December 25, 2024 • 58 mins
The episode features WVU Baseball Head CoachRandy and Amanda Mazey sharing their personal and professional journeys intertwined with baseball, relationships, and overcoming adversity. With stories of life both inside and out of the dugout, they emphasize the importance of connection, resilience, and the invaluable lessons that extend beyond the game.
• Randy reflects on the importance of building relationships in coaching
• Amanda shares her perspective as a coach's spouse and its challenges
• The couple discusses their son's near-fatal injury and recovery
• They emphasize the role of travel baseball in both development and familial dynamics
• The formation of the Team Whammer Foundation to support families in need is highlighted
• They share insights on the evolution of youth sports and maintaining a healthy balance
• Randy discusses what defines success in coaching
Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches,
with 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
, here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
We're covering it all.
(00:22):
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality.
Inspire your players and getthem truly bought into your game
philosophy Plus, get the latestinsights on recruiting,
coaching, leadership andcrafting a team culture that
(00:42):
champions productivity andsuccess.
Join Coach every week as hebreaks down the game and shares
incredible behind-the-scenesstories.
Your competitive edge startshere, so check out the show
weekly and hear from the bestcoaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter.
Hello and welcome to BaseballCoaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and Baseball Coaches
Unplugged is a podcast thathelps equip you, the listener,
with strategies to help elevateyour coaching.
You'll gain practical insightsfrom the best coaches across the
country that you can implementwith your team.
Today, you're probablywondering why are you releasing
(01:28):
a podcast on Christmas Day.
Well, I thought I'd be differentthan a lot of podcasters who'd
like to take the week ofChristmas off.
I decided to re-release my mosttalked about episode from 2024.
(01:50):
I was fortunate enough to getRandy Mazey, the head baseball
coach at WVU, which is WestVirginia University, right after
retiring and being knocked outof the regionals against the
University of North Carolina.
I also wanted to do something alittle different.
Every coach that's out therehas a spouse that is in the
background and they're the mostsupportive person that that
(02:11):
coach has, and I thought why notask Coach Mazey if he would get
his wife Amanda to join us?
He agreed to do that and shewas all in.
They share their journey ofnearly 40 years of coaching
college baseball.
They tell an incredible storyabout their son, wham, who
(02:35):
suffered a near fatal injury onthe baseball field and he just
now committed to West VirginiaUniversity to play.
I hope you enjoy this and ifyou're a subscriber and you've
listened to all of these showsup to this point, I would
recommend listening to it againand if you're new to the show,
(02:56):
give it a listen, because CoachMazie and his wife are really
good people and they're what'sright about the game of baseball
.
Before we start, I have to thankWill Miner and his team at the
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On today's show, you'll hearfrom Coach Randy Mazey, recently
(04:25):
retired WVU head baseball coach, discussing what it took to
turn around a baseball programthat was on the verge of
extinction.
You'll also hear how importanta supportive spouse is, as we
are joined by his wife, amanda.
And finally, you'll have towait till the end to see how a
(04:46):
tragic on-field baseballaccident to their son is now
benefiting families who need thehelp the most.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, you actually gave me the option to
have Amanda here with me or not,and I chose to have her with me
, so good for both of us.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
He does love me.
Thanks, Ken.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Well, you know, when I first did this, I thought I've
never had a coach with his wifeon the podcast and you know, my
wife was almost like anassistant coach when I came home
at night.
So I thought, with Amanda, withyour sports background, I
thought this is the perfectopportunity to get the two of
(05:27):
you guys on.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, it's.
We've always had this uniquerelationship because he's always
been the coach.
I'm the TV sports reporter, soit's a kind of a cliche that I'm
the sports reporter thatmarried the coach.
But yeah, that's kind of likealways been our unique little
connection and I've always lovedsports long before him, so it's
been fun.
It's a unique relationship andpartnership, so I've really
(05:52):
enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
You said, it's almost like having an assistant coach
at home.
She actually has been writingmy lineups for the last 20 years
.
I don't know if people realizethat.
There you go.
Now you know, Now you know shegets all the credit for the wins
and I take all the blame forthe losses.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Well, it's been, I think, a little bit over a month
now and you know I got to askhow's retirement treating the
both of you retirement?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
treating the both of you.
You know what, ken?
I've never realized that youcould live life stress-free for
the most part.
You know, it's been 35 years ofcoaching and every day you wake
up you're just trying tocompete and trying to find a way
(06:42):
to be better than your opponent, and you don't realize what
kind of lifestyle that is untilyou get out of it.
And now the biggest stress inmy life is you know, we're going
to get enough rain for mytomatoes down in the garden, you
know, and I wake up in themorning and there's a little bit
of a sense of freedom.
It's early, of course.
(07:04):
It's only been a month.
If you're going to miss part ofthe season as a coach, the
recruiting in the summertime isprobably the part you want to
miss.
It's going really well so far.
We'll see how it goes when theseason starts and the games come
along.
I'm not with the players everyday and the staff every day in
(07:25):
the office.
All the stuff that I reallyenjoyed hasn't come around yet,
so, but so far so good.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
How would you rate his retirement starting off?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
You know what?
It's actually been pretty niceto have him home and doing
things.
I'm typically the one that kindof runs the show at home, so
I'm I'm the one doing thegardening and I'm doing all of
this.
So it has been nice.
I will say he loves to cook.
I hate to cook.
Hate it, hate it, hate it sohe's in the kitchen cooking, but
he doesn't make it easy, like,if it's gonna, if it's a recipe
(08:00):
that calls for broth, he's gonnamake the broth homemade.
So like everything is organicand from the beginning.
So I've been telling ourfriends it's like having a
toddler in the kitchen.
There's just stuff everywhereand it's a mess.
And you're like, okay, this isgreat.
But you're like, oh, this mess,but he's, he's enjoyed himself.
It's nice to have them notstressed honestly.
(08:22):
So it's it again.
Like he said, it's only been amonth.
Talk to me next month.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I might be ready to kill them.
There you go.
Well, now that you've had sometime to reflect on your career,
what has it meant to you for 40years to have such a huge effect
on young baseball players'lives?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
You know the relationships to me were always
the best part.
You know I was never that guythat when I died I didn't want
it to say on my tombstone howmany games I won.
You know I literally could careless about that.
I know a lot of people are thatway, but I'm not.
When I retired I just wanted tohave a network of friends and
(09:08):
and coaches that I haverelationships with and you know,
just yesterday I was sittingout on the back porch with a
drink in my hand called DanFitzgerald from Kansas and Pete
Hughes from Kansas State friendsof mine that I've built in this
profession that I can still befriends with and I will leave
(09:29):
with that, with greatrelationships with a lot of
people and in the big scheme ofthings, like I said, I could
care less what my record was.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But the relationships with the former players and the
coaches.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I got a text from a former player literally right
before we started this podcast.
His son was born this morningand he sent me a text.
Give me his name and his birthweight and all that.
And it's just stuff like thatthat when I reflect back that
I'm proud of what I accomplishedoff the field way more than on
(10:03):
the field, I'm proud of what Iaccomplished off the field way
more than on the field.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's the secret to coaching, in my opinion, because
everybody I get on this podcast, all the coaches seem to get it
and they talk about theimportance of the relationships
they have with their players andtheir assistant coaches and
everybody associated with theprogram.
And you know, amanda, you'vebeen along for this ride.
(10:29):
What has it meant to you to beevery step of the way?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
It's been a blessing to see these guys kind of grow
up before our eyes.
I mean, when he and I first gottogether we're about 10 years
apart, so I wasn't much olderthan some of these players and
to watch them go from college tothe real world and become
fathers and dads, that's beenreally rewarding too.
(10:55):
So you kind of have like thisvested interest in their life
beyond baseball and it's justbeen really incredible to be a
part of a lot of those kidsjourneys through baseball,
through adulthood and to seewhere they are now and they come
back and we always tell themour house is always open, you're
welcome back anytime.
If you need us for anything,we're there for you.
(11:17):
So we just have like thisnetwork of kind of like children
out there all across thecountry, which is pretty special
.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Well, wvu baseball has changed forever under your
leadership, coach.
Talk about.
I grew up in eastern Ohio andright across the river from
Wheeling, and I know how the fanbase can be in West Virginia.
They're really passionate.
But talk about how the wholestate fell in love with your
program.
And the other side of it is whyshould a college baseball
(11:55):
player out there consider WestVirginia as a place to play?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, you know there's a real sense of pride
too.
When I retired that thedifference in the program now
compared to 12 years ago.
I feel like the entire stateright now has a program they can
be proud of, and most coachesdon't get to retire when they
(12:21):
feel that way.
You know it's a lot of times.
I mean the amount ofretirements that are voluntary
in our profession is way lessthan the forced ones, as we know
.
But it's pretty cool to retirewhen you feel like you can be
really, really proud ofsomething.
And you know West Virginia is aunique place.
(12:44):
I know you know that and youknow West Virginia is a unique
place.
I know you know that and youknow we played North Carolina in
the Super Regional.
In the state of North Carolinathere are 19 or 20 Division I
baseball schools.
So in the state of NorthCarolina all the fans, their
loyalties, are divided amongthose schools.
Everybody I mean Duke and NCState and Wake Forest all have
(13:07):
their own followings of fans.
But in our state, as you know,there's only two Division I
schools us and Marshall andthey're pretty safe to say that
we probably have 90% of the fanbase in the state of West
Virginia supporting theMountaineers.
So this really means a lot to alot of people that this program
(13:29):
is in a place right now thateverybody can be proud of.
So that gives me a sense ofpride.
In retirement I want to travelthe state and stay connected
with people, and I feel like youknow when I go speak at events,
regardless of what event I'mspeaking at.
I always wear my uniform thatsays Mountaineers across the
(13:51):
chest, and I do that becausethat uniform in itself, because
of our state, makes peoplelisten to what you have to say.
You know, and we've done somegreat things here.
I'm not naive enough to everthink that I did it by myself.
This one beside me had a lot todo with it my staff, the
(14:14):
players, the fans, theadministration.
It's a collaborative effort toget this program where it's at
today, but really, really proud,when I did announce my
retirement, that we left thisbad boy in a pretty good place.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yep, without a doubt.
Well, you know, the uniquething about this podcast is
having, you know, the wife of acoach on.
I have had a ton of coaches onbut I've never had a wife.
And you know, I talked to acoaching friend of mine.
