Success, Recruits Follow Former Titan Coach Garrido to Illinois

A late January snowfall settles over Champaign, Ill., and Jason Moler and Kevin O’Connor make their way through the cold to another day of baseball practice under the bubble in Memorial Stadium, Illinois’ football stadium.

They are Orange County kids, like nearly a quarter of the players on the Illinois roster. They hate the weather, but they love the baseball.

In his office, Augie Garrido laughs about the snow and ticks off the various preseason rankings of his Illinois team.

“Fourth, eighth, ninth, 11th,” he said.

Garrido, the baseball coach with a style as smooth as a practiced pickoff move, left Cal State Fullerton in August 1987 after 15 years, 12 conference championships and two national championships.

He went to Illinois, lured by the challenge, a six-figure contract and the persuasiveness of Illinois Athletic Director Neale Stoner, who had hired him at Fullerton in 1973. Stoner since has resigned at Illinois amid allegations of financial improprieties and is now director of the California Bowl.

On the day he was named coach, Garrido said his goal was to win a national championship within five years. The first year, his team finished 26-20. It was not particularly impressive, but as Garrido watched Fullerton play in the College World Series under first-year Coach Larry Cochell, he revised his prediction. “Three years,” he said.

In Garrido’s second season, Illinois won its first Big Ten baseball championship since 1963, advancing to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. regionals, where the Illini won a game and lost two.

This season--No. 3--Garrido has every significant player back from that 42-16 team except one starting pitcher.

The Sporting News picked Illinois to finish fourth in the country; Baseball America says eighth, Sport magazine says ninth and Collegiate Baseball says 11th.

“We don’t know if that’s accurate,” said Garrido, 49. “As far as accuracy goes, this is the old coaches’ cliche, but that’s what the season is played for.”

One of the biggest games of the season will be March 22, when Illinois stops at Titan Field during a 10-day swing through Southern California. Asked once if he would ever schedule Fullerton, Garrido laughed and said, “If we ever get good enough.”

Presumably, he believes they now are.

The occasion presents something of a dilemma to Fullerton officials, who are trying to decide whether that will be an appropriate time to formally retire Garrido’s number. The decision is complicated by Fullerton’s own prospects. If the Titans struggle, as some observers say is possible, honoring Garrido before the game could prove uncomfortable.

Illinois seems poised on the verge of a success similar to what Garrido brought to Fullerton, although one trip to the NCAA regionals is a long way from a 15-year record of 667-292-6.

“I don’t think we’re done yet by any stretch of the imagination,” Garrido said. “What we did was win a Big Ten championship.”

How Garrido has made so much progress is rather clear. He has sought the same California players he used to recruit to Fullerton and taken them to the Midwest, selling Illinois as he always sold Fullerton--as a way to make it to the big leagues.

Who other than Garrido could have convinced a bunch of California players that the way to the major leagues is through Champaign?

“We don’t apologize for the weather,” Garrido said. “If you’re going to play in the big leagues, you’re going to have to play in Chicago in April; you’re going to have to play in New York when it’s cold. . . . A pro golfer can’t learn to play one golf course and expect to win on the PGA Tour. You have to learn how to play in different environments.”

Garrido’s recruiting pitch is based on player development, and on his record of helping players on their way to the majors.

“If they’re going to get to the big leagues and be successful, they’re going to have to develop as players. We know how to help them do that.”

Garrido sells players on the facilities at Illinois, such as the $2.5-million Proano Stadium, which opened for Garrido’s first game, and the indoor practice facility. He advertises a schedule that includes early-season swings through Florida and California that simulate conditions in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues. And he pitches the past--what he did at Fullerton.

There are players from Illinois on the roster, but the success has come from the California players. Eleven of the 27 players on the roster are from California, six of them from Orange County.

Two of them, O’Connor, formerly of Mater Dei High School, and Brian Roberts, formerly of Loara High School, originally signed with Fullerton but chose to follow Garrido to Illinois, even though it meant sitting out a season under NCAA rules.

At first, there was some local resentment of the imported coach and players. Then came the successes of last season.

“They went from the kids from California to the good ole Illini,” Garrido said. “It’s amazing what winning can do.”

Bubba Smith, a pitcher and infielder from Riverside Rubidoux High School, batted .363 and hit 11 home runs in his freshman season last year. And as a pitcher, he compiled a 10-3 record and 3.87 earned-run average.

Sean Mulligan, a sophomore catcher from Diamond Bar, hit 12 home runs. Moler, who played at Esperanza, had a 6-3 record with a 3.48 ERA and batted .296 with three home runs. O’Connor, who has moved from infield to outfield, batted .323 and stole 12 bases.

Their goals this season are not modest.

“We’re looking to go to the World Series, that’s everybody’s goal,” Moler said.

O’Connor spent Christmas break of his redshirt season two years ago wondering if he should leave Illinois and return to California to play at a community college. He has no regrets now.

“I think we’ll be playing in the final game,” he said. “We’re going to get to the World Series, I really believe that. . . . All the guys last year got a big gold ring. That’s a small step. That’s not our final goal. Hopefully, we’ll get rid of that ring and get that national championship ring, one that has diamonds in it.”