August Edmun "Augie" Garrido Jr. (February 6, 1939 – March 15, 2018) was an American professional baseball player and coach in NCAA Division I college baseball, best known for his stints with the Cal State Fullerton Titans and Texas Longhorns.
Garrido compiled a collegiate record of 1,975–951–9 and retired in 2016 as the coach with, at the time, the most wins in college baseball history. His win total was surpassed by Mike Martin of the Florida State Seminoles in 2018. He took his programs to 15 College World Series, winning five of them: three with Cal State Fullerton and two with Texas.
He is often considered to be arguably the greatest coach in college baseball history.
Early life and education
Garrido was born in Vallejo, California in 1939 and graduated from Vallejo High School in 1957. From 1959 to 1961, Garrido played college baseball for Fresno State. Garrido played minor league baseball in the Cleveland Indians organization from 1961 to 1965, beginning with the Class B Burlington Indians from 1961 to 1962, followed by the double-A Charleston Indians in 1963 and triple-A Portland Beavers from 1964 to 1965.
After playing for the semi-pro Eureka-Humboldt Crabs in 1966, with Mark Marquess among his teammates, Garrido began graduate studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and graduated in 1968 with a master's degree in education. During his graduate studies, Garrido coached baseball at Sierra High School in Tollhouse, California in 1967 and 1968.
Coaching career
San Francisco State (1969) In 1969, Garrido began his coaching career as head coach at San Francisco State, where he led the Gators to a 25–14 record.
Cal Poly (1970–1972) Returning to Cal Poly, Garrido was head coach for the Cal Poly Mustangs from 1970 to 1972, during which he went 86–62–1. He turned around the Mustangs from a 16–33 record in 1970 to 39–11–1 in 1971.
Cal State Fullerton (1973–1987 and 1991–1996) From 1973 to 1987 and again from 1991 to 1996, Garrido was head coach at Cal State Fullerton. In 21 seasons with Cal State Fullerton, Garrido accumulated a 929–391–6 record with seven College World Series including three championships (1979, 1984, and 1995) and a runner-up finish in 1992. The Sporting News named Garrido the College Baseball Coach of the Year in 1975 and 1979.
Illinois (1988–1990) In between his two stints at Cal State Fullerton, Garrido was head coach at Illinois from 1988 to 1990. Illinois athletic director Neale Stoner signed Garrido to a salary nearly double that of other non-revenue sports' coaches at Illinois.
In 1989, Illinois got its first Big Ten tournament title and NCAA tournament appearance since 1963 and repeated both achievements in 1990. Illinois went 111–57 under Garrido.
Texas (1997–2016) Garrido led Texas to the College World Series four straight years from 2002 to 2005 winning the tournament in 2002 and 2005 and finishing runner-up to his former team, Cal State Fullerton, in 2004. In 2006, despite being ranked No. 3 in the nation at the end of the regular season, Texas was defeated at home in an NCAA regional by Stanford.
On April 29, 2011, Garrido became the first NCAA Division I coach to reach 1,800 victories as the seventh-ranked Longhorns defeated No. 14 Oklahoma 5–0 in front of 7,339 fans at UFCU Disch–Falk Field.
In 2016, Texas had its first losing season since 1998, and the team did not qualify for postseason play for the third time in five years. On May 30, 2016, the University of Texas announced that Garrido had resigned and accepted a position as a special assistant to the athletic director, Mike Perrin. His record at Texas was 824–427–2.
Legacy
Garrido's teams won five national titles (1979, 1984, 1995, 2002, 2005). He is one of only two coaches, along with Andy Lopez, to lead teams from more than one school (Cal State Fullerton and Texas) to national titles, and is among the most successful college baseball coaches in history. He is the first coach to guide teams to national championships in four different decades.
Additionally, Garrido earned 15 trips to the College World Series, including eight at Texas, while garnering National Coach of the Year honors five times (1975, 1979, 1984, 1985, 2002), regional coach of the year accolades following six different seasons (1975, 1979, 1984, 1985, 2002, 2004) and conference coach of the year distinctions on three occasions (1987, 1995, 2002). Garrido's teams won league championships in 20 different seasons.