John Szefc – the 2022 ACC Coach of the Year and ABCA/ATEC Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year – enters his sixth season as the head baseball coach at Virginia Tech and his 18th season as an NCAA Division I baseball head coach. He was hired by Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock on June 9, 2017, following five defining seasons as the head baseball coach at Maryland.
A name synonymous with winning, Szefc has coached his teams to 11 seasons of 30-plus victories, including four 40-win campaigns. He has guided three programs to eight NCAA Regional appearances – Marist (1997, 2000-02), Maryland (2014, 2015, 2017), Virginia Tech (2022) – while advancing his clubs to three NCAA Super Regionals – Maryland (2014, 2015), Virginia Tech (2022).
Through 17 head coaching seasons, Szefc has achieved a performance record of 522-363-4, equivalent to a .589 career winning percentage. On April 15, 2022, he celebrated his 500th career head coaching victory by leading Virginia Tech to its emphatic, 13-2, series-clinching victory against No. 2* Miami, a result that would soon vault the Hokies into D1Baseball’s top 10 rankings for the first time during their history.
During his first five seasons at Virginia Tech, Szefc has compiled a 130-104 record in Blacksburg (.556 winning percentage), accented by the program’s historic 2022 season.
Among Tech’s notable 2022 feats, the Hokies won 45 games – their fourth highest single-season wins total all-time – setting program records in both ACC series victories (nine, as won consecutively) and ACC regular season wins (19). Tech spent eight consecutive weeks ranked in D1Baseball’s top 25 poll, including seven straight weeks inside the top 10, peaking on May 23 as the consensus No. 2-ranked program by college baseball’s six leading national publications.
Under Szefc’s direction, Virginia Tech championed the ACC Coastal Division for the first time during its 18-year league tenure, locked up the No. 1 seed at the ACC Baseball Championship with the conference’s best regular season record and earned the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, presenting the Hokies with their first home NCAA Regional since 2013. In front of historic crowds, Tech swept its competition at the NCAA Blacksburg Regional to win the program’s first regional title, punching its first ticket to NCAA Super Regional weekend featuring a top-10 matchup against No. 9* Oklahoma.
Behind Szefc’s 2022 success, he mentored Virginia Tech’s most decorated All-American class to date, celebrating in 13 combined honors for shortstop Tanner Schobel (six), sophomore outfielder Jack Hurley (four), freshman pitcher Drue Hackenberg (two) and third-year outfielder Gavin Cross (one). Additionally, he placed five student-athletes onto ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic All-Region Teams (tying for the fourth most all-region selections nationally) while setting a program record with eight ACC all-conference honorees, including four All-ACC First Team nods.
During the 2022 MLB Draft, Szefc produced Virginia Tech’s highest all-time selection in Gavin Cross, who was taken at No. 9 overall by the Kansas City Royals. In total, six members of Tech’s 2022 roster inked pro contracts at season’s end with four of the Hokies’ five MLB Draft picks coming off the board during the opening five rounds.
Since taking over in Blacksburg ahead of the 2018 season, Szefc has coached 16 MLB Draft picks, including seven players who have earned selection during the opening 10 rounds. He has mentored six All-Americans, three Freshman All-Americans and eight All-ACC honorees (nine awards).
Szefc’s first four seasons at Virginia Tech were highlighted by great outlook and turnaround. During the 2021 season, the Hokies debuted in D1Baseball’s top 25 rankings for the first time during the outlet’s history, staying up for seven weeks and peaking at No. 17 (April 12).
By 2020, Szefc had Tech on the verge of a breakthrough season, despite the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out the Hokies’ window of opportunity. Led by All-Americans and MLB Draft products Carson Taylor (catcher) Ian Seymour (pitcher), Tech posted an 11-5 record before the shutdown.
Prior to his tenure in Blacksburg, Szefc led Maryland to three NCAA appearances during his five seasons at the helm of the Terrapins, achieving a 180-122 record (.596 winning percentage). He became the first Maryland baseball coach to lead the Terrapins to the NCAA Super Regional round, accomplishing the feat twice behind the program’s first two 40-win seasons and its first two NCAA Regional crowns.
Nationally, Szefc’s Maryland teams achieved the program’s highest year-end rankings, placing No. 14 nationally at the conclusion of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He also led the Terrapins to their first ACC tournament final in 38 years (2014), returning to the conference final during the program’s 2015 debut at the Big Ten tournament.
Szefc’s head coaching start was earned in 1996 at Marist, where he led the Red Foxes to four conference championships, four NCAA Regional appearances and a 212-137-4 record (.606 winning percentage). At Marist, he was named the 1997 Northeastern Conference Coach of the Year, later collecting 2001 ABCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year honors.
Between head coaching stints, Szefc enjoyed a six-season tenure as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette (2003-08) under the late, legendary head coach Tony Robichaux. Continuing on, he became the assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator at Kansas (2009-10) before transitioning in-state to serve as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Kansas State (2011-12).
Szefc began his coaching career with assistant coach titles at Sacred Heart (1995) and at Drexel (1990-93). He also managed the New York Generals in the Atlantic College Baseball League (ACBL) during the summers of 1995 and 1996, leading the club to a 47-28 record, two consecutive division titles and the 1996 ACBL championship game.
Collegiately, Szefc played two years at Connecticut before transferring in 1987 to Drexel. During his senior campaign with the Dragons, he was tabbed an All-East Coast Conference outfielder.
