Garrido Watches the Series . . . From the Stands : Former Titan Coach Has Praise for Successor and Team He Helped Build

Until now, he had watched the games on television.

But when Cal State Fullerton took batting practice before its game Thursday, Augie Garrido sat in the front row behind the Titan dugout and watched the team that would have been his own.

Garrido brought four Fullerton teams to the College World Series himself and twice won the national championship. But last year, he left Fullerton for Illinois, intent on building a championship program there.

And as Fullerton tries to win a third national championship, Garrido sits in the stands, wearing coat and tie, half proud parent, half outsider.

“I’m glad to be here to watch them perform, as a fan and a person who cares about them,” Garrido said.

He struggled some with the decision to come to the Series. He has traveled to Southern California several times since he left, but he never went by practice, preferring to allow some space to Larry Cochell, who replaced him.

His job at Illinois prevented him from coming to Omaha earlier, but Garrido decided he wanted to be here and sent a telegram to Cochell, congratulating him and letting him know he was coming.

Cochell never got the telegram, but Garrido sought him out when he arrived Thursday afternoon.

He is walking a fine line here, between pride and gracious deference.

His pride in the team is evident--as is his pride that he and assistant coach Bill Kernan, who followed him to Illinois, put this team together.

“The exciting thing for me is the way the momentum has built. They had a really rough year, coming off losing in the regionals last year, which was very emotional. For the returning players, that was in the back of their minds. And Bill Kernan looked at what we needed and went and got it. It was a job very well done.”

But he is also careful to credit Cochell, who was named to replace him in September with this team already in place.

“He’s done an outstanding job. The way he was being compared (to Garrido)--that’s tough. For him to work his way through shows class. . . . He’s worked his way through and they’ve pulled it together. This is a testimony to how well he’s done.”

Despite his obvious claim to the team, Garrido said he is not wishing he was on the field, although he admits that, like any coach, he will choose his own strategies as he watches.

“I’ve been in this long enough where I’m not sitting here saying, ‘Gosh, I wish I was in the dugout with the team,’ ” he said. “That’s over.

“I think I had more trouble knowing whether it was right for me to be here. I think if I had felt I really wanted to be in the dugout, it would have shown in what I said or my body language, and that would have been wrong.”

But neither did watching on television feel right.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “I wanted to be here.”

His Illinois team struggled this year, finishing 26-20. But Illinois had a fine recruiting year, and Garrido, who promised a national championship within five years when he went to Illinois, has revised the prediction to three.

In the meantime, Fullerton is still in the chase this year, and Garrido watches from afar.

“It’s their team,” he said. “I told them when I left they know how to run it, go out and do their best.”