The West Virginia Mountaineers baseball program has been trending upward for years now, and has seen unprecedented success in the past couple of seasons, culminating in a run to the College World Series this year.
And with all the excitement that has been generated by the Mountaineers on the baseball diamond as of late, WVU fans have begun to notice that the program doesn't have traditional sister sport – because the school does not have a softball team.
The university did field a team at one point, though it was only for a short period of time – from 1976-1982. But that was a different time in the history of college sports, and things have changed. And with so much interest surrounding the baseball team currently, is it the right time to consider a return of the softball program?
Well, we haven't had an update from the perspective of the athletic department in a couple years, but the last time Wren Baker spoke on the subject, it seemed extremely unlikely that would happen. In July 2024, the subject was broached with Baker, and he outlined why financially, it is an unfeasible decision for the athletic department to make.
"I tell people all the time you take out football and men’s basketball and look at the rest of our sports," Baker said. "This comes up when people push me about adding softball. They’re like you’d make money. There’s a difference between bringing in revenue and be profitable."
"Yes, we would bring in revenue. We would be nowhere near profitable because there’s no profitable softball program in the country. So to assume that we would be would be a fallacy.”
He makes a valid point, and one that's hard to debate with. In an industry where money is becoming evermore important when making decisions, the West Virginia athletic department has to do everything within their power to stay competitive in the few sports that do create revenue, and that leaves less room for adding non-revenue sports than in previous eras. And softball programs rarely draw profits.
This also doesn't factor into the conversation that the Mountaineers would need softball facilities, which will cost significant money. College softball can technically be play in a college baseball stadium, but it's something that're rarely going to happen due to the massive overhaul of the field you have to do for each game. If you want a softball team, you need a softball field. Softball fields don't happen to be cheap.
So while it would certainly be nice to capitalize on the baseball hype in Morgantown with a relaunch of the softball program, it's sadly unlikely to occur anytime soon. Luckily, the Mountaineers seem to be providing plenty of spring excitement in baseball all on their own.
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