They made it to the statechampionship and played a great
(14:54):
game, lost by one run.
Parents were just Very vocaland, knowing that the wife was
right there in the middle of allof it and she was having to
hear a lot of this, what wouldbe the best advice that, if a
coach is listening to this, hecould share with his wife when
(15:14):
she's having to attend games?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
You know it's pretty unique because I've had to sit
in situations when we're at home.
obviously most people know thatI'm his wife and and, like you
said, mountaineer fans arepassionate and there have been
times where they've been yellingat him and I just know, that's
part of the territory you knowif, if fans want to criticize
(15:37):
him because he sent a runnerfrom third or called a bad pitch
, like that's part of it, and Iunderstand that.
The thing that I never likedwas if they got personal about
him or me or us or our children,but even then I just sort of
like, let it roll off my back.
You kind of have to be like aduck with the water.
It just has to kind of like rolloff because you can't engage as
(16:00):
much as you want to.
It just makes it worse.
And I also stay off socialmedia because people love you
when they're winning and theyhate you when they're losing.
And even when you're winning,there are going to be people out
there that if you win by 20runs, why didn't you win by 21?
I mean, there are always goingto be detractors no matter what
you're doing.
So I've just made it a realpoint to just not engage and
(16:25):
it's hard.
I mean sometimes it's hardbecause you want to turn around,
especially at an away venueright Like that's where it's
really bad because they'reyelling and this and that, and
yeah, it's just.
You just have to have reallythick skin and and not let them
know who you are, Like I neverwanted people to know who I was,
because then they tend to liketurn it up and not well, that's
(16:48):
the coach's wife Like let'sreally dig in and see if we can
get a reaction.
No reaction is the best, butit's hard.
I mean, this is being a coach'swife at any level.
It's not for the faint of heart.
You have to have thick skin andyou have to be tough and just.
Man, don't, don't wear youremotions, you know, and just
wait to get back to the hoteland the car, and then you can MF
them all you want.
(17:09):
Just don't do it to their face,Don't let them know.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Be sure to follow us on all socials, at athlete one
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This is the Athlete One Podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Of all the recruits Coach that you've recruited
throughout the years, there'sgot to be one, I think, that
stands out among all of them.
And your son, you know, isWeston.
He's now committed to go toWest Virginia University and
(17:54):
talk about I know how myexperience was with my son being
in the dugout, both as a playerand as a bad boy when he was
younger.
Talk about that experience ofhaving your son in the dugout
with you throughout these years.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
The fact that he has been in the dugout keeps me from
having to teach him baseball,you know, first and foremost
because he's around it every dayand he watches JJ Weatherholt
take ground balls, and hewatches guys like.
Darius Hill hit and kids arepretty sharp, you know they.
(18:30):
They pick up things from thekids around them.
So for the first 12-13 years ofhis life I literally didn't
teach him baseball.
I just wanted to let him gohave fun and play and he's
emulating people's stances andhow they feel ground balls.
Fortunately he's around a lotof good players.
He's developed a pretty goodfeel for the game.
(18:54):
Now when he's in the dugoutwith me at his age, we'll
actually talk about the game andsituations.
He'll give me his input.
We were in a regional last yearand there was a play at home
plate in the regional and wewere on defense and the umpire
(19:15):
called the guy safe and he toldme he said Dad, that guy never
touched home plate, he slid intothe catcher's foot.
You need to replay that Call fora replay.
So we called for a replay.
So we called for a replay andthe call got overturned.
Because he pays such closeattention to the game and I
think that's uh that reallyhelps him as a player too
(19:35):
because, uh, physically, likemost kids who are juniors in
high school, he's undersized andunder strengthngth, but he's
got a pretty good feel for thegame.
So the other stuff will come.
But I never wanted to be withouthim in the dugout.
I always wanted to coach him atWest Virginia, but I didn't
(19:57):
want him to be coached by me.
I thought that would have beentoo much pressure on him.
I didn't want him, after thegame, to go back to the
apartment with the players.
You know, as a coach, when youwrite the lineup, there's only
nine guys on the team that arehappy with you when you write
the lineup.
The rest of them would ratherpush you off the side of a cliff
(20:19):
because they're not in thelineup.
So they get back to theapartment and they're going to
tell all their buddies what ajerk you are.
I just didn't want him to bearound that and have to hear
that.
So I trust the coaches that arehere to coach him that they're
going to develop him and teachhim and unselfishly, you know, I
(20:43):
did not want to put thatpressure on him to be coached by
me.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Well, let me ask you this with your son being a
college recruit, commit to adivision one school as parents.
How, how much do you reallyemphasize the being prepared so
when he first walks onto campushe doesn't get hit with the oh
(21:15):
my God, the weight room orwhatever it is that really opens
up the eyes of a freshmanbaseball player, regardless of
how good they are?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, he's in a unique situation that he has
practiced with us in the pastand he lives with our team, so
he's not going to getsteamrolled with what happened
your freshman year because he'sbeen through it, but it's a real
thing for a kid now.
You know we've started aprogram called Summer Bridge
(21:46):
where the incoming freshmen cometo summer school and take one
class and start lifting andpracticing.
So when that first semesterstarts and all 30,000 students
come steamrolling intoMorgantown at one time, they
don't our guys don't getoverwhelmed.
They've already been here for amonth and have made the
(22:07):
transition.
But life as a freshman baseballplayer has changed here in the
last two years too, because ofthe portal.
You know, now, just like him,my son's a rising senior in high
school.
He's an infielder.
I think he's going to be a goodplayer.
I don't know that, but he couldcome here as a freshman and
(22:28):
they could have signed two shortstops out of the portal the
same year he gets here.
So it's changed a lot.
The high school kid that wascommitting to schools early on
has changed.
The landscape has changed.
I have a lot of parents of kidsmy age that are kind of
(22:52):
panicking right now that hey, wedon't have a place.
You know the last three years,you know you've seen freshmen
and sophomores in high schoolcommitting to schools and they
changed the rules.
You can't do that anymore.
And now, with the portal, notas many high school kids are
seeing the same opportunities asthey have the past four or five
(23:12):
years, and my message to themis just don't panic.
If you're a good player, you'llfind a good place, and but the
dynamic is definitely differentthan it used to be.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, I heard an interview, I believe it was,
with Nick Saban as he was comingtoward his retirement and his
wife played a role with theincoming freshmen.
You know they would have themover to their house and things
like that.
As a the wife of the coach ofyou, did you have a similar
style?
And I believe, when he said hetalked to his wife about this,
(23:54):
his wife would connect with notonly the players but the, the
parents that would come to ofthose incoming freshmen, and she
said that it's now all theywere talking about was NIL money
, and he was.
You know, coach Saban can bebeing a former mountaineer
himself as far as growing up inWest Virginia.
Did you play any role like thatwith players throughout the
(24:17):
years coming by, possibly toyour place?
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Yeah.
So my role in all of that waswe would always have recruiting
dinners at our house and meetthe parents.
We always wanted to make it ahomey environment.
When we got to West Virginia,we built a house, and when we
built this house, it wasn't justfor our family, but it was for
the baseball family as well.
So we built our kitchen.
It's like a nice big kitchenand so when we have meals
catered and we have the teamover, we have recruiting dinners
, it flows.
So we built this house.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
We wanted to make sure that we had the families
over because you can get to knowthem better in your own home.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
As opposed to going to a restaurant and you're
sitting, you know tables and youdon't really have a chance to
interact with people.
So we've always made it afamily atmosphere here at West
Virginia and I, you know, wouldget to know the parents then,
you know, and and they would askme some questions, but they
were more interested in thebaseball side.
But I always let it be knownthat if your kid needs anything,
(25:12):
if you guys need anything, letus know.
If you need, you know, the momto come in and do some things.
We've had some players who havehad, you know, some life
situations while they were hereand I never wanted to, like,
overstep my boundary because tome I'm like, well, I am just the
wife, like I'm not a part ofthe staff or anything.
But I always let it be knownthat if you need a mama.
(25:33):
I'm here for you, so I alwaysjust kind of put the ball in
there for it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And that seems like the consensus, because from my
research a lot of the playerstalk about you coaches.
You know you're not just abaseball coach, but you know in
some ways a father figure.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, you know I've always taken pride in the fact
that you know we do a reallygood job of teaching guys the
baseball skills that they needto be successful.
You know how to steal secondbase or hit a curveball or field
a backhand, but those skills,as you know, only last year, for
a couple of years.
Very few people ever get toplay this game beyond their 25th
(26:17):
birthday.
So spend all this time teachingthem stuff they won't use that
much the rest of their life.
So I've taken a lot of pride intrying to teach them the skills
that they will use the rest oftheir life.
You know how to be a goodhusband and father and teammate
and co-worker and all that stuff.
So we really would make aconscious effort to go out of
(26:42):
our way to teach those skills.
And when they're done playing,that's the part that they
appreciate the most, the factthat we taught them how to be
tough and overcome adversity,because everybody faces it, you
know.
So we would have meetings everyweek in our theater and
(27:02):
wouldn't talk baseball at all.
We would just talk life skillsand trying to get guys in a good
place mentally and prepare forthe rest of their lives.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Is that possibly what separates the really good,
successful coaches from thosewho are?
You know that either don't makeit as a college coach or
struggle, and you know, if youremove the talented players from
the equation, is that, like thekey you think for high school
(27:35):
and college coaches to be ableto get them to buy into what
you're saying?
As far as the family atmosphere, yeah, it's kind of weird.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
If you think about it , what I deem as a successful
coach is way different than whatmost people not in this
profession deem as a successfulcoach is way different than what
most people not in thisprofession deem as a successful
coach.
You know the fans out there andpeople not in this profession.
They judge you on how manygames you win.
It's just what they do, and tome, a successful coach is one
(28:10):
who does establish relationshipswith kids and teaches them life
skills and ends up attendingtheir weddings and getting to
know their families.
If you're inside the profession, that's what you feel is
success.
It's not the wins and lossesthere are some that judge
themselves on how many gamesthey win, because you know it's
(28:34):
the nature of the business.
I'm just not one of those guysI never wanted to be.
It's if you can find a way tocombine what I deem as a
successful coach and what thefans deem as a successful coach,
then you've got the perfectstorm, and that's that's kind of
how we ended here the lastcouple of years at West Virginia
(28:55):
we won a regional this year,played in the Super, Last year
we won the Big 12.
So all the people around thestate of West Virginia deemed me
as a successful coach based onthat.
