East Carolina Head Baseball Coach Randy Mazey Suspended
Randy Mazey, East Carolina University’s head baseball coach for the past three seasons, has been suspended with pay effective immediately according to an announcement made Monday afternoon by director of athletics Terry Holland.
Holland also said that assistant coach Billy Godwin has been named acting head coach for the remainder of the current school year, which includes the 2006 season.
“We will assist Coach Godwin in building a staff to provide this year’s team with the leadership necessary to compete at the highest level,” Holland said. “We will conduct a national search for a permanent coach at the conclusion of the 2006 season.”
ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard said he made the decision to suspend Mazey, based on Holland’s recommendation.
“These decisions are never easy,” Ballard said. “But I have complete confidence in Terry Holland’s assessment of the situation.”
Mazey has posted a three-year record of 120-66-1 (.644) at East Carolina, which includes season marks of 34-27-1 (.548) in 2003, 51-13 (.797) in 2004 and 35-26 (.573) in 2005.
In addition, the Pirates also registered a 60-30 (.667) Conference USA regular-season record and an 8-12 post-season mark during the three-year span, which included three NCAA Regional at-large berths. Most recently, Mazey guided ECU to a fourth-place league finish last spring with an 18-12 record before the Pirates concluded their season with a pair of losses at the Tempe (Ariz.) Regional.
When appointed to replace Keith LeClair as East Carolina head coach after the 2002 season, Mazey ended a four-year tenure as an assistant at Tennessee. He also previously served one season on LeClair’s first staff at ECU in 1998 after a one-year stint at Georgia and a three-year head coaching assignment at Charleston Southern (1994-96).
Mazey, who owns an overall six-year head coaching record of 186-160-2 (.537), began his coaching career at alma mater Clemson in 1990 where he helped lead the Tigers to three Atlantic Coast Conference titles and one College World Series showing appearance.
“My heart and prayers go out to all of last season’s coaches who are no longer with the program,” LeClair said. “They are good friends and I appreciate everything they did to push our program forward. I support Dr. Ballard, Coach Holland and Nick Floyd’s decisions as they continue to focus the program on our goal of winning the national championship.
“I certainly hope that everyone will provide great Pirate support for Coach Godwin and the team this season,” LeClair added. “Our goal remains the same – getting to Omaha.”