He’s Settled for Pats on the Back . . . : But Now, That May Not Be Enough Support for Garrido

Augie Garrido was walking dejectedly across the infield at Fresno State’s Beiden Field after the host Bulldogs had swept his Cal State Fullerton team in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championship series last weekend when an old friend tried to cheer him up.

“Hope you guys get at an-large (NCAA) berth,” Fresno State Coach Bob Bennett said.

“Why? You want to see more of that ?” asked Garrido, who had watched his team commit five errors in a humiliating 14-6 loss that put to rest a 36-32-1 season, the Titans’ worst in 12 years.

Garrido is usually the kind of guy who makes Captain Kangaroo look like a pessimist, but he’s been a bit more open about his disappointment--and maybe more significantly, his discontent--recently.

The Titans didn’t get an at-large playoff berth, and their string of 11 consecutive post-season appearances was snapped. Garrido said he was disappointed but not surprised.

It’s not just that he was unhappy with the way his team performed this year. Fullerton lost most of its starting players and all its top pitchers to the professional ranks after winning the national championship last year, and Garrido knew his team probably lacked the pitching strength to repeat.

It’s just that winning the championship got him nothing but a pat on the back from the Fullerton administration . . . and a cut in funding. Playing the Rodney Dangerfield role starts getting old after awhile.

This year, Garrido personally sold advertising for the outfield fences at Titan Field to bolster his meager budget. The ads were just a new twist in an old scheme. Garrido’s been holding clinics, scrimping, saving and finding the time to patch together an incredible string of successes, including two national championships, for 13 years at Fullerton.

Now he’s beginning to wonder if anybody’s paying any attention.

“My job is to provide for the needs of student-athletes the best way I can,” Garrido said. “My first choice is still to do that at Fullerton. But if that’s not possible because of the administration’s attitude toward athletics, then I would be very interested in providing that kind of leadership somewhere else.

“But, as far as I know, there is no other Division 1 baseball job open.”

Garrido has had his eyes on the USC job for years, but longtime Trojan Coach Rod Dedeaux doesn’t appear inclined to step down, and there seems little chance he’ll be fired. There has been speculation that Arizona State Coach Jim Brock might be dismissed in the wake of a scandal about Sun Devil players using mood-altering drugs, but no action has been taken yet.

“There’s been a lot of rumors, there always is,” Garrido said. “But nobody has offered me anything.”

Garrido says he is only interested in building a “top-flight program,” and he’s ready to make a move if that’s what it takes. And this season was a painful reminder that it’s hard enough to stay on top when you have a reasonable amount of support.

“You know me,” he said. “I’m an optimist. I knew this would be a rebuilding year. I knew it’d be a struggle. But there’s been so many disappointments. Then it all came tumbling down in one, big landslide in Fresno.”

Even in ignominious defeat, Garrido found reasons to praise his athletes.

“In a loss like this, after a season like this, you might expect to see a lot of helmet throwing and arguing with the umpire,” he said after the game. “But our players demonstrated character and poise in one of their worst efforts on the field. They never gave up, either.

“I guess that is the best testimony to the type of leadership we’re trying to provide.”

Like his players, Garrido isn’t giving up. And he’s not sitting by the phone waiting for job offers, either.

He’s been out recruiting, and so far he’s signed three pitchers and three infielders, including Golden West College second baseman Andy Mota (brother of Titan junior, Jose Mota, and son of Dodger coach, Manny Mota). Also signed are pitchers Paul Abbott (Sunny Hills High), Gary Buckles (Golden West) and Paul Johnson (Redondo High) and infielders Larry Cratsenberg (Orange Coast College) and James Garmen (College of the Sequoias).

Garrido would never go so far as to say he is preparing for the worst (staying at Fullerton), but he’ll admit that “there have been a lot of difficulties over the years.”

And then there is always a chance that 1985, the season of discontent for Augie Garrido, will turn out to be his last at Cal State Fullerton.

‘You know me. I’m an optimist. I knew this would be a rebuilding year. I knew it’d be a struggle. But there’s been so many disappointments.’

--Augie Garrido