But I feel like I've beensuccessful based on the
relationships that I've built.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
I've always told him, ken, or I've always told
everybody that baseball is whathe does.
It's not who he is, and there'sa difference with that.
There are a lot of coaches.
Baseball is what they do, andit's who they are.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
You go to their house .
They're watching Major LeagueBaseball.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
It's baseball all the time and they have no hobbies
outside of it, and I couldn'thonestly I couldn't be married
to somebody like that.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So I've always said he has that nice balance.
So what are the hobbies thatyou guys do outside of for your
family outside?
Speaker 5 (29:46):
of baseball.
One of his hobbies is going tobe vacuuming and loading the
dishwasher and laundry, sothere's a lot of new hobbies on
the horizon.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I try to do all that stuff once and screw it up on
purpose so she never has to doit again.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
That's true that's true, no, we're huge outdoors
people.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
That's why we love west virginia.
It's the world's largestoutdoor playground.
We like to hike and camp andfish and do stuff like that.
Believe it or not, I've beenspending a lot of time in my
garden.
It's so peaceful down there.
Nobody yells at me when I'mdown in there.
I can just pick my cabbage at myown pace.
I do like to do somewoodworking stuff and get away
(30:31):
from it.
It's kind of weird, though,that I had a lot of hobbies
before I met her and before wehad kids, but when you have kids
in my profession.
You miss so much of what they dothat I would feel guilty going
and doing one of my hobbies andeven taking more time away from
(30:52):
my family.
So for the last 15 years or sothe woodworking has been put to
the side and the hunting andfishing has been put to the side
.
Once the kids get out of thehouse we'll see how I feel, but
it's kind of weird in retirementI didn't know I was going to
feel this way, but I retired andas soon as I retired all my
(31:15):
buddies would call me and say,okay, let's, let's go here,
let's go there, let's go elkhunting, let's go trap fishing,
let's do this, let's do that.
And I'm like what?
I retired to spend more timewith my family.
I immediately started feelingguilty that well, I'm not going
to spend less time with myfamily in retirement.
(31:35):
So I haven't figured that partout of it yet, but I'm still
working on it.
But I'm going to pick thehobbies back up, I think, and
keep myself busy.
You know we started we talkedabout it before we got on the
air.
We started our own podcast,amanda and I did, called Maisy
Days, and we've enjoyed the heckout of that.
(31:56):
You, as a professionalpodcaster, know that there's a
lot that goes into it, but Iwant to stay connected with the
people of West Virginia and theprogram.
I feel like we've kind ofingrained ourself in this
community, in this state, and Iby no means want that to go away
.
It was really nice that in mylast year of coaching we had a
(32:21):
good year that helps.
So, yeah, I want to get outthere and be visible and still
meet people and get to know thepeople of West Virginia.
That's kind of what we'repassionate about.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Well, the two of you have experienced travel ball,
and from a parent's perspectiveand also from your college coach
experience.
There's so many good thingsabout travel baseball, but
there's also a lot of the.
You see a lot of good thingsabout travel baseball, but
there's also a lot of the.
You see a lot of the negativityabout travel baseball.
(32:57):
What would you recommend, sinceyou've been on both sides of it
, to to make travel baseball abetter experience?
Speaker 5 (33:05):
and I'll start with you first, amanda you know from,
maybe from like thenon-baseball side of it, which I
know sounds weird since we'retalking about travel baseball.
I think the one thing withtravel ball that I don't like is
I feel like it just takes up nomatter what sport it is.
It just takes up all the kidstime, like kids just being kids
(33:25):
anymore.
It doesn't exist like kidsgoing to summer camp, and I
think that has gotten lost inall of this.
And our kids they do the travelball, but also if we have an
opportunity to do an amazingexperience as a family like oh,
we have an opportunity to go dosomething this weekend we're
going to do it.
You know, like one weekend ofhim missing baseball is not
(33:48):
going to like take him off therails, and no coach should
punish a child or a family ifthey want to do something like
that, because that's important.
The travel ball is just turnedinto a business for kids.
Let the kids be kids.
I mean, yeah, you got to do itand I know that's like the
culture now, but I don't know.
I just I wish it wasn't sointense in any sport, but some
(34:08):
of these sports are year-round,I'm like.
But they're Like let's just goout in the yard and play
kickball or cornhole afterdinner, like we value, you know,
our family time because of youknow the uniqueness of his
business, but um yeah, I justwish it wasn't so intense and so
schedule driven and so muchpressure from some of these
(34:30):
coaches.
I mean, I have friends andthey're like oh, oh yeah we
can't do anything.
We have this this and thistournament, and I'm like man
just miss one of thosetournaments, you know, but but
they feel like they can'tbecause the coach is gonna like
punish their child and not play.
You're paying all this money.
So I don't know, like I I don'tkind of like how it has turned
into a business for kids.
I mean I mean like down to likeeight, nine, nine year olds.
I'm like they're eight, nine,they should be going to the pool
(34:52):
every day and they can't go,because then they have a game
that night, I'm like, well, Idon't know.
So that's that's kind of how Ifeel about it as far as like the
mom side of it and maybe likethe non-baseball side.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I like travel baseball.
I think I think it gets a badrap.
I think it needs someadjustment.
(35:27):
I don't think people understandwhat the real purpose of travel
baseball should be.
It's simple to me, the goal oftravel baseball is to develop
the kids.
It's not to win tournaments, togo beat people 12 to nothing
and go five and oh and and telleverybody that oh yeah, we put
72 players in division onebaseball.
The goal should be to developthe players, and I go to these
travel tournaments all the time.
One thing that drives me crazyis and my son was on some of
(35:49):
these teams.
You go to these tournaments andhave 400 teams and you have
two-hour curfews.
You get down to the last fiveminutes and the coaches are
yelling at the kids because myson got yelled at for swinging
at the first pitch in the lastinning.
(36:09):
There was like three minutes togo before the curfew was up and
they had a one-run lead and allthey had to do was continue
batting for three minutes andthe curfew would have came and
they would have won the game.
So my son swung at the firstpitch to lead off the inning,
hit the ball pretty good it wasa deep fly ball Took a great
(36:30):
swing and got yelled at forswinging at the first pitch and
we might have to play anotherinning.
Now we might lose this gamebecause you swung at the first
pitch and there are a lot ofcoaches out there that care way
too much about winning thosegames than they do about
developing the players.
You know, if you look at theway to develop athletes, the
(36:53):
research says that you shouldpractice three times for every
game you play.
Good luck finding that intravel baseball.
There are literally no practicesyou just go play and the last
game, my son played, for examplewe just watched him this past
weekend.
He only got two at-bats becauseit was a four or five-inning
(37:17):
game, because the pace of thegame was terrible, pitchers were
going slow, kids weren'thustling on the field, so he
only got two at-bats, got walkedtwice.
He only swung the bat one time.
The entire game he playedshortstop and got no balls.
So during that game he got toswing the bat once and never got
(37:38):
to field a ground ball.
Had we practiced that day, hecould have swung the bat 100
times and taken 50 ground ballsand became a better player that
day.
So kids miss the point of thevalue of practice and
development.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So, as a parent, your goal for travel ball should be
is my son or daughter a betterplayer at the end of the summer
than they were at the beginningof the summer.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
That literally should be the only goal.
Winning becomes the mostimportant thing when people's
livelihoods are at stake.
When you don't win, Like oursat West Virginia If we don't win
we don't have a job.
But if a travel ball coachdoesn't win, he'll still be a
(38:27):
travel ball coach.
So it's all about thedevelopment of the kids, and
that's the piece that everybodyseems to miss.
And I love travel ball if it'sdone in a way where the goal
should be to match your team upwith teams that are going to
(38:49):
give you equal competition.
To go beat somebody 14 tonothing.
Nobody got anything out of that.
The kids that lost didn't havea good experience.
The kids that won didn't learnanything.
In an ideal scenario, you wouldget on a team that wins half
their games and loses half theirgames.
So you've learned how to winand you've learned how to lose,
(39:12):
because you have to do both.
So you've learned how to winand you've learned how to lose,
because you have to do both inthis sport.
So part of me wants to start myown organization and do it what
I feel is the right way.
But every time I think that way,it occurs to me that I'm
retired now and I don't think Iwant to do that because it's a
(39:36):
whole new lifestyle.
But yeah, I would like to.
In my retirement if anybodycares about my opinion on stuff
like that I would like to make apositive impact on travel ball
and how people view it, becauseI like the concept but the
(39:56):
execution sucks.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Totally agree with what you said there.
Since you mentioned losing andwinning a question, I ask every
guest on the podcast that Iwould like both of you to answer
Hate losing or love winning.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
You know it's the best players out there.
I think hate losing.
I think that drives the TomBrady's of the world and the
goats, as people like to callthem.
But I guess I'm a littledifferent.
I may answer this question alot differently than most people
(40:36):
.
I don't mind losing because Isee it as a learning opportunity
.
I think you learn a lot morewhen you lose than you do when
you win.
So we've had some bad losses inmy career here at West Virginia
.
I see those as unbelievableopportunities to teach kids that
(40:59):
, hey, man, this is part of life.
Life isn't going to be easy.
I feel like I've done most ofmy coaching, or my best coaching
, in the 24 hours after a badloss than you do during any of
the games.
So to me, losing is learningand I view it that way.
(41:19):
Obviously you don't want to doit too much because nobody
enjoys that, but an occasionalloss.
I think, is really, really goodfor you.
So I love winning, but to behonest for you.
So I love winning, but to behonest with you, I don't mind
losing, because it's anunbelievable learning
opportunity.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
I love to win.
Yeah, that's all I'm going tosay that's what I deal with.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
When I get out, she yells at me after we lose a bad
game and I'm like hey it's alearning opportunity.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, I don't care, I'm competitive well, if, if you
were not a baseball coach, whatwould you have been?
And I'd like to hear both ofyour answers.
See if they're the same I don'tknow.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
Part of me wishes I would have gone to law school.
I would like to be a trialattorney where you could get up
and plead your case in front ofpeople.
I'd like to, and I'm probablygoing to, do some of this in
front of people.
I'd like to, and I'm probablygoing to do some of this do some
motivational speaking, becausea lot of people look at what
(42:29):
transpired here at West Virginiathe last 12 years.
We literally took a programthat was on the brink of
extinction.
They were thinking aboutdropping the program.
