Augie Garrido facts for kids

August Edmun "Augie" Garrido Jr. (born February 6, 1939 – died March 15, 2018) was a famous American baseball player and coach. He is best known for coaching college baseball teams like the Cal State Fullerton Titans and Texas Longhorns.

Augie Garrido had an amazing record of 1,975 wins, 951 losses, and 9 ties in college baseball. When he retired in 2016, he had the most wins of any coach in college baseball history. He led his teams to the College World Series 15 times. He won the championship five times: three times with Cal State Fullerton and two times with Texas. Many people think he was one of the greatest college baseball coaches ever.

Early Life and Becoming a Coach

Augie Garrido was born in Vallejo, California, in 1939. He went to Vallejo High School and then played college baseball for Fresno State from 1959 to 1961. After college, he played minor league baseball for a few years.

Later, he went back to school at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). He earned a master's degree in education in 1968. While he was studying, he also coached baseball at Sierra High School. This was the start of his long coaching career.

First Coaching Jobs

In 1969, Garrido became the head coach at San Francisco State. His team had a good record of 25 wins and 14 losses.

From 1970 to 1972, he coached the Cal Poly Mustangs. He helped turn their team around, leading them to a much better record in 1971.

Coaching Success and Championships

Augie Garrido spent many years coaching at Cal State Fullerton. He coached there from 1973 to 1987 and again from 1991 to 1996. In total, he coached the Titans for 21 seasons.

During his time at Cal State Fullerton, his teams won three College World Series championships. These big wins happened in 1979, 1984, and 1995. He was also named College Baseball Coach of the Year multiple times.

Coaching at Illinois

Between his two periods at Cal State Fullerton, Garrido coached at Illinois from 1988 to 1990. He helped Illinois win its first Big Ten Tournament title in 1989. They also made it to the NCAA Tournament, which was a big deal for the team.

Leading the Texas Longhorns

In 1997, Augie Garrido became the head coach for the Texas Longhorns. He led the Texas team to the College World Series four years in a row, from 2002 to 2005. They won the national championship in both 2002 and 2005.

On April 29, 2011, Garrido made history. He became the first coach in NCAA Division I baseball to reach 1,800 career victories. He retired from coaching in 2016. His record at Texas was 824 wins, 427 losses, and 2 ties.

His Amazing Legacy

Augie Garrido's teams won five national titles in total. He is one of only two coaches to win national championships with teams from more than one school (Cal State Fullerton and Texas). He was also the first coach to win national championships in four different decades.

He led his teams to the College World Series 15 times. He also won the National Coach of the Year award five times. His teams won league championships in 20 different seasons! His final coaching record was 1,975 wins, 951 losses, and 9 ties. He held the record for the most wins in NCAA baseball history for a while.

Life Outside Baseball

Augie Garrido had some interesting friends outside of baseball. He was friends with actor Kevin Costner. Costner even attended Cal State Fullerton, where Garrido coached. Garrido also had a small role as a baseball manager in Costner's movie "For Love of the Game."

He was also friends with director Richard Linklater. Linklater, who was a big fan of the Texas Longhorns, even directed a two-hour documentary about Augie Garrido's life called "Inning By Inning: Portrait of A Coach."

Garrido was also friends with former President George W. Bush. They became friends when Bush was part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Sadly, Augie Garrido had a stroke on March 12, 2018. He passed away three days later at the age of 79.

See also

• List of college baseball coaches with 1,100 wins