Strong Second : Titans’ Horton Is No Ordinary Assistant

Running a top college baseball program is never a one-man job, and nobody knows that better than Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido.

That’s why, when he returned to Fullerton four years ago after three years in Big Ten country at Illinois, he took a diamond-cutter’s care in selecting the person to become his top aide. Really, though, it turned out to be an easy choice. Garrido didn’t have to look more than a few miles west to Cerritos College, where one of his former players, George Horton, had won three State community college titles in six seasons.

In each of those championship years, Horton was chosen national coach of the year. Had Garrido remained at Illinois, Horton might have wound up as Fullerton’s head coach. He was finalist for the job, but when Garrido indicated he wanted to return to the school where he had been highly successful for 15 years, it was a clear-cut choice.

It has turned out to be a splendid partnership for Fullerton baseball. Garrido, his national reputation as one of college baseball’s top coaches already established, has given Horton, 40, the opportunity to spread his wings and soar on the Division I level as associate head coach. Horton coaches, directs recruiting and handles many of the program’s administrative duties.

“The only reason our program is where it is right now is because of the teamwork involved,” Garrido said.

Garrido would have remembered Horton even if he had not been coaching in Fullerton’s back yard. How could he forget? It was Horton who put the Titans into the College World Series for the first time under Garrido in 1975, hitting a homer against Pepperdine that decided the regional championship. He hit .290 that year as a junior and .290 again his senior season and was named to the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. all-star team both years.

“I wasn’t real gifted as a player, but I could always get some hits,” Horton said with a smile. He was a left-handed catcher when he played in high school at Downey, but his community college coach at Cerritos, Wally Kincaid, quickly shifted him to first.

“George definitely was an over-achiever as a player,” said Kincaid, now retired. “He didn’t run well, and he didn’t have a strong arm, but he always was an intelligent hitter . . . an all-around intelligent player.”

It wasn’t too surprising then that Kincaid gave him his first coaching job at Cerritos when his playing career at Fullerton ended. Horton stayed there two years, then went to Los Angeles Valley College for three with current Long Beach State Coach Dave Snow. Then it was back to Cerritos as an assistant under to Gordie Douglas before he became the head coach there in 1985.

Garrido made it clear from the start that Horton would be no ordinary assistant.

“When Augie first approached me about coming to Fullerton, he told me right off the bat that I’d be almost like the head coach, that he’d give me a lot of responsibility, and he definitely did that,” Horton said. “I probably did even more the first year, too, because Augie was having some back problems.”

In recent years, there have been other factors, most notably the financial strain on state colleges. Even Fullerton’s high-profile baseball program hasn’t been immune to the bleeding.

“We have a unique situation at Fullerton where we have a lot of problems to solve besides the ones on the baseball field,” Garrido said. “It virtually takes two people playing the role of head coach to solve them and that’s why I rely so much on George to handle the day-to-day baseball operations. With him handling a lot of those duties, we’ve been able to make some progress in a difficult financial environment with fund-raising and other aspects.

“In some ways, I’m in a role similar to a minor league general manager. I’d prefer to be spending 100% of my time coaching baseball, but that’s just not possible in this situation.”

But it’s hardly the team concept that once failed so badly for the Chicago Cubs and their “College of Coaches” in the early 1960s.

“Augie’s still the guy in charge,” Horton said. “There’s no doubt about that. He’s really good at letting me and the other assistant (Rick Vanderhook) voice our opinions, but it’s a fine line you have to walk in that situation when you’re not the head coach. I have enough input that I feel it’s partly my program, even if the wins and losses aren’t going down on my record.”

The records speak to the success of the Garrido-Horton alliance. The Titans were 34-22 in 1991 and 46-17 in 1992 with a runner-up finish in the College World Series. The 1993 team was 35-19, losing in NCAA regional play. The current team is 24-5 and setting its sights on a Big West Conference title and a strong showing in the postseason.

Garrido lets Horton take the lead on recruiting, and he also handles most of the duties connected to the team’s compliance with NCAA rules. “We still confer on a lot of things that involve the overall team, because Coach sees it as an advantage for me to be involved with a lot of different things,” Horton said. “I really love teaching the game of baseball.”

On the field, Horton is known for a low-key style, thoughtful and calculating.

“I guess I’ve always enjoyed the mental aspects of any sport,” he said. “I can remember when I was in junior high school, and all my notebooks were filled with Xs and Os. At that time, I wanted to be a football coach.”

Matt Hattabaugh, who played for Horton for two years at Cerritos and his 1991 senior season at Cal State Fullerton, calls him “a poker-face.”

“He’s a poker player on the field,” said Hattabaugh, now an assistant at Fullerton College. “You can look at him during practice or a game, and you wouldn’t know whether he’d won the lottery or just had a flat tire. He has the same look regardless.

“He’s always stable, and you know what to expect from him all the time. That’s good for players on the college level. I can’t remember him ever raising his voice in the three years I played for him. But he could give you a look at times that would really let you know he was mad.”

Much of his actual on-field coaching these days involves working with the pitchers. How does someone who never pitched an inning on any level wind up as a pitching coach? Horton says it was a matter of necessity at Cerritos.

“That was a different world for me, but as a head coach, I felt I needed to be involved in that area, because pitching is such a big part of the game,” Horton said. “I had a lot to learn.”

He studied techniques, discussed it with other coaches, and now believes he has a fairly good understanding of it.

“Coach (Garrido) has helped me a lot, too, since I’ve been here,” Horton said. “The most important thing I’ve learned is that you have to be patient with pitchers. It just takes time for them to develop the way you want them to. I can break down a hitter’s weaknesses on the opposing team, but you still really have to work with pitchers to get them to throw the ball into those spots.”

Horton takes an aggressive, hands-on role in game situations. He calls all pitches, as well as pitchouts and pick-offs, although the pitchers retain the right to shake off those signals.

One of the pitching stars on the current team, Mike Parisi, gives Horton considerable credit for his own development. “He helped me a lot,” Parisi said. “One of the best things he did was get me really focused right from the start when I came in from high school.”

Parisi said he and Horton have forged the kind of coach-pitcher relationship that can bend a bit at times but never break. In a game against Pepperdine earlier this season, Horton pulled Parisi with the bases loaded and two outs. Horton was playing percentage baseball and going with a left-handed reliever. The strategy backfired, and Parisi suffered his only loss of the season.

“I was a little mad and frustrated at the time, but I knew he did what he thought was right,” Parisi said. “We talked about it and got everything out in the open, and everything was fine after that. If the left-hander comes in and strikes the guy out, it’s a great decision.”

With Fullerton’s continued success and its current top-five national ranking by two baseball publications, any discussion of Horton comes with the inevitable question: How much longer will he be at Fullerton before he’s lured away to a Division I job that would give him his own program?

“I wouldn’t say I’d never put my name in the hat for another job if I felt it were the right situation,” Horton said. “But I’m not uncovering a lot of stones to make a move.”

The fact is, however, that if Fullerton can continue this year’s success and reach the College World Series again, Horton could be in the market for a new challenge. “That’s one of the reasons I left Cerritos,” he said. “I felt the challenge there was gone.”

One informal feeler has been made by a Pac-10 school, but Horton calls it “all still premature at his stage.” But Garrido knows a move could happen.

“I’ll be totally supportive of any decision George makes in his own best interest and the best interest of his family,” Garrido said. “I just know he’s one of the best young coaches in the country.”

But at least for now, it is a back-burner issue. Too many goals this season are unfulfilled for Horton to think much beyond.