Now, all of a sudden, we'vebeen ranked in the top 25 in
eight consecutive seasons and alot of people want to know how
we did that.
I think that'd be cool to sharethat message.
And, as you know, we've hadsome personal tragedy in our
(42:53):
lives, with our son beinginjured.
And that's an unbelievable storyof inspiration that we would
love to share with people.
So I would like to hit thespeaking tour if people would
have me and listen to themessage that we can give to
people.
And I'm an outdoors guy.
(43:14):
I've kind of gravitated to it.
I grew up loving to hunt andfish and be outdoors but it's
crazy, since my kids were bornNow, I could care less really to
kill my own animals or catch myown fish.
To me it's all about helpingother people do that.
(43:35):
I get way more satisfaction outof my daughter catching a fish
on a fly rod than I do myself.
That pales in comparison to mecatching my own fish.
So I would love to teach kidshow to fish, take kids hunting,
give them wonderful experiences,because, in the big scheme of
(43:56):
things, as a coach and a fatherand a parent, our job is to make
memories for children and Ireally, really enjoy doing that.
So I wish I had my own piece ofland hunting property with a
trout stream going through it.
I would just invite kids tocome and teach them how to do
(44:19):
that and watch the joy they getout of that.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Well, Amanda, what do you think he would have been if
he wasn't a baseball coach?
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (44:28):
I mean you know what.
He's really funny.
People don't know that abouthim.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
He has a really dry sense of humor.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I don't know if he could have like survived as a
comedian, let's be honest.
Speaker 5 (44:39):
but I don't know.
He always connects really wellwith people, so yeah, the whole
speaking engagements and tourshe's going to amp up that.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
But I actually could have been a.
I would love to be a bartenderfor a week.
I would love that guy thatbelieves that everybody has a
story and when.
I meet new people.
That's my go to line.
Hey, randy, this is Jim.
Hey Jim, what's your story?
I just love hearing people'sstories.
Speaker 5 (45:10):
He talks to everybody .
We don't go in an airport wherehe's not somehow talking to
somebody If somebody's walkingthrough the airport with a fly
rod.
He's like, hey, where are yougoing, what are you doing?
Which?
Is a good thing, especially inthis world, everything's so
impersonal.
Nobody wants to talk to anybody.
This one talks to everybody,which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Even our bus drivers on road trips.
The amazing lives that thoseguys have that nobody knows
about.
You just see them as busdrivers.
We had a bus driver in Oklahomathis year that played college
baseball at Wichita State, had achance to play pro, got sent
over, did a couple tours of dutyin the armed forces, had been
(45:52):
shot three or four times.
And it just fascinates me tohear other people's stories.
Other people look at that guydriving a bus.
I look at that guy for the lifehe's led.
So people just fascinate me andI just love getting to know
people.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Well, I have two questions, if you don't mind.
Everybody that I talk to aboutthe podcast.
They seem to really love agreat story.
And in your 40 years of beingaround college baseball, what is
your best umpire story or maybethe funniest thing that you've
(46:33):
ever seen as a baseball coach?
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Jeez, that's tough.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Dating back 35 years.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
that's a hard one, I've always tried to have a
really good relationship withumpires.
I mean, they make mistakes, butthey're people too, so I try
and talk to all of them.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
The guy that I played for when I was a coach.
His name was Bill Wilhelm, andeverybody in our profession has
a mentor.
I'm sure you have one as acoach we all do.
He was my mentor and one day hewas having an argument with an
umpire and an umpire pulled outhis umpiring card that he
(47:16):
carried with him and said, coach, I've been.
I've been an umpire for over 30years.
Look, look at this card.
I know what the heck I'm doing.
And Coach Wilhelm reached inhis back pocket and pulled out
his driver's license.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
He said I've been driving for 30 years, but I
can't drive worth a crap either.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
So it's just the day-to-day.
You know relationships that youbuild and I try and have a
personal relationship with allthose guys.
It's not easy, but you know,it's just like I said, when I
retire I'll be friends withthose guys.
(47:55):
I saw a bunch of umpires thispast weekend at a travel
tournament.
They were doing a clinic andthey were coming up to me and
we're talking and laughing andhaving a good time and I take
pride in that that.
Hey, you were an umpire, I wasa coach and we don't hate each
other.
That's saying something.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Yep, well, to finish up, coach, you got the Team
Whammer shirt on and you know alot of people know about this,
but maybe some don't.
If you could talk about theTeam Whammer and the whole
situation, amanda, you can jumpin here too and you know what
(48:39):
you guys experienced and how youare turning that into a
positive.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yeah, you know the for the people that don't know
the story.
When my son his name is Weston,we call him whatever.
Uh, everybody says why are youcalling me, or why are you
calling me or?
Speaker 5 (48:54):
his name is Weston Aiden Mazie.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
His initials are W A M, so we're not rocket
scientists.
Uh, when was uh that?
Was his nickname from the dayhe was born.
But he's always been in thedugout with me, even for all the
practices, and we werepracticing during COVID in 2021
(49:18):
on March 9th, and half of ourteam was out with COVID, so we
only had half a team practicingand we only had one active
outfielder left on the team.
We had games coming up thatweekend, so we had a practice
where we put all the infieldersin the outfield, put some
(49:41):
pitchers in the outfield andwe're basically having tryouts
in the outfield.
It was a live drill.
Pitchers were hitting battingpractice.
We were just playing defenseand I put him out at shortstop
to fill in a hole that we had ondefense because everybody was
in the outfield and one of thepitchers hit a short fly ball in
(50:04):
the center field and he ranback from shortstop to catch it
and he dove for the ball overhis shoulder and the center
fielder, who was an infielder,came running in full speed and
didn't dive and he kickedWhammer in the head, hit him
right in the face with his knee,and I was standing in the on
(50:26):
deck circle at the time.
This happens every time, but hewas, he was laying on the field
and I ran out there and he waslaying on the side.
(50:53):
His eyes were open, he couldn'tmove and blood was just pouring
out of his ear and out of hisnose.
So we called 911, and they cameand cut his clothes off and
resuscitated him and we rushedhim to the hospital and in the
(51:18):
ER it's just like you see on TVIn the trauma room there's 20
people.
You see on TV in the traumaroom there's 20 people trying to
save his life.
And they sent a chaplain overand talked to us.
That's how dire it was and Iwas like what are we talking
(51:41):
about here?
30 minutes ago we were playingbaseball.
Now you're trying to save hislife.
So they rushed him up to givehim a CAT scan, see what kind of
damage there was.
And you know, your firstthought is spinal cord injury
because he wasn't moving.
So they came back and said hisspinal cord was twisted but it
(52:09):
wasn't damaged and we didn'tknow what that meant.
But they said they thought thatpart was going to be okay, but
he had multiple skull fractures.
He got hit so hard in the frontof his face.
All the skull fractures were inthe back of his head.
That's how hard he got hit andthey said there's some brain
(52:29):
bleeding and brain swelling.
There's going to be the next 48to 72 hours are very critical.
The brain will continue toswell.
If it swells too much, we'regoing to have to go in and
intervene and do something.
So it was for the next threedays in the ICU.
(52:50):
It was just a waiting game tosee how much damage was going to
be done to the brain andfortunately it didn't swell to
the point where they had tointervene and he, literally from
(53:15):
March 9th of 2021 until we sithere today, he hasn't had a
setback.
It's been progress we feel fromevery day, every day.
So he spent a week in ICU,transferred him to the
Children's Hospital up here atWVU, and then we got a bed at a
(53:36):
place called the Shepherd Centerin Atlanta that is world
renowned for brain and spinalcord rehabilitation.
So we airlifted him to uh fromMorgantown to Atlanta and he
spent two months relearning alot of things.
The part of his brain that wasdamaged was balance, equilibrium
(53:57):
, uh, and he's a hockey playertoo, uh.
So he had to learn how tobalance uh on a too.
So he had to learn how tobalance on an ice skate.
But it was learning how to hithis.
Believe it or not.
He got hit so hard his eyeswere crossed for a couple months
and had to do exercises to gethis eyesight back in line.
(54:19):
So it was a tough, tough roadto recovery and Amanda was
videotaping every day.
We're kind of private people sowe didn't have any intention of
sharing that.
We just wanted to document hisrecovery.
And after he recovered and weknew things were going to be
(54:43):
okay, we showed one of thosevideos to a friend and they said
you really need to share thatwith people.
That is so inspirational thatother people need to see that.
Speaker 5 (54:58):
We wanted.
For us, it was important togive people hope, because when
we were going through oursituation, we didn't really have
a lot of hope, because you justdon't know.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
I mean nobody thinks they're going to go through this
.
Speaker 5 (55:13):
So when it was time to share this video like I said,
we didn't do it for publicpurposes, just for us to be able
to show him we thought, well,we want to pay it forward and
raise money, so we started theTeen Whammer Foundation to raise
money for the Children'sHospital who saved?
his life and the Shepherd Centerwho gave him his life back.
And we thought we can't askpeople to donate and give their
(55:36):
hard-earned money if we can'tshow them how his progress was
and to give other people hope.
So we raise money and we helppay for people's bills down at
the Shepherd Center, because alot of those people have to quit
their jobs and we, you knowthere's.
That shouldn't be that extraburden.
And here we started afoundation with the children's
(55:56):
hospital that if a child needsto be airlifted or however they
need to get to rehabilitation,we will pay for that.
A lot of insurance companieswon't pay for that to get that
child to rehab and they need toget to rehab.
That's a very critical part,but it was the worst time of our
lives and we turned it into apositive.
(56:18):
And it wasn't easy.
Speaker 4 (56:20):
We've shed many tears , still do, but if you saw
william today, you would have noidea that anything ever
happened to him and you knowthat video.
Speaker 5 (56:30):
You can go to teamwammercom.
We're always raising money, butyou can see the video from day
one to day 72 when he got out ofhis, out of the rehab.
So, um, it's been aninspiration, it's a part of our,
our family story and we justwanted to, you know, pay it
forward.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Special thanks to WVU head baseball coach Randy Mazie
and his wife Amanda.
So now what's a coach who'srecently retired from college
baseball?
Do now start a podcast.
The podcast is called MaisieDays.
Amanda is a sports reporter andanchor and is joined by her
(57:07):
husband, randy.
They discuss motivation, lifeexperience and great stories.
That's Maisie Days.
Check it out.
Today's episode of BaseballCoaches Unplugged is powered by
the netting professionals,improving programs one facility
at a time.
