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2001
Baseball Coaches
The Titan baseball tradition is alive and well, thanks to fifth-year Head Coach George Horton. Since Horton took over for Augie Garrido on Sept. 4, 1996, after six years as Garrido’s associate head coach, the Titans have posted a 174-76-1 (.695) record, won three Big West Conference championships and a divisional pennant and captured a pair of regional titles in 1999 to earn a trip to Omaha. They have usually been ranked in the national Top 25 polls and even reached No. 1 according to Collegiate Baseball for one week late in the 1999 season. Horton won his 100th game as Titans’ head coach on Mar. 7, 1999, vs. Houston in only his 147th game (100-46-1) to easily beat predecessors Augie Garrido (100-69-2) and Larry Cochell (100-64) to that benchmark. He already owns two Big West Conference Coach of the Year awards. Twenty-three Titans have been selected in Major League Baseball’s draft since Horton’s tenure began, including standout pitcher Adam Johnson, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins as the second overall pick in June of 2000 . In Horton’s debut season in 1997, the Titans struggled to a 23-19-1 start, but then rattled off 15 victories in their final 18 regular season games. They lost the opener of the Big West Conference post-season tournament at home to Pacific ace Dan Reichert, but then came back to win four games in a row at Blair Field. They swept a doubleheader on the final day against host Long Beach State to capture the league championship and the automatic NCAA tournament bid. At Stanford, the Titans went 1-2 to place third, losing to Santa Clara and Fresno State. In 1998, the Titans used a remarkably balanced squad to start strong and then dominate the Big West Conference regular season with a 25-5 record. But they stumbled at home in the Big West Tournament and then ran into a powerful buzz saw in Baton Rouge in the NCAA regionals, placing second at 3-2 with a pair of losses to the host LSU Tigers. In 1999, the Titans again went 25-5 to win the BWC by four games. They swept three games at the Notre Dame Regional and then overcame an assortment of disadvantages to triumph in three games in the Super Regional at Ohio State to qualify for the school’s tenth College World Series appearance. The 2000 Titans, the unanimous preseason pick to win the conference and the consensus No. 2 team in the country, had a two-game lead on Nevada with three games to go in the Big West Conference race. But the Wolf Pack swept Pacific in the final series and Fullerton lost two of three to Long Beach State, so the Titans had to settle for a co-championship. Horton fulfilled a life-long dream of being a Division I head coach when he was promoted to replace Garrido, who left to take over the program at the University of Texas. A 1978 CSF graduate, Horton had returned to the campus in 1991 when Garrido came back after a