MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After leading his team to a share of the Big 12 regular-season title and the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, Randy Mazey was awarded Big 12 Coach of the Year Tuesday. Mazey previously won the award in 2019.

The Mountaineers were picked to finish sixth in the conference in the preseason poll voted on by head coaches.

Greg Van Zant won Coach of the Year twice (1997, 2003) as head coach for WVU when the Mountaineers played in the Big East. Dale Ramsburg was a two-time Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year (1988, 1990) during his 26-year run as head coach of the Mountaineers.

Mazey has won more games in 2023 (39) than in any previous season in his 11-year tenure as WVU’s head coach, including postseason play. His previous season-high of 38 wins from 2019 was eclipsed last week with a win over Texas Tech in the series finale. One more victory would mark the first WVU season with 40 wins since Dale Ramsburg’s 1994 team.

This year marked the first regular-season conference title for WVU since joining the Big 12 in 2012. As a team, the Mountaineers are in the top-half of the conference in multiple statistics: fourth in the conference in bating average (.299), second in on-base percentage (.418), second in stolen bases (120), second in ERA (4.37) and second in opponent batting average (.246).

From 2022 to 2023, WVU lost seven players who earned Big 12 accolades in 2022. They won six more games in 2023 than in 2022.