Published: July 22, 2008 11:10 pm         

Epling resigns from WVU Tech

It took seven years, but Tim Epling was able to bring winning baseball to WVU Tech.

The Golden Bears finished 2008 with a 22-19 record — a baseball rarity at the Montgomery school — and finished fourth in the Mid-South Conference. They were picked a distant last in preseason voting.

Now, it’s time for someone else to take it from there.

Epling resigned Tuesday, leaving a job he has had since January 2001. He informed athletic director Pete Kelley of his decision.

“I handed them my resignation at about 3:30 (p.m.) today,” Epling confirmed in a phone interview en route to Huntington to watch son Kendrick play for Beckley Post 32’s American Legion team.

“It’s hard to leave something that you have been dedicated to for so long,” he said. “To put in the effort and be at the point where you are not just competing, but winning, to leave that is hard.

“But I know it is the right thing to do.”

In the end, a difference in philosophy between Epling and the school’s administration led to his decision.

“Not the athletic administration,” Epling emphasized. “The athletic administration has fought for us since day one. Pete Kelley and everybody in that (department) have fought for us and tried to get the administration to be supportive of us.”

Epling was hired in ’01 after previously coaching at Liberty High. His first year at Tech was so bad that only 14 players were on the roster. He had to recruit players from the football and basketball teams, and the Bears ended up winning just one game.

“We went through a terrible year,” Epling said.

But Epling persevered. He and his father Doug oversaw the massive upgrades of the team’s facility at old East Bank High School, and he stepped up his recruiting efforts to where he could “compete with the upper level teams” until he finally notched a winning season this spring.

Tech also finished third in the MSC tournament.

It is difficult for Epling to leave, but he is confident the program will be fine without him.

“I left the program in good shape,” he said. “They only lose three guys off this past year’s team. If the school supports the baseball program, then it can sustain the success where it is now.”

As for his own future, Epling will “take time to see what happens. I have had offers in the past but the timing was not right.”

Epling recently opened the Upper Deck Training Center, a state-of-the-art facility designed to educate and develop both baseball and softball players from age 9 all the way up through college. He will have more time now to devote to the center, as well as get in some invaluable family time.

“(Resigning) gives me a chance to work with the kids a little longer,” he said.

— E-mail:

gfauber@register-herald.com