Contact them today at844-620-2707, or you can visit
(57:31):
them online at wwwnettingproscom.
As always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter, and thank you
for listening to BaseballCoaches Unplugged and look
forward to a new episode nextWednesday.
Merry Christmas and happyholidays to you and your family.
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches,
with 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
, here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
We're covering it all.
(00:22):
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality.
Inspire your players and getthem truly bought into your game
philosophy Plus, get the latestinsights on recruiting,
coaching, leadership andcrafting a team culture that
(00:42):
champions productivity andsuccess.
Join Coach every week as hebreaks down the game and shares
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Your competitive edge startshere, so check out the show
weekly and hear from the bestcoaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter.
Hello and welcome to BaseballCoaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and Baseball Coaches
Unplugged is a podcast thathelps equip you, the listener,
with strategies to help elevateyour coaching.
You'll gain practical insightsfrom the best coaches across the
country that you can implementwith your team.
Today, you're probablywondering why are you releasing
(01:28):
a podcast on Christmas Day.
Well, I thought I'd be differentthan a lot of podcasters who'd
like to take the week ofChristmas off.
I decided to re-release my mosttalked about episode from 2024.
(01:50):
I was fortunate enough to getRandy Mazey, the head baseball
coach at WVU, which is WestVirginia University, right after
retiring and being knocked outof the regionals against the
University of North Carolina.
I also wanted to do something alittle different.
Every coach that's out therehas a spouse that is in the
background and they're the mostsupportive person that that
(02:11):
coach has, and I thought why notask Coach Mazey if he would get
his wife Amanda to join us?
He agreed to do that and shewas all in.
They share their journey ofnearly 40 years of coaching
college baseball.
They tell an incredible storyabout their son, wham, who
(02:35):
suffered a near fatal injury onthe baseball field and he just
now committed to West VirginiaUniversity to play.
I hope you enjoy this and ifyou're a subscriber and you've
listened to all of these showsup to this point, I would
recommend listening to it againand if you're new to the show,
(02:56):
give it a listen, because CoachMazie and his wife are really
good people and they're what'sright about the game of baseball
.
Before we start, I have to thankWill Miner and his team at the
Netting Professionals.
They do a great job and theyare the go-to company when
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On today's show, you'll hearfrom Coach Randy Mazey, recently
(04:25):
retired WVU head baseball coach, discussing what it took to
turn around a baseball programthat was on the verge of
extinction.
You'll also hear how importanta supportive spouse is, as we
are joined by his wife, amanda.
And finally, you'll have towait till the end to see how a
(04:46):
tragic on-field baseballaccident to their son is now
benefiting families who need thehelp the most.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, you actually gave me the option to
have Amanda here with me or not,and I chose to have her with me
, so good for both of us.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
He does love me.
Thanks, Ken.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Well, you know, when I first did this, I thought I've
never had a coach with his wifeon the podcast and you know, my
wife was almost like anassistant coach when I came home
at night.
So I thought, with Amanda, withyour sports background, I
thought this is the perfectopportunity to get the two of
(05:27):
you guys on.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, it's.
We've always had this uniquerelationship because he's always
been the coach.
I'm the TV sports reporter, soit's a kind of a cliche that I'm
the sports reporter thatmarried the coach.
But yeah, that's kind of likealways been our unique little
connection and I've always lovedsports long before him, so it's
been fun.
It's a unique relationship andpartnership, so I've really
(05:52):
enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
You said, it's almost like having an assistant coach
at home.
She actually has been writingmy lineups for the last 20 years
.
I don't know if people realizethat.
There you go.
Now you know, Now you know shegets all the credit for the wins
and I take all the blame forthe losses.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Well, it's been, I think, a little bit over a month
now and you know I got to askhow's retirement treating the
both of you retirement?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
treating the both of you.
You know what, ken?
I've never realized that youcould live life stress-free for
the most part.
You know, it's been 35 years ofcoaching and every day you wake
up you're just trying tocompete and trying to find a way
(06:42):
to be better than your opponent, and you don't realize what
kind of lifestyle that is untilyou get out of it.
And now the biggest stress inmy life is you know, we're going
to get enough rain for mytomatoes down in the garden, you
know, and I wake up in themorning and there's a little bit
of a sense of freedom.
It's early, of course.
(07:04):
It's only been a month.
If you're going to miss part ofthe season as a coach, the
recruiting in the summertime isprobably the part you want to
miss.
It's going really well so far.
We'll see how it goes when theseason starts and the games come
along.
I'm not with the players everyday and the staff every day in
(07:25):
the office.
All the stuff that I reallyenjoyed hasn't come around yet,
so, but so far so good.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
How would you rate his retirement starting off?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
You know what?
It's actually been pretty niceto have him home and doing
things.
I'm typically the one that kindof runs the show at home, so
I'm I'm the one doing thegardening and I'm doing all of
this.
So it has been nice.
I will say he loves to cook.
I hate to cook.
Hate it, hate it, hate it sohe's in the kitchen cooking, but
he doesn't make it easy, like,if it's gonna, if it's a recipe
(08:00):
that calls for broth, he's gonnamake the broth homemade.
So like everything is organicand from the beginning.
So I've been telling ourfriends it's like having a
toddler in the kitchen.
There's just stuff everywhereand it's a mess.
And you're like, okay, this isgreat.
But you're like, oh, this mess,but he's, he's enjoyed himself.
It's nice to have them notstressed honestly.
(08:22):
So it's it again.
Like he said, it's only been amonth.
Talk to me next month.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I might be ready to kill them.
There you go.
Well, now that you've had sometime to reflect on your career,
what has it meant to you for 40years to have such a huge effect
on young baseball players'lives?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
You know the relationships to me were always
the best part.
You know I was never that guythat when I died I didn't want
it to say on my tombstone howmany games I won.
You know I literally could careless about that.
I know a lot of people are thatway, but I'm not.
When I retired I just wanted tohave a network of friends and
(09:08):
and coaches that I haverelationships with and you know,
just yesterday I was sittingout on the back porch with a
drink in my hand called DanFitzgerald from Kansas and Pete
Hughes from Kansas State friendsof mine that I've built in this
profession that I can still befriends with and I will leave
(09:29):
with that, with greatrelationships with a lot of
people and in the big scheme ofthings, like I said, I could
care less what my record was.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But the relationships with the former players and the
coaches.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I got a text from a former player literally right
before we started this podcast.
His son was born this morningand he sent me a text.
Give me his name and his birthweight and all that.
And it's just stuff like thatthat when I reflect back that
I'm proud of what I accomplishedoff the field way more than on
(10:03):
the field, I'm proud of what Iaccomplished off the field way
more than on the field.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's the secret to coaching, in my opinion, because
everybody I get on this podcast, all the coaches seem to get it
and they talk about theimportance of the relationships
they have with their players andtheir assistant coaches and
everybody associated with theprogram.
And you know, amanda, you'vebeen along for this ride.
(10:29):
What has it meant to you to beevery step of the way?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
It's been a blessing to see these guys kind of grow
up before our eyes.
I mean, when he and I first gottogether we're about 10 years
apart, so I wasn't much olderthan some of these players and
to watch them go from college tothe real world and become
fathers and dads, that's beenreally rewarding too.
(10:55):
So you kind of have like thisvested interest in their life
beyond baseball and it's justbeen really incredible to be a
part of a lot of those kidsjourneys through baseball,
through adulthood and to seewhere they are now and they come
back and we always tell themour house is always open, you're
welcome back anytime.
If you need us for anything,we're there for you.
(11:17):
So we just have like thisnetwork of kind of like children
out there all across thecountry, which is pretty special
.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Well, wvu baseball has changed forever under your
leadership, coach.
Talk about.
I grew up in eastern Ohio andright across the river from
Wheeling, and I know how the fanbase can be in West Virginia.
They're really passionate.
But talk about how the wholestate fell in love with your
program.
And the other side of it is whyshould a college baseball
(11:55):
player out there consider WestVirginia as a place to play?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, you know there's a real sense of pride
too.
When I retired that thedifference in the program now
compared to 12 years ago.
I feel like the entire stateright now has a program they can
be proud of, and most coachesdon't get to retire when they
(12:21):
feel that way.
You know it's a lot of times.
I mean the amount ofretirements that are voluntary
in our profession is way lessthan the forced ones, as we know
.
But it's pretty cool to retirewhen you feel like you can be
really, really proud ofsomething.
And you know West Virginia is aunique place.
(12:44):
I know you know that and youknow West Virginia is a unique
place.
I know you know that and youknow we played North Carolina in
the Super Regional.
In the state of North Carolinathere are 19 or 20 Division I
baseball schools.
So in the state of NorthCarolina all the fans, their
loyalties, are divided amongthose schools.
Everybody I mean Duke and NCState and Wake Forest all have
(13:07):
their own followings of fans.
But in our state, as you know,there's only two Division I
schools us and Marshall andthey're pretty safe to say that
we probably have 90% of the fanbase in the state of West
Virginia supporting theMountaineers.
So this really means a lot to alot of people that this program
(13:29):
is in a place right now thateverybody can be proud of.
So that gives me a sense ofpride.
In retirement I want to travelthe state and stay connected
with people, and I feel like youknow when I go speak at events,
regardless of what event I'mspeaking at.
I always wear my uniform thatsays Mountaineers across the
(13:51):
chest, and I do that becausethat uniform in itself, because
of our state, makes peoplelisten to what you have to say.
You know, and we've done somegreat things here.
I'm not naive enough to everthink that I did it by myself.
This one beside me had a lot todo with it my staff, the
(14:14):
players, the fans, theadministration.
It's a collaborative effort toget this program where it's at
today, but really, really proud,when I did announce my
retirement, that we left thisbad boy in a pretty good place.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yep, without a doubt.
Well, you know, the uniquething about this podcast is
having, you know, the wife of acoach on.
I have had a ton of coaches onbut I've never had a wife.
And you know, I talked to acoaching friend of mine.
They made it to the statechampionship and played a great
(14:54):
game, lost by one run.
Parents were just Very vocaland, knowing that the wife was
right there in the middle of allof it and she was having to
hear a lot of this, what wouldbe the best advice that, if a
coach is listening to this, hecould share with his wife when
(15:14):
she's having to attend games?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
You know it's pretty unique because I've had to sit
in situations when we're at home.
obviously most people know thatI'm his wife and and, like you
said, mountaineer fans arepassionate and there have been
times where they've been yellingat him and I just know, that's
part of the territory you knowif, if fans want to criticize
(15:37):
him because he sent a runnerfrom third or called a bad pitch
, like that's part of it, and Iunderstand that.
