Reader Contributions

The following contributions were submitted by former players and coaches from WVU, or from other people familiar with the program. If you'd like to add a story, email greg.vanzant@gmail.com. Note: this email address is not Greg Van Zant.

• This guy says: I was actually benched after going 5 for 12 one weekend. For most players, that will keep you in any lineup in the country. For Greg, you get benched because those 5 hits weren't bunts. What a fucking disgrace.

• Former player says: When you read about good and great coaches, it's always mentioned how they never insult or embarrass their players in public. Greg was the opposite of that. He always went out of his way to shove his arrogance and ego down the kids' throats. All along, he was the embarrassment.

• 1996 Player says: [Greg] managed to take 14 years of me loving a sport and destroy it in a matter of months...something I still haven't recovered from as I barely follow the sport anymore.

• Former Player's Father says: There is very little I can add to this terrific website and its comments, but let me summarize: Greg Van Zant is a disgrace to baseball. I hope no one else hires him.

• RFan says:  Greatest move ever to fire him.

• Former player MR says: I just found out WVU fired GVZ within hours of the final game of the year...couldn't have happened to a better guy! He has got to be the only man on the face of the earth that can suck every last bit of fun out of the game and make you question if you ever liked playing to begin with.

• Former player AZ says: I still see some other guys who played at WVU. These guys played for  two, three, four years. And they were everyday players, middle-of-the-lineup guys. None of them talk positively about their experience at WVU. That's the biggest shame that comes from GVZ ever having been a head coach.

• Another Former Player says: Greg is just about the most negative person I have ever met. His entire coaching philosophy is based on negativity: protecting against the double play by bunting all day, protecting against a called-third-strike by teaching a horrible two-strike philosophy. The great irony about Greg is that he teaches a nonsense "get on top" hitting style and then he has to teach bunting to stay out of double plays created by that style. Maybe if he taught hitting line drives they wouldn't have every other hitter bunting.

• Denying Physics says: When I played there, Greg got upset after a game where we did not score many runs. He asked the question to the team "how many people fouled balls back and down (instead of back and up)?" I mean, has this guy ever watched a baseball game before? People foul balls back and up. His hitting philosophy is backwards, and he made fun of players reading books by Ted Williams and Tony Gwynn, as well as The Physics of Baseball. Because Greg is somehow more knowledgeable than those sources. 

• Redshirt says: I played at WVU one year but opted to red-shirt, and that was a great decision because I got to watch GVZ in action a whole year. During pre-season practice I was pretty sure I would transfer, but after just a couple games of watching GVZ ruin baseball I was 100% sure I would be happy to leave WVU. And I was. GVZ has no idea how to create lineups, use the talents his players have, or motivate players. He is highly negative and he thinks threats will make players want to play harder. He also seems to have favorites: some players can slump for five or six games when it is obvious they should be replaced, while other players can have one bad game and GVZ pulls them for a week. I watched some very good players sit on the bench while some average or below-average players got to play all the time. No wonder WVU can't win. My talent was not corrupted at WVU because I wasn't an active player, but I saw him screw with just about everyone else on the team. He can't teach hitting, base stealing, or catching, but he'll make sure his cleanup hitter can bunt. My advice to any recruit is to read this website and take it to heart. Don't play for GVZ under any circumstance.

• A forum from 2008 says:  We're a joke with GVZ as the coach. A joke. Our schedule is a joke. Our coaching staff has been turned into a joke, and there are zero signs of getting any better any time soon. It's really despressing when you think about it, especially if you go to the games and watch it take place. Anyone who picks up a newspaper and sees that our record is decent is bound to be fooled. But if you look at who we play, it's flat-out embarrassing. GVZ's act is getting old and has been now for a while.

• Former WVU Pitcher says: GVZ is a horrible coach for position players. If you are a pitcher and you have good stuff, you just go pitch. GVZ is pretty much clueless so he doesn't say much about it. If you are a pitcher who is struggling, you won't get any help you need because there is no coach to help you. If you are a position player, GVZ is just as clueless but the problem is he won't let you play your own game. He changes people's swings, scares people into striking out with his terrible two-strike philosophy, and makes everyone bunt even when the game situation does not call for it. As a pitcher, it is hard to watch all your offensive run support get wiped out by Greg's coaching philosophy. I was fortunate enough to play baseball after WVU, and it was baseball as it was meant to be played. The coaches are adults and baseball is played correctly. Not so at WVU.

