John Szefc

John Szefc, the 2022 ACC and ABCA/ATEC Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year, leads Virginia Tech baseball in his eighth season in 2025 and his 20th campaign as a collegiate head coach. Hired by AD Whit Babcock in June 2017 after a program-elevating run at Maryland, Szefc has authored 14 seasons with 30+ wins (including four 40-win years) and guided three Division I programs to eight NCAA Regionals and three Super Regionals. At Virginia Tech, he steered the Hokies to a historic 45-win, ACC Coastal-championship season in 2022, producing a school-record All-ACC haul and the program’s first top-10 national seed, then advancing to Super Regionals. His Hokies have developed high draft picks and All-Americans, headlined by 2022 No. 9 overall pick Gavin Cross, while compiling milestone victories that include his 200th Tech win (March 1, 2025) and 600th career win (March 23, 2025). Before Blacksburg, Szefc transformed Maryland with consecutive Super Regional trips (2014–15) and record win totals, and previously led Marist to four NCAA Regionals during a seven-year stint that produced a .606 winning percentage. Between head jobs he served as a recruiting and hitting architect at Louisiana, Kansas, and Kansas State. A native of Middletown, N.Y., Szefc played at UConn before earning all-league honors at Drexel, where he graduated in 1989; he later added a master’s from Temple. Known for tough, offense-forward teams built on player development, his career record stands north of 600 wins with Virginia Tech’s recent four-year surge (2022–25) marking the program’s best ACC stretch to date.