The thing that I never likedwas if they got personal about
him or me or us or our children,but even then I just sort of
like, let it roll off my back.
You kind of have to be like aduck with the water.
It just has to kind of like rolloff because you can't engage as
(16:00):
much as you want to.
It just makes it worse.
And I also stay off socialmedia because people love you
when they're winning and theyhate you when they're losing.
And even when you're winning,there are going to be people out
there that if you win by 20runs, why didn't you win by 21?
I mean, there are always goingto be detractors no matter what
you're doing.
So I've just made it a realpoint to just not engage and
(16:25):
it's hard.
I mean sometimes it's hardbecause you want to turn around,
especially at an away venueright Like that's where it's
really bad because they'reyelling and this and that, and
yeah, it's just.
You just have to have reallythick skin and and not let them
know who you are, Like I neverwanted people to know who I was,
because then they tend to liketurn it up and not well, that's
(16:48):
the coach's wife Like let'sreally dig in and see if we can
get a reaction.
No reaction is the best, butit's hard.
I mean, this is being a coach'swife at any level.
It's not for the faint of heart.
You have to have thick skin andyou have to be tough and just.
Man, don't, don't wear youremotions, you know, and just
wait to get back to the hoteland the car, and then you can MF
them all you want.
(17:09):
Just don't do it to their face,Don't let them know.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Be sure to follow us on all socials, at athlete one
podcast, and hit up our websiteat athlete onenet.
That's athlete the athlete1.net.
That's athlete the number onedot net.
This is the Athlete One Podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Of all the recruits Coach that you've recruited
throughout the years, there'sgot to be one, I think, that
stands out among all of them.
And your son, you know, isWeston.
He's now committed to go toWest Virginia University and
(17:54):
talk about I know how myexperience was with my son being
in the dugout, both as a playerand as a bad boy when he was
younger.
Talk about that experience ofhaving your son in the dugout
with you throughout these years.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
The fact that he has been in the dugout keeps me from
having to teach him baseball,you know, first and foremost
because he's around it every dayand he watches JJ Weatherholt
take ground balls, and hewatches guys like.
Darius Hill hit and kids arepretty sharp, you know they.
(18:30):
They pick up things from thekids around them.
So for the first 12-13 years ofhis life I literally didn't
teach him baseball.
I just wanted to let him gohave fun and play and he's
emulating people's stances andhow they feel ground balls.
Fortunately he's around a lotof good players.
He's developed a pretty goodfeel for the game.
(18:54):
Now when he's in the dugoutwith me at his age, we'll
actually talk about the game andsituations.
He'll give me his input.
We were in a regional last yearand there was a play at home
plate in the regional and wewere on defense and the umpire
(19:15):
called the guy safe and he toldme he said Dad, that guy never
touched home plate, he slid intothe catcher's foot.
You need to replay that Call fora replay.
So we called for a replay.
So we called for a replay andthe call got overturned.
Because he pays such closeattention to the game and I
think that's uh that reallyhelps him as a player too
(19:35):
because, uh, physically, likemost kids who are juniors in
high school, he's undersized andunder strengthngth, but he's
got a pretty good feel for thegame.
So the other stuff will come.
But I never wanted to be withouthim in the dugout.
I always wanted to coach him atWest Virginia, but I didn't
(19:57):
want him to be coached by me.
I thought that would have beentoo much pressure on him.
I didn't want him, after thegame, to go back to the
apartment with the players.
You know, as a coach, when youwrite the lineup, there's only
nine guys on the team that arehappy with you when you write
the lineup.
The rest of them would ratherpush you off the side of a cliff
(20:19):
because they're not in thelineup.
So they get back to theapartment and they're going to
tell all their buddies what ajerk you are.
I just didn't want him to bearound that and have to hear
that.
So I trust the coaches that arehere to coach him that they're
going to develop him and teachhim and unselfishly, you know, I
(20:43):
did not want to put thatpressure on him to be coached by
me.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Well, let me ask you this with your son being a
college recruit, commit to adivision one school as parents.
How, how much do you reallyemphasize the being prepared so
when he first walks onto campushe doesn't get hit with the oh
(21:15):
my God, the weight room orwhatever it is that really opens
up the eyes of a freshmanbaseball player, regardless of
how good they are?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, he's in a unique situation that he has
practiced with us in the pastand he lives with our team, so
he's not going to getsteamrolled with what happened
your freshman year because he'sbeen through it, but it's a real
thing for a kid now.
You know we've started aprogram called Summer Bridge
(21:46):
where the incoming freshmen cometo summer school and take one
class and start lifting andpracticing.
So when that first semesterstarts and all 30,000 students
come steamrolling intoMorgantown at one time, they
don't our guys don't getoverwhelmed.
They've already been here for amonth and have made the
(22:07):
transition.
But life as a freshman baseballplayer has changed here in the
last two years too, because ofthe portal.
You know, now, just like him,my son's a rising senior in high
school.
He's an infielder.
I think he's going to be a goodplayer.
I don't know that, but he couldcome here as a freshman and
(22:28):
they could have signed two shortstops out of the portal the
same year he gets here.
So it's changed a lot.
The high school kid that wascommitting to schools early on
has changed.
The landscape has changed.
I have a lot of parents of kidsmy age that are kind of
(22:52):
panicking right now that hey, wedon't have a place.
You know the last three years,you know you've seen freshmen
and sophomores in high schoolcommitting to schools and they
changed the rules.
You can't do that anymore.
And now, with the portal, notas many high school kids are
seeing the same opportunities asthey have the past four or five
(23:12):
years, and my message to themis just don't panic.
If you're a good player, you'llfind a good place, and but the
dynamic is definitely differentthan it used to be.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, I heard an interview, I believe it was,
with Nick Saban as he was comingtoward his retirement and his
wife played a role with theincoming freshmen.
You know they would have themover to their house and things
like that.
As a the wife of the coach ofyou, did you have a similar
style?
And I believe, when he said hetalked to his wife about this,
(23:54):
his wife would connect with notonly the players but the, the
parents that would come to ofthose incoming freshmen, and she
said that it's now all theywere talking about was NIL money
, and he was.
You know, coach Saban can bebeing a former mountaineer
himself as far as growing up inWest Virginia.
Did you play any role like thatwith players throughout the
(24:17):
years coming by, possibly toyour place?
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Yeah.
So my role in all of that waswe would always have recruiting
dinners at our house and meetthe parents.
We always wanted to make it ahomey environment.
When we got to West Virginia,we built a house, and when we
built this house, it wasn't justfor our family, but it was for
the baseball family as well.
So we built our kitchen.
It's like a nice big kitchenand so when we have meals
catered and we have the teamover, we have recruiting dinners
, it flows.
So we built this house.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
We wanted to make sure that we had the families
over because you can get to knowthem better in your own home.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
As opposed to going to a restaurant and you're
sitting, you know tables and youdon't really have a chance to
interact with people.
So we've always made it afamily atmosphere here at West
Virginia and I, you know, wouldget to know the parents then,
you know, and and they would askme some questions, but they
were more interested in thebaseball side.
But I always let it be knownthat if your kid needs anything,
(25:12):
if you guys need anything, letus know.
If you need, you know, the momto come in and do some things.
We've had some players who havehad, you know, some life
situations while they were hereand I never wanted to, like,
overstep my boundary because tome I'm like, well, I am just the
wife, like I'm not a part ofthe staff or anything.
But I always let it be knownthat if you need a mama.
(25:33):
I'm here for you, so I alwaysjust kind of put the ball in
there for it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And that seems like the consensus, because from my
research a lot of the playerstalk about you coaches.
You know you're not just abaseball coach, but you know in
some ways a father figure.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, you know I've always taken pride in the fact
that you know we do a reallygood job of teaching guys the
baseball skills that they needto be successful.
You know how to steal secondbase or hit a curveball or field
a backhand, but those skills,as you know, only last year, for
a couple of years.
Very few people ever get toplay this game beyond their 25th
(26:17):
birthday.
So spend all this time teachingthem stuff they won't use that
much the rest of their life.
So I've taken a lot of pride intrying to teach them the skills
that they will use the rest oftheir life.
You know how to be a goodhusband and father and teammate
and co-worker and all that stuff.
So we really would make aconscious effort to go out of
(26:42):
our way to teach those skills.
And when they're done playing,that's the part that they
appreciate the most, the factthat we taught them how to be
tough and overcome adversity,because everybody faces it, you
know.
So we would have meetings everyweek in our theater and
(27:02):
wouldn't talk baseball at all.
We would just talk life skillsand trying to get guys in a good
place mentally and prepare forthe rest of their lives.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Is that possibly what separates the really good,
successful coaches from thosewho are?
You know that either don't makeit as a college coach or
struggle, and you know, if youremove the talented players from
the equation, is that, like thekey you think for high school
(27:35):
and college coaches to be ableto get them to buy into what
you're saying?
As far as the family atmosphere, yeah, it's kind of weird.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
If you think about it , what I deem as a successful
coach is way different than whatmost people not in this
profession deem as a successfulcoach is way different than what
most people not in thisprofession deem as a successful
coach.
You know the fans out there andpeople not in this profession.
They judge you on how manygames you win.
It's just what they do, and tome, a successful coach is one
(28:10):
who does establish relationshipswith kids and teaches them life
skills and ends up attendingtheir weddings and getting to
know their families.
If you're inside the profession, that's what you feel is
success.
It's not the wins and lossesthere are some that judge
themselves on how many gamesthey win, because you know it's
(28:34):
the nature of the business.
I'm just not one of those guysI never wanted to be.
It's if you can find a way tocombine what I deem as a
successful coach and what thefans deem as a successful coach,
then you've got the perfectstorm, and that's that's kind of
how we ended here the lastcouple of years at West Virginia
(28:55):
we won a regional this year,played in the Super, Last year
we won the Big 12.
So all the people around thestate of West Virginia deemed me
as a successful coach based onthat.
But I feel like I've beensuccessful based on the
relationships that I've built.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
I've always told him, ken, or I've always told
everybody that baseball is whathe does.
It's not who he is, and there'sa difference with that.
There are a lot of coaches.
Baseball is what they do, andit's who they are.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
You go to their house .