• Former WVU Player says: [Players do not like him.] Why does a division-I baseball coach at a "major university" have ZERO (or close to it) alumni return for an alumni weekend? Please Oliver Luck, read this and take it to heart: While I am 100% proud that I am a WVU alum and former athlete, I will NEVER support the baseball program as long as GVZ is in charge.

• Late 90s player says: GVZ is so controlling that no one actually "plays ball" when they are on his team. I mean, he even dictates how people should lead off first base ("left-right-left-shuffle-shuffle"). "Playing" for Greg is a chore. Anyone who had skill before coming to WVU had better forget about using it there. You need to bunt in any game situation, even if you are up five runs or more, and you basically need to be his little robot. GVZ wants nine GVZ players on the field, and since GVZ the player was so horrible, it is clear that WVU wins games only despite GVZ, not because of him.

• Recruit's Father says: When my son was being recruited we went and saw WVU and another Big East team play. Watching WVU, from pre-game preparations through the actual game, the difference between them and their opponent was stark. They lost. My son is a freshman at another university. 

• WVU Student says: As a student, I can tell you this about the state of the WVU program: the only reason I have ever heard of anyone thinking of attending a WVU baseball game for was when the dorm food that evening wasn't popular and it was dollar concessions night at the baseball game. Even then, after seeing dozens of exciting bunting plays, people leave after eating. It's just a shame when a proud school with generally successful athletics has to deal with this baseball "program," and heading into the Big XII next year, massive changes needed to be made or else we are going to get embarrassed, and that starts with GVZ. FIRE GREG VAN ZANT!

• Pitching Woes says: Greg has refused to hire a pitching coach a few times, sometimes with the excuse that the applicant is "over-qualified." An example of WVU pitching without a pitching coach: WVU -- in one game against Villanova -- allowed 16 walks, hit five batters, and threw five wild pitches. Brilliant, Greg.

• Anon2012Player says: Van Zant, overall, is not a good person. He gets in the face of players and calls them "a joke" or "a loser". He has told players they mean nothing to the team. I never saw a penny of my meal money and usually spent my own. I really appreciate your website and I agree with every single thing on here. When I was recruited to WVU, I saw your website but I didn't listen. I really wish I had.

• JA-WVU says: I have it on good authority that this website is the reason why MSNSportsNet.com no longer includes the opponent's win-loss record in the game summaries. They find it embarrassing to say "WVU beat Chump State (2-15)" [or more likely, "2-15 Chump State beat WVU"], so they omit it altogether.

• WVU MSMith says: This year (the current 2012 season) GVZ is consistently playing individuals with batting averages of under .100, often times even using them to DH. He has four junior college transfers from Potomac State who played on last year’s third-place JUCO World Series team, but he gives them little opportunity to contribute to this team that is batting under .220; he’s playing true freshmen instead. He’s also using a pitcher to pinch hit while other hitters are on the bench. At the Nike Showcase, all the teams visited the Nike factory except WVU – they sat and looked at the walls in their hotel rooms. GVZ confiscated all the “free stuff” given to players at the Nike Showcase, and he has stockpiled it at his house. GVZ consistently changes scheduling and requires students to miss more class time; he doesn’t support academics in the least bit. The people in charge of baseball at WVU do not care about the baseball program. What good is it going to do to build a new stadium, if in this case “they are not going to come”?!

• Kevin says: My gosh, can someone tell GVZ that a baseball hit on the bottom gets backspin, and not on the top? He lives in a fantasy land where he is some sort of baseball genius. Anyone who has played for him knows better.

• John says:  I played in the early 90's, and my teammates and I joked about how we would quit if GVZ ever became the head coach! Well it happened! No hitting instructor! No pitching coach! The guy must have told a thousand times about my positioning in the field or some crap about hitting with 2 strikes! He over-analyzes the game yet has has no idea what he is talking about. If a player was slumping, he was on his own or relied on his teammates, because GVZ couldn't offer any meaningful advice.

• J says: I can't believe how accurate this website is. GVZ is a terrible coach, completely out of touch with how baseball is played. The 2012 team is going to be destroyed.

• BillyB_WannaB says: I just saw the movie Moneyball and had to think about similarities to GVZ and his awful coaching. Throwing away outs with bunts and failed hit-and-runs, pretending baseball is a team game and not an individual sport, on and on. Greg's futility now is as bad as it was 15 years ago. It's pathetic.

• Brad says: Thank you so much for this site! Especially now that GVZ is nearing 500 wins, people are questioning my "he is the worst ever" comments, that I stand by to this day. Your site is absolutely correct. I love the breakdowns of his wins over some of the worst teams in baseball. GVZ is a terrible coach, a horrible man, and has 500 wins only because the school won't fire him. Not a quality win in a long time.

