a certain degree if people would jump on board with all this NIL, transfer portal stuff,” Mazey said. “We can’t win by having people stand on the sidelines. We have to convince people around the state of West Virginia that the world we’re in now is the world we’re in now. When you bring up transfer portal and NIL, I’ve yet to get anything other than a negative reaction from people about this being the ruination of college athletics. But I’m trying to convince people otherwise, because this has become West Virginia’s greatest opportunity.“
How so?
“We’re unique in the fact that in West Virginia, there are only two Division I schools and the majority of people are Mountaineer fans,” he said. “It’s hard to argue with that. You can’t go to any other state in the country and have a fan base statewide like we have. There are 17 or 18 Division I schools in North Carolina, so people’s loyalty are divided in those states. But in West Virginia, most people’s loyalty lies with the Mountaineers. If people would participate and understand that the NIL has become a tremendous opportunity for the Mountaineers instead of looking upon it negatively … this is a very pivotal time in West Virginia athletics and people need educated on the NIL and transfer portal and how we can use it to our advantage.
“If you’re not educated, it’s hard to change your mind and you can’t have progress without change. I heard [WVU Director of Athletics] Wren Baker say it in our staff meeting, ‘if you can’t change your mind, you can’t change anything.’”
Mazey’s wife, Amanda Mazey, is the Director of Social Engagement for Country Roads Trust, which places a heavy emphasis on athletes monetizing their individual and collective brands.
Country Roads Trust was influential in WVU’s ability to land several high-profile transfers in football and men’s basketball during the last offseason.
“We can either be the Yankees and the Dodgers, who play in the playoffs all the time, or we can be the major league team up the road that traditionally doesn’t have a history of investing in their players,” Mazey said. “We can’t sit here in any sport and let other teams come and take our best players. It’s that important to the success of the Mountaineers for people to get off the sidelines and participate.”
Mazey says he understands many people aren’t in position to offer six and seven-figure donations, but believes the potential for a big payoff in return exists.
“If people would just participate, you would see the results,” Mazey said. “What a great feeling for a fan anywhere in the state of West Virginia to participate and two or three years from now, you see West Virginia playing in the College World Series. That fan can go to work and say, ‘Hey, I had something to do with that. I participated in that. I’m somewhat responsible for their success.’ I just want people to get excited about it.
“Three years from now, every team that plays in the College World Series is going to have a player at every position who probably has gotten a nice NIL package. If you add all those players together of all the NIL money they’ve collected, it’s probably going to be pretty significant. Is it turning into a professional model? Probably. But that’s why the Yankees and Dodgers are playing in the playoffs all the time, because they have invested in their players. If people around the state want the Mountaineers to play in Omaha, they have a chance to affect that more now than ever.”