CSF’s Cochell to be Coach at Oklahoma

Larry Cochell, baseball coach at Cal State Fullerton, will be named head coach at the University of Oklahoma today, The Times has learned.

Cochell’s selection was to be announced at a news conference today in Norman.

Reports of Cochell’s selection were published today in the Norman Transcript and the Tulsa Tribune.

Cochell, 49, was head coach at Oral Roberts University for 10 years, where he developed the team into a national power. Oral Roberts finished fifth in the 1978 College World Series and posted 50-win seasons in 1983 and 1985.

He also was athletic director at Oral Roberts from 1983 to 1986, when he lost that position to basketball Coach Ted Owens. Cochell resigned a short time later and was named head coach at Northwestern University in 1987.

In Cochell’s first year as coach at Cal State Fullerton, the Titans finished second in the 1988 College World Series. His Fullerton team also made it to the tournament this year but lost its first two games.

Cochell has a 796-458-2 record in a head-coaching career that has spanned 24 years.