WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary Tribe baseball is ready to hit the field. Ahead of Friday’s home opener, Head Coach Rob McCoy sat down with WYDaily to discuss the 2025 season.
McCoy is embarking on his first season at the helm of Tribe baseball. After a playing career that spanned Clackamas Community College and Dakota Wesleyan University, McCoy coached at Charlottesville High School. He then moved to James Madison University where he coached for a year before heading to Niagara University for the next 18 years — 16 as head coach.
William & Mary baseball amassed a 32-26 record last season. Three members of the team were selected in the Major League Baseball draft, with pitcher Nate Knowles selected by the Tampa Bay Rays, left fielder Joe Delossantos by the New York Yankees, and pitcher Travis Garnett by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“They had a really quality year in 2024. They were fifth in the CAA and went to the tournament and had a good showing, but ran out of gas at the end. All in all, it was a successful year,” McCoy said.
As the team gets ready to begin the 2025 campaign and with McCoy in his first season with the Tribe, he said culture is important.
“We want to get our culture embedded in this group. I’m not concerned with what we do on the field wins and losses-wise. I want them to start adopting the culture that we have and our core values and the way we want to play the game. The way to build a program more than it already has is to create an experience that is bigger than each one of them and bigger than baseball,” McCoy said. “Championships come after you establish the culture. You can’t win a championship without that. You can’t do it without the right culture.”
With core values at the forefront of McCoy’s mind, the team has begun rallying around the acronym T.R.I.B.E.
“Trust, resilience, integrity, belief, and excellence. We talk about one of those every day and our guys are trying to wrap their heads around what that means in the bigger picture of those core values. Those in and of themselves and getting them to remember why they love playing baseball is at the top of our list,” McCoy said.
Tribe baseball opens the season on Feb. 14 at home against the University of Rhode Island with the first pitch slated for 3 p.m.
“It’s going to be an exciting brand of baseball this year. We’re going to have our fair share of mistakes but we’re going to be more offensive than they were last year. We’re going to try to score more runs. Nobody is afraid of a team that can’t score. Our goal is to score and make it exciting. The public matters. If people come out and they cheer and are excited, it means so much to these guys and to our program,” McCoy said.
The fan experience at Plumeri Park has also been upgraded with beer sales now offered at the park during games.
For more on Tribe baseball, visit TribeAthletics.com.