• Coach34 says: Where do I start? [GVZ epitomizes the] definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. GVZ's propensity is to play for the small inning: one here and there and hope the opponent doesn't score. This is not a strategy. Let the 3, 4, and 5 batters swing and see if the team can get a crooked number on the board. And if you get a lead, let all the players hit!

• My Biggest Mistake says: Ever see The Bad News Bears where everyone chants "let them play?" WVU baseball is like this: Greg never lets them play. A typical inning (WVU fifth inning vs. Illinois in 2011) has three guys bunt and one guy hit into a double play. How many outs can a coach just give away? How many runs would be scored if the kids could actually swing the bat?

• Early 90s player says: There was never a good thing to be said at practice, or during games, or even between double headers. [The emphasis on not taking a called third strike] made us have more strikeouts swinging than I can even count. What a great plan, coach! The coaching methods are counterproductive, and all they instill is fear and doubt.

• The R Man says: I commend you for finally talking about the elephant in the room. As a student I've seen a ton of games and listened to a fair few on the radio. The mismanagement of talent at WVU is outrageous. Jedd Gyorko batting in the lead-off spot was insane. I don't care that he led the team in at-bats, Gyorko should have been driving in runs in the 3 or 4 spot. And then failing to play the big power hitter Matt Frazer most of [the 2010] season. Or perhaps ending a loss to Louisville last year with an attempted tag-up with one of the team's most average base runners from just beyond foul territory next to first base. Seriously? Turning a win into a loss is a simple thing for GVZ. [2010] was one of the most telling signs of his poor coaching. The lineup decisions were just piss poor. I wish WVU would find another coach, but I guess mediocrity is just what we'll have to settle for. It's embarrassing that in 2009 [a team with all that talent] didn't make it further in the Big East tournament.

• "2009player" says: Clearly WVU is not a good program. They would be an average or maybe above-average team in NCAA Division II. In Division I they are a joke: all my summer league coaches laughed when I said I played for Greg Van Zant. Everyone knows.

• Anonymous says: In the history of any baseball program, you have never seen more rallies killed on any team than West Virginia. Overcoaching, in the form of bunts and hit-and-runs, have killed WVU baseball for almost two decades. He never just lets the kids play. Without question, Greg Van Zant has turned more wins into losses than the other way around.

• "411 man" has emailed to inform us that "it's rumored that [GVZ's] father and mother are big donors and whatever they give to WVU is GVZ's salary". It has also been stated that his parents' involvement with WVU is the sole reason why he maintains a position at the school.

• A former assistant coach says: We [leaving coaches] tell Greg how his players hate playing for him, and how coaches from other teams have no respect for him. Yet, Greg is still too smug or too stupid to change his ways.

• WVU Quarterback Pat White says: Every player I've talked to doesn't like him. He's not a well-liked coach, but I guess he has tenure so they never got rid of him. They're not successful at all.

• "LawnMan" emails with this story: I bumped into the baseball head coach of a Division II school in West Virginia. I told him that my son went to WVU for baseball, and I started to say "but the head coach...". The D-II coach immediately cut me off and said, "You don't need to say anything else. I know the stories. Everyone knows the stories. He's a bad coach, but he's been there 15 years and they are afraid to get rid of him. No one likes him."

• Anonymous says: Percentages show that a team is more likely to score with a man on first and no outs than a man on second and one out. Yet, GVZ continues to waste out after out thinking that the bunt is the greatest play of all time. Watching WVU baseball is painful - he tries to turn the game and its strategy into something that was never intended. You don't see any other team on any level play like this. I'm sorry I was duped into playing there.

• Perry says: I really enjoyed the web site and I commend you for posting it!

• Former Player "RK" says: I played for the [jerk] GVZ. I'll bet your life was 100% better once you left that God-forsaken program. They will never be successful as long as GVZ is there. Kudos to you for bringing the issue to the forefront.

• Former Player "BT" says: [The editorial article] is tooo funny! So much was true!

• Eliot says: I'm a student at WVU and I don't doubt anything on this site.

• Herb Richardson says: My boys played HS ball with 2 pitchers who played for gvz. They related similar stories of his BS. One went to the minors and the other quit after 2 years with a 9-5 career record. Both couldn’t wait to get away from him.

• TMAC says: I played 2 years in Morgantown. Watched him steal things from the indoor practice facility, sell equipment and gear at his camps that were intended for players. The biggest regret of my baseball career was being a loyal WV kid and wanting to be a Mountaineer.