CWS Schedule

By John Manuel
June 21, 2002

Few coaches in college baseball history can measure up to the legacy of Texas' Augie Garrido.

The guy ranks second all-time in Division I victories, for one, with 1,375, behind only his predecessor in Austin, former Texas coach Cliff Gustafson, who has 1,427. Garrido has won one more championship than Gustafson, and his three lead all active coaches. Minnesota's Dick Siebert and Arizona State's Bobby Winkles have also won three championships, and only Skip Bertman (five) and Rod Dedeaux (11 or 10, depending on whether you believe the NCAA or Southern California) have won more.

Now Garrido, who won all of those titles with Cal State Fullerton (in 1979, 1984 and 1995), will try to win the fifth College World Series championship in Texas' storied history. He will try to become the first coach to win a CWS at more than one school. He will try to become the third coach to win four titles, and he will try to become the first to claim titles in four different decades.

Well, he won't play, of course. But Garrido is another example of why coaches really matter in college baseball, and why several greats have dominated the game. We discussed yesterday the superb coaching staffs at Clemson and South Carolina, different approaches but similar discipline and adherence to a specific philosophy that results in excellence.

Coaching stayed in the news Thursday as the local Nebraska media reported Dave Van Horn's impending departure for Arkansas. Shane Komine has meant plenty to Nebraska, and the Cornhuskers probably were going to have to rebuild a bit next year anyway without the Hawaiian Punchout.

Now, Van Horn packs his bags for Arkansas, his alma mater, which returns most of the important pieces to a club that won a regional and pushed Clemson in the super-regional. Speculation had the Huskers hiring pitching coach Rob Childress as Van Horn's likely successor, though it still would seem Gene Stephenson would be a logical hire as well. Either way, whoever takes over will find a much, much stronger program than the one Van Horn found when he took over in January 1998.

In other coaching news, East Carolina's Keith LeClair officially stepped down due to his battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. If anyone "deserves" a head coaching job, it's ECU's Kevin McMullan, who (with pitching coach Tommy Eason) handled LeClair's absence better than anyone could have expected. McMullan and Eason kept the program competitive while moving the Pirates into a tougher conference, on the field and in terms of travel.

Vanderbilt is the other job people are talking about, with word filtering out that Notre Dame's Brian O'Connor did not in fact apply for the Commodores position. That leaves the three most obvious candidates as assistant coaches Tim Corbin (Clemson), Bobby Moranda (Georgia Tech) and Dan Canevari (Louisiana State). None of those guys would be a bad choice.

The real question is, can Vanderbilt be a good job? Yes, some private schools are doing well--Southern California, Rice, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Stanford, Tulane, Richmond, Baylor, Houston . . . it's an impressive list, and it's not a complete one, either. However, none of those schools are in the Southeastern Conference, the nation's deepest, most competitive league. Perhaps there's a good reason Vanderbilt has been a long-time SEC doormat.

South Carolina and Clemson are among the teams that have been practicing at Creighton during the CWS, and coach Jack Dahm has been a gracious host. As a CWS host, Creighton officials have plenty of host obligations, and they keep Dahm on campus rather than out on the road during this time of year. Dahm also has only one full-time paid assistant, doesn't have football revenue to fall back on, and a ballpark locked in by other buildings on campus, limiting future expansion.

Still, Creighton has been to the CWS, and Dahm has some things going for him. The Gaughan Pavilion adjacent to the ballpark (the Creighton Sports Complex), is three years old, has outstanding indoor batting cages, a spacious players' lounge that doubles as a "Legends Lounge" during games and plenty of office space for coaches.

The bottom line is, private schools cost a ton of money, so a $500 scholarship offer from, say, Texas, just about equals a $10,000 offer from a school such as Baylor or Rice. It takes a coaching staff that's not afraid to try something new or to work extra hard to make a private-school situation work, especially at a place that hasn't won like Vanderbilt.

Perhaps not coincidentally, three public schools are left to battle it out for the championship game. Texas will be well rested for Saturday, which Garrido doesn't feel will be a problem or necessarily an advantage. The Longhorns could go with lefthander Justin Simmons, with his 15 victories and offspeed assortment, or righthander Alan Bomer, with 11 wins and more of a power approach. The latter seems like a better fit for the power-oriented attacks of either South Carolina or Clemson.

Garrido could go either way, and could make a change early in the game if one isn't going well. It would be a great story for Bomer to go from the discontinued program at Iowa State to the starter (and perhaps winner) of the national championship game. He also would go from former closer--it was Bomer who gave up the game-winning grand slam to Stanford's Chris O'Riordan in the teams' first meeting back in March--to winning starter.

Texas' season has had plenty of ups and downs, but that loss to the Cardinal was a big down, for Garrido was wondering if anyone could step forward to be his closer. He had hoped it could be Bomer, but that didn't work out. Dan Muegge wasn't healthy, with a finger injury. So Garrido turned to Huston Street, an athletic freshman reputed to be an expert defender as a middle infielder.

Street got two saves in February, but Nos. 3-10 came after April 21. Nos. 11-13 have all come in Omaha, making Street a favorite to be the Most Outstanding Player should the Longhorns win the Series. He would be the first freshman pitcher to win the award, though if the Gamecocks were to pull it out, freshman hurlers Aaron Rawl and Matt Campbell probably would be candidates, because if the 'Cocks win Friday, those two pitchers will figure heavily into Saturday's game.

The last freshman to win the award was Miami's Pat Burrell in 1996, when the Hurricanes lost the final to Warren Morris and LSU. The only other freshmen to have won the award are outfielder Paul Carey (Stanford, 1987) and Jerry Tabb (Tulsa, 1971).

Street could make history. So could Garrido in a Series already notable for its high level of play, string of competitive games and record-setting attendance.