They're watching Major LeagueBaseball.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
It's baseball all the time and they have no hobbies
outside of it, and I couldn'thonestly I couldn't be married
to somebody like that.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So I've always said he has that nice balance.
So what are the hobbies thatyou guys do outside of for your
family outside?
Speaker 5 (29:46):
of baseball.
One of his hobbies is going tobe vacuuming and loading the
dishwasher and laundry, sothere's a lot of new hobbies on
the horizon.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I try to do all that stuff once and screw it up on
purpose so she never has to doit again.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
That's true that's true, no, we're huge outdoors
people.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
That's why we love west virginia.
It's the world's largestoutdoor playground.
We like to hike and camp andfish and do stuff like that.
Believe it or not, I've beenspending a lot of time in my
garden.
It's so peaceful down there.
Nobody yells at me when I'mdown in there.
I can just pick my cabbage at myown pace.
I do like to do somewoodworking stuff and get away
(30:31):
from it.
It's kind of weird, though,that I had a lot of hobbies
before I met her and before wehad kids, but when you have kids
in my profession.
You miss so much of what they dothat I would feel guilty going
and doing one of my hobbies andeven taking more time away from
(30:52):
my family.
So for the last 15 years or sothe woodworking has been put to
the side and the hunting andfishing has been put to the side
.
Once the kids get out of thehouse we'll see how I feel, but
it's kind of weird in retirementI didn't know I was going to
feel this way, but I retired andas soon as I retired all my
(31:15):
buddies would call me and say,okay, let's, let's go here,
let's go there, let's go elkhunting, let's go trap fishing,
let's do this, let's do that.
And I'm like what?
I retired to spend more timewith my family.
I immediately started feelingguilty that well, I'm not going
to spend less time with myfamily in retirement.
(31:35):
So I haven't figured that partout of it yet, but I'm still
working on it.
But I'm going to pick thehobbies back up, I think, and
keep myself busy.
You know we started we talkedabout it before we got on the
air.
We started our own podcast,amanda and I did, called Maisy
Days, and we've enjoyed the heckout of that.
(31:56):
You, as a professionalpodcaster, know that there's a
lot that goes into it, but Iwant to stay connected with the
people of West Virginia and theprogram.
I feel like we've kind ofingrained ourself in this
community, in this state, and Iby no means want that to go away
.
It was really nice that in mylast year of coaching we had a
(32:21):
good year that helps.
So, yeah, I want to get outthere and be visible and still
meet people and get to know thepeople of West Virginia.
That's kind of what we'repassionate about.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Well, the two of you have experienced travel ball,
and from a parent's perspectiveand also from your college coach
experience.
There's so many good thingsabout travel baseball, but
there's also a lot of the.
You see a lot of good thingsabout travel baseball, but
there's also a lot of the.
You see a lot of the negativityabout travel baseball.
(32:57):
What would you recommend, sinceyou've been on both sides of it
, to to make travel baseball abetter experience?
Speaker 5 (33:05):
and I'll start with you first, amanda you know from,
maybe from like thenon-baseball side of it, which I
know sounds weird since we'retalking about travel baseball.
I think the one thing withtravel ball that I don't like is
I feel like it just takes up nomatter what sport it is.
It just takes up all the kidstime, like kids just being kids
(33:25):
anymore.
It doesn't exist like kidsgoing to summer camp, and I
think that has gotten lost inall of this.
And our kids they do the travelball, but also if we have an
opportunity to do an amazingexperience as a family like oh,
we have an opportunity to go dosomething this weekend we're
going to do it.
You know, like one weekend ofhim missing baseball is not
(33:48):
going to like take him off therails, and no coach should
punish a child or a family ifthey want to do something like
that, because that's important.
The travel ball is just turnedinto a business for kids.
Let the kids be kids.
I mean, yeah, you got to do itand I know that's like the
culture now, but I don't know.
I just I wish it wasn't sointense in any sport, but some
(34:08):
of these sports are year-round,I'm like.
But they're Like let's just goout in the yard and play
kickball or cornhole afterdinner, like we value, you know,
our family time because of youknow the uniqueness of his
business, but um yeah, I justwish it wasn't so intense and so
schedule driven and so muchpressure from some of these
(34:30):
coaches.
I mean, I have friends andthey're like oh, oh yeah we
can't do anything.
We have this this and thistournament, and I'm like man
just miss one of thosetournaments, you know, but but
they feel like they can'tbecause the coach is gonna like
punish their child and not play.
You're paying all this money.
So I don't know, like I I don'tkind of like how it has turned
into a business for kids.
I mean I mean like down to likeeight, nine, nine year olds.
I'm like they're eight, nine,they should be going to the pool
(34:52):
every day and they can't go,because then they have a game
that night, I'm like, well, Idon't know.
So that's that's kind of how Ifeel about it as far as like the
mom side of it and maybe likethe non-baseball side.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I like travel baseball.
I think I think it gets a badrap.
I think it needs someadjustment.
(35:27):
I don't think people understandwhat the real purpose of travel
baseball should be.
It's simple to me, the goal oftravel baseball is to develop
the kids.
It's not to win tournaments, togo beat people 12 to nothing
and go five and oh and and telleverybody that oh yeah, we put
72 players in division onebaseball.
The goal should be to developthe players, and I go to these
travel tournaments all the time.
One thing that drives me crazyis and my son was on some of
(35:49):
these teams.
You go to these tournaments andhave 400 teams and you have
two-hour curfews.
You get down to the last fiveminutes and the coaches are
yelling at the kids because myson got yelled at for swinging
at the first pitch in the lastinning.
(36:09):
There was like three minutes togo before the curfew was up and
they had a one-run lead and allthey had to do was continue
batting for three minutes andthe curfew would have came and
they would have won the game.
So my son swung at the firstpitch to lead off the inning,
hit the ball pretty good it wasa deep fly ball Took a great
(36:30):
swing and got yelled at forswinging at the first pitch and
we might have to play anotherinning.
Now we might lose this gamebecause you swung at the first
pitch and there are a lot ofcoaches out there that care way
too much about winning thosegames than they do about
developing the players.
You know, if you look at theway to develop athletes, the
(36:53):
research says that you shouldpractice three times for every
game you play.
Good luck finding that intravel baseball.
There are literally no practicesyou just go play and the last
game, my son played, for examplewe just watched him this past
weekend.
He only got two at-bats becauseit was a four or five-inning
(37:17):
game, because the pace of thegame was terrible, pitchers were
going slow, kids weren'thustling on the field, so he
only got two at-bats, got walkedtwice.
He only swung the bat one time.
The entire game he playedshortstop and got no balls.
So during that game he got toswing the bat once and never got
(37:38):
to field a ground ball.
Had we practiced that day, hecould have swung the bat 100
times and taken 50 ground ballsand became a better player that
day.
So kids miss the point of thevalue of practice and
development.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So, as a parent, your goal for travel ball should be
is my son or daughter a betterplayer at the end of the summer
than they were at the beginningof the summer.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
That literally should be the only goal.
Winning becomes the mostimportant thing when people's
livelihoods are at stake.
When you don't win, Like oursat West Virginia If we don't win
we don't have a job.
But if a travel ball coachdoesn't win, he'll still be a
(38:27):
travel ball coach.
So it's all about thedevelopment of the kids, and
that's the piece that everybodyseems to miss.
And I love travel ball if it'sdone in a way where the goal
should be to match your team upwith teams that are going to
(38:49):
give you equal competition.
To go beat somebody 14 tonothing.
Nobody got anything out of that.
The kids that lost didn't havea good experience.
The kids that won didn't learnanything.
In an ideal scenario, you wouldget on a team that wins half
their games and loses half theirgames.
So you've learned how to winand you've learned how to lose,
(39:12):
because you have to do both.
So you've learned how to winand you've learned how to lose,
because you have to do both inthis sport.
So part of me wants to start myown organization and do it what
I feel is the right way.
But every time I think that way,it occurs to me that I'm
retired now and I don't think Iwant to do that because it's a
(39:36):
whole new lifestyle.
But yeah, I would like to.
In my retirement if anybodycares about my opinion on stuff
like that I would like to make apositive impact on travel ball
and how people view it, becauseI like the concept but the
(39:56):
execution sucks.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Totally agree with what you said there.
Since you mentioned losing andwinning a question, I ask every
guest on the podcast that Iwould like both of you to answer
Hate losing or love winning.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
You know it's the best players out there.
I think hate losing.
I think that drives the TomBrady's of the world and the
goats, as people like to callthem.
But I guess I'm a littledifferent.
I may answer this question alot differently than most people
(40:36):
.
I don't mind losing because Isee it as a learning opportunity
.
I think you learn a lot morewhen you lose than you do when
you win.
So we've had some bad losses inmy career here at West Virginia
.
I see those as unbelievableopportunities to teach kids that
(40:59):
, hey, man, this is part of life.
Life isn't going to be easy.
I feel like I've done most ofmy coaching, or my best coaching
, in the 24 hours after a badloss than you do during any of
the games.
So to me, losing is learningand I view it that way.
(41:19):
Obviously you don't want to doit too much because nobody
enjoys that, but an occasionalloss.
I think, is really, really goodfor you.
So I love winning, but to behonest for you.
So I love winning, but to behonest with you, I don't mind
losing, because it's anunbelievable learning
opportunity.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
I love to win.
Yeah, that's all I'm going tosay that's what I deal with.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
When I get out, she yells at me after we lose a bad
game and I'm like hey it's alearning opportunity.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, I don't care, I'm competitive well, if, if you
were not a baseball coach, whatwould you have been?
And I'd like to hear both ofyour answers.
See if they're the same I don'tknow.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
Part of me wishes I would have gone to law school.
I would like to be a trialattorney where you could get up
and plead your case in front ofpeople.
I'd like to, and I'm probablygoing to, do some of this in
front of people.
I'd like to, and I'm probablygoing to do some of this do some
motivational speaking, becausea lot of people look at what
(42:29):
transpired here at West Virginiathe last 12 years.
We literally took a programthat was on the brink of
extinction.
They were thinking aboutdropping the program.
Now, all of a sudden, we'vebeen ranked in the top 25 in
eight consecutive seasons and alot of people want to know how
we did that.
I think that'd be cool to sharethat message.
And, as you know, we've hadsome personal tragedy in our
(42:53):
lives, with our son beinginjured.
And that's an unbelievable storyof inspiration that we would
love to share with people.
So I would like to hit thespeaking tour if people would
have me and listen to themessage that we can give to
people.
And I'm an outdoors guy.
(43:14):
I've kind of gravitated to it.
I grew up loving to hunt andfish and be outdoors but it's
crazy, since my kids were bornNow, I could care less really to
kill my own animals or catch myown fish.
To me it's all about helpingother people do that.
(43:35):
I get way more satisfaction outof my daughter catching a fish
on a fly rod than I do myself.
That pales in comparison to mecatching my own fish.
So I would love to teach kidshow to fish, take kids hunting,
give them wonderful experiences,because, in the big scheme of
(43:56):
things, as a coach and a fatherand a parent, our job is to make
memories for children and Ireally, really enjoy doing that.
So I wish I had my own piece ofland hunting property with a
trout stream going through it.
I would just invite kids tocome and teach them how to do
(44:19):
that and watch the joy they getout of that.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Well, Amanda, what do you think he would have been if
he wasn't a baseball coach?
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (44:28):
I mean you know what.
He's really funny.
People don't know that abouthim.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
He has a really dry sense of humor.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I don't know if he could have like survived as a
comedian, let's be honest.
Speaker 5 (44:39):
but I don't know.
He always connects really wellwith people, so yeah, the whole
speaking engagements and tourshe's going to amp up that.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
But I actually could have been a.
I would love to be a bartenderfor a week.
I would love that guy thatbelieves that everybody has a
story and when.
I meet new people.
That's my go to line.
Hey, randy, this is Jim.
Hey Jim, what's your story?
I just love hearing people'sstories.
Speaker 5 (45:10):
He talks to everybody .
We don't go in an airport wherehe's not somehow talking to
somebody If somebody's walkingthrough the airport with a fly
rod.
He's like, hey, where are yougoing, what are you doing?
Which?
Is a good thing, especially inthis world, everything's so
impersonal.
Nobody wants to talk to anybody.
This one talks to everybody,which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Even our bus drivers on road trips.
The amazing lives that thoseguys have that nobody knows
about.
You just see them as busdrivers.
We had a bus driver in Oklahomathis year that played college
baseball at Wichita State, had achance to play pro, got sent
over, did a couple tours of dutyin the armed forces, had been
(45:52):
shot three or four times.
And it just fascinates me tohear other people's stories.
Other people look at that guydriving a bus.
I look at that guy for the lifehe's led.
So people just fascinate me andI just love getting to know
people.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Well, I have two questions, if you don't mind.
Everybody that I talk to aboutthe podcast.
They seem to really love agreat story.
And in your 40 years of beingaround college baseball, what is
your best umpire story or maybethe funniest thing that you've
(46:33):
ever seen as a baseball coach?
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Jeez, that's tough.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Dating back 35 years.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
that's a hard one, I've always tried to have a
really good relationship withumpires.
I mean, they make mistakes, butthey're people too, so I try
and talk to all of them.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
The guy that I played for when I was a coach.
His name was Bill Wilhelm, andeverybody in our profession has
a mentor.
I'm sure you have one as acoach we all do.
He was my mentor and one day hewas having an argument with an
umpire and an umpire pulled outhis umpiring card that he
(47:16):
carried with him and said, coach, I've been.
I've been an umpire for over 30years.
Look, look at this card.
I know what the heck I'm doing.
And Coach Wilhelm reached inhis back pocket and pulled out
his driver's license.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
He said I've been driving for 30 years, but I
can't drive worth a crap either.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
So it's just the day-to-day.
You know relationships that youbuild and I try and have a
personal relationship with allthose guys.
It's not easy, but you know,it's just like I said, when I
retire I'll be friends withthose guys.
(47:55):
I saw a bunch of umpires thispast weekend at a travel
tournament.
They were doing a clinic andthey were coming up to me and
we're talking and laughing andhaving a good time and I take
pride in that that.
Hey, you were an umpire, I wasa coach and we don't hate each
other.
That's saying something.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Yep, well, to finish up, coach, you got the Team
Whammer shirt on and you know alot of people know about this,
but maybe some don't.
If you could talk about theTeam Whammer and the whole
situation, amanda, you can jumpin here too and you know what
(48:39):
you guys experienced and how youare turning that into a
positive.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yeah, you know the for the people that don't know
the story.
When my son his name is Weston,we call him whatever.
Uh, everybody says why are youcalling me, or why are you
calling me or?
Speaker 5 (48:54):
his name is Weston Aiden Mazie.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
His initials are W A M, so we're not rocket
scientists.
Uh, when was uh that?
Was his nickname from the dayhe was born.
But he's always been in thedugout with me, even for all the
practices, and we werepracticing during COVID in 2021
(49:18):
on March 9th, and half of ourteam was out with COVID, so we
only had half a team practicingand we only had one active
outfielder left on the team.
We had games coming up thatweekend, so we had a practice
where we put all the infieldersin the outfield, put some
(49:41):
pitchers in the outfield andwe're basically having tryouts
in the outfield.
It was a live drill.
Pitchers were hitting battingpractice.
We were just playing defenseand I put him out at shortstop
to fill in a hole that we had ondefense because everybody was
in the outfield and one of thepitchers hit a short fly ball in
(50:04):
the center field and he ranback from shortstop to catch it
and he dove for the ball overhis shoulder and the center
fielder, who was an infielder,came running in full speed and
didn't dive and he kickedWhammer in the head, hit him
right in the face with his knee,and I was standing in the on
(50:26):
deck circle at the time.
This happens every time, but hewas, he was laying on the field
and I ran out there and he waslaying on the side.
(50:53):
His eyes were open, he couldn'tmove and blood was just pouring
out of his ear and out of hisnose.
So we called 911, and they cameand cut his clothes off and
resuscitated him and we rushedhim to the hospital and in the
(51:18):
ER it's just like you see on TVIn the trauma room there's 20
people.
You see on TV in the traumaroom there's 20 people trying to
save his life.
And they sent a chaplain overand talked to us.
That's how dire it was and Iwas like what are we talking
(51:41):
about here?
30 minutes ago we were playingbaseball.
Now you're trying to save hislife.
So they rushed him up to givehim a CAT scan, see what kind of
damage there was.
And you know, your firstthought is spinal cord injury
because he wasn't moving.
So they came back and said hisspinal cord was twisted but it
(52:09):
wasn't damaged and we didn'tknow what that meant.
But they said they thought thatpart was going to be okay, but
he had multiple skull fractures.
He got hit so hard in the frontof his face.
All the skull fractures were inthe back of his head.
That's how hard he got hit andthey said there's some brain
(52:29):
bleeding and brain swelling.
There's going to be the next 48to 72 hours are very critical.
The brain will continue toswell.
If it swells too much, we'regoing to have to go in and
intervene and do something.
So it was for the next threedays in the ICU.
(52:50):
It was just a waiting game tosee how much damage was going to
be done to the brain andfortunately it didn't swell to
the point where they had tointervene and he, literally from
(53:15):
March 9th of 2021 until we sithere today, he hasn't had a
setback.
It's been progress we feel fromevery day, every day.
So he spent a week in ICU,transferred him to the
Children's Hospital up here atWVU, and then we got a bed at a
(53:36):
place called the Shepherd Centerin Atlanta that is world
renowned for brain and spinalcord rehabilitation.
So we airlifted him to uh fromMorgantown to Atlanta and he
spent two months relearning alot of things.
The part of his brain that wasdamaged was balance, equilibrium
(53:57):
, uh, and he's a hockey playertoo, uh.
So he had to learn how tobalance uh on a too.
So he had to learn how tobalance on an ice skate.
But it was learning how to hithis.
Believe it or not.
He got hit so hard his eyeswere crossed for a couple months
and had to do exercises to gethis eyesight back in line.
(54:19):
So it was a tough, tough roadto recovery and Amanda was
videotaping every day.
We're kind of private people sowe didn't have any intention of
sharing that.
We just wanted to document hisrecovery.
And after he recovered and weknew things were going to be
(54:43):
okay, we showed one of thosevideos to a friend and they said
you really need to share thatwith people.
That is so inspirational thatother people need to see that.
Speaker 5 (54:58):
We wanted.
For us, it was important togive people hope, because when
we were going through oursituation, we didn't really have
a lot of hope, because you justdon't know.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
I mean nobody thinks they're going to go through this
.
Speaker 5 (55:13):
So when it was time to share this video like I said,
we didn't do it for publicpurposes, just for us to be able
to show him we thought, well,we want to pay it forward and
raise money, so we started theTeen Whammer Foundation to raise
money for the Children'sHospital who saved?
his life and the Shepherd Centerwho gave him his life back.
And we thought we can't askpeople to donate and give their
(55:36):
hard-earned money if we can'tshow them how his progress was
and to give other people hope.
So we raise money and we helppay for people's bills down at
the Shepherd Center, because alot of those people have to quit
their jobs and we, you knowthere's.
That shouldn't be that extraburden.
And here we started afoundation with the children's
(55:56):
hospital that if a child needsto be airlifted or however they
need to get to rehabilitation,we will pay for that.
A lot of insurance companieswon't pay for that to get that
child to rehab and they need toget to rehab.
That's a very critical part,but it was the worst time of our
lives and we turned it into apositive.
(56:18):
And it wasn't easy.
Speaker 4 (56:20):
We've shed many tears , still do, but if you saw
william today, you would have noidea that anything ever
happened to him and you knowthat video.
Speaker 5 (56:30):
You can go to teamwammercom.
We're always raising money, butyou can see the video from day
one to day 72 when he got out ofhis, out of the rehab.
So, um, it's been aninspiration, it's a part of our,
our family story and we justwanted to, you know, pay it
forward.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Special thanks to WVU head baseball coach Randy Mazie
and his wife Amanda.
So now what's a coach who'srecently retired from college
baseball?
Do now start a podcast.
The podcast is called MaisieDays.
Amanda is a sports reporter andanchor and is joined by her
(57:07):
husband, randy.
They discuss motivation, lifeexperience and great stories.
That's Maisie Days.
Check it out.
Today's episode of BaseballCoaches Unplugged is powered by
the netting professionals,improving programs one facility
at a time.
Contact them today at844-620-2707, or you can visit
(57:31):
them online at wwwnettingproscom.
As always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter, and thank you
for listening to BaseballCoaches Unplugged and look
forward to a new episode nextWednesday.
Merry Christmas and happyholidays to you and your family.
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