East Carolina Names Mazey as Head Baseball Coach

Randy Mazey

Randy Mazey, an assistant coach at Tennessee for the past four seasons, has been named as head baseball coach at East Carolina University, as announced by ECU director of athletics Mike Hamrick at a press conference on Monday.

?Randy Mazey is uniquely qualified to take over the helm of ECU?s baseball program,? said Hamrick. ?He comes highly recommended from some of the top baseball people in the country. Randy understands what it takes to get to Omaha because he has been there before.?

A former ECU assistant coach, Mazey has served as the recruiting coordinator/pitching coach at Tennessee for the past four years. He served as the recruiting coordinator for East Carolina in 1998, recruiting players such as Eric Bakich, Lee Delfino, Jason Mandryk, James Molinari, Nick Schnabel, and Chad Tracy.

Mazey becomes the ninth baseball coach in Pirate history and takes over for Keith LeClair, who relinquished his head coaching duties on June 19 due to health reasons. LeClair, who remains with the ECU athletics department as a special assistant to Hamrick, compiled a 212-96-1 record over the past five seasons. He led the Pirates to four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, including the NCAA Super Regional in 2001, and three Colonial Athletic Association championships. This past season, the Pirates won the Conference USA Tournament title and were ranked No. 24 in the final national coaches poll with a record of 43-20-1.

?Randy is an outstanding coach and will carry on the vision to go to Omaha,? said LeClair. ?He had a big part in bringing the first recruiting class to Greenville that started our tradition. I feel the program will be in good hands.?

While at Tennessee, Mazey?s pitching staff posted two of the top four strikeout totals in school history, and he produced six Volunteer pitchers who signed professionally, including three first round draft picks. In 2001, the Vols advanced to the College World Series where they tied for third.

Mazey spent the 1998 season at East Carolina as an assistant on LeClair?s first staff. Under Mazey?s tutelage, the Pirates posted the third highest strikeout total in school history, surpassed only by the 1999 and 2002 seasons.

In 1997, he spent one year with Georgia as recruiting coordinator and pitching coach. His staff produced its lowest ERA in four years and set a single-season strikeout mark in his only season.

At the age of 27, Mazey was named to his first head coaching position at Charleston Southern in 1994. In 1996, he led the Buccaneers to their first-ever NCAA Regional appearance and was named Big South Coach of the Year.

From 1990-1993, Mazey was an assistant coach for Clemson, his alma mater. During his stint at Clemson, the Tigers recorded a 198-67 mark, won two Atlantic Coast Conference titles, made four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, and advanced to the College World Series in 1991. He coached 40 players while at Clemson who went on to play professionally, including 19 who were drafted in the top 10 rounds.

Mazey was a three-time All-ACC selection and two-time Academic All-ACC honoree as an outfielder/pitcher. Clemson won two ACC titles and advanced to two NCAA Regionals during his four-year career from 1985-1988. He was drafted in the 28th round of the 1988 draft by the Cleveland Indians where he played two seasons before returning to Clemson as an assistant coach.

Mazey inherits a program that has generated a tremendous following in recent years. The Pirates have raised their average home game attendance from 283 in 1998 to 1,766 this past season. Over the past two years, ECU has played host to an NCAA Regional and Super Regional and the C-USA Tournament. A fundraising effort is currently underway for the building of a 3,000-seat, state-of-the-art baseball stadium on the ECU campus.