Greg Van Zant
[ head coach • 18th season • west virginia, ‘84 ] Championship appearance. WVU won its first 17 home games and owned the nation’s longest winning streak at the time. The 25-4 season-opening mark was the best start to a campaign in 40 years, garnering the school’s first national ranking since 1982. The 2006 squad put a strong offense on display, as it finished the season with a .339 batting average, good enough for second in all of Division I. The 2005 season was a special year for the skipper as he grabbed win No. 300 in a 15-1 victory over Savannah State on April 6. Also in 2005, for the first time in school history, three former Mountaineers were playing Major League Baseball at the same time. Steve Kline (Baltimore Orioles), Scott Seabol (St. Louis Cardinals) and Dustin Nippert (Arizona Diamondbacks) were all coached by Van Zant. In 2003, Van Zant orchestrated one of the most exciting seasons in team history, as the Mountaineers battled their way to a second place regular-season finish in the BIG EAST at 18-6 and a 36-19 overall record. For his efforts, Van Zant was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. WVU produced a school-record six draft picks in the 2001 season, as Van Zant reached 200 wins faster than any other coach in school history. In 1998, Van Zant’s talented squad produced a 37-17-1 record and advanced to the final four of the BIG EAST Tournament. Four players were drafted from that team, including 19th-round pick Brad Elwood. The Mountaineers ranked among the NCAA’s best in hitting (second) with a .358 team batting mark, pitching (22nd) with a 4.49 ERA and scoring (28th) at 9.02 runs per game. Outfielder and former volunteer assistant Joe McNamee became the coach’s second All-America player in two seasons. A year earlier in 1997, Van Zant led West Virginia to its second BIG EAST American Division title in as many years. Owning a 36-19 overall mark, West Virginia registered the third-most wins in school history at the time. His top pitcher, Chris Enochs, became the school’s first All-America selection since 1964 and was selected in the first round (11th overall selection) of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Oakland Athletics. For Van Zant’s efforts, he was honored as the 1997 BIG EAST Coach of the Year. West Virginia’s 1996 squad won the BIG EAST American Division regular season title and won the BIG EAST Tournament championship. WVU then defeated nationally ranked Tennessee and Georgia Southern at the NCAA Atlantic Regional at Clemson, S.C. securing the school’s first wins against nationally ranked teams since 1982. His club finished third in the regional tournament and 33-25 on the season. West Virginia was one of just three schools from the nation’s 10 major baseball conferences to win the regular and postseason titles that season, and its 2-0 start in the NCAA Tournament was the best in school history. By virtue of his club’s 1996 BIG EAST Tournament championship, the coach has now participated in the NCAA Tournament as a player (1982), an assistant (1990 and 1994) and a head coach. The Mountaineers finished the 1996 campaign ranked No. 36 by USA Today/Baseball Weekly, the highest West Virginia has ever finished in that poll. He was named the ABCA/East Region Coach of the Year, one of eight regional coaches honored nationwide. Van Zant took over the Mountaineer program in December 1994, a month after the death of longtime mentor Dale Ramsburg.
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Serving as Ramsburg’s top assistant and recruiting coordinator from 1991-94, Van Zant helped recruit the players that produced an NCAA regional berth in 1994. He also was instrumental in numerous improvements to the Mountaineer baseball program, including re-establishing the alumni game and the construction of an eight-foot outfield fence with advertising and 30-foot foul poles. As head coach, the facility improvements have continued. The most notable are the installation of state-of-the-art lights at Hawley Field and initiating the Mountaineer Baseball Marathon Game, which has raised thousands of dollars for ballpark upgrades. Recently, Van Zant helped raise funds for a new drainage system, infield surface, warning track and major league style batter’s eye just beyond the center field fence. Van Zant began his association with college baseball as a four-year starting third baseman at WVU from 1980-83. He is best remembered for a diving catch at third base that started a gameending double play to give WVU a 7-5 victory over Rutgers in the Eastern Eight Championship game and a berth in the 1982 NCAA Tournament. That team came within two games of advancing to the College World Series and finished 16th in the nation in the final Collegiate Baseball poll. After earning a degree in industrial engineering from WVU in 1984, Van Zant worked for Ford Motor Company and coached American Legion Baseball in Connersville, Ind., from 1985-87. Van Vant accepted a coaching position at Georgia Southern under legendary coach Jack Stallings in the fall of 1987 and coached in Statesboro through 1990. During his three years at Georgia Southern, he was responsible for working with the infielders as well as marketing and promoting the baseball program. In his final season at Georgia Southern in 1990, Van Zant was part of an Eagle team that won 50 games and advanced to the College World Series.
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