MORGANTOWN — Steve Sabins has an additional 1.3 million reasons to continue to build on his opening success as WVU’s baseball coach.

After leading the Mountaineers to a super regional in his first season as head coach, Sabins and the school finalized a one-year contract extension that ties Sabins to the program through the end of the 2031 season. Sabins’ signed the extension on July 17, WVU athletic director Wren Baker a day later.

Michael Casazza of EerSports first reported the extension.

That extension will pay Sabins an additional $1.3 million over the lifetime of the deal and makes him the highest paid baseball coach in school history.

Sabins’ salary for the 2026 season was bumped up from $425,000 to $550,000, which does not include his incentive package, and is $50,000 more than former head coach Randy Mazey earned during his final season in 2024.

He will also earn an additional $125,000 more during each season from 2027-30 with the additional 2031 season worth an additional $675,000.

In total, Sabins would earn $3.675 million over the lifetime of the extension.

There are some additional changes with the extension, beginning with the omission of an automatic extension clause that was found in Sabins’ original contract.

That contract automatically added an additional year (the 2030 season) to the contract if Sabins guided the Mountaineers to the NCAA tournament, which he earned in his first season after guiding the Mountaineers to a 44-16 record and a championship in the Clemson Regional.

His extension now covers in writing the 2030 and 2031 season.

Sabins’ base salary for the upcoming seasons is now set at $500,000 per year, which comes into play in the new buyout clauses.

If Sabins were to breach the contract and leave to coach at another school, he would owe WVU 25% of the remaining base salary.

For example, if Sabins left after the 2027 season, he would still have $2 million in base salary remaining, so he would owe WVU roughly $500,000.

That is a substantial raise from his original buyout, which was tiered into different levels.

If he had left WVU between June 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026, his buyout was set at $200,000. It went down an additional $50,000 in 2027 and was set at a minimum of $100,000 if he left anytime after June 1, 2027.

If WVU were to fire Sabins without cause — based on performance — it would now owe him 75% of his remaining base salary, a decrease of owing him 100% in his original contract.

Sabins’ incentives package did not change.

He would still be owed a $100,000 bonus for winning a national championship, $30,000 for winning the Big 12 tournament, $25,000 for leading WVU to the NCAA tournament, a $10,000 bonus if the Mountaineers host a NCAA regional, as well as other bonuses tied to season-ticket sales and postseason coaching awards.

For 2025, Sabins earned a total of $144,00 in incentives, bringing his total income for the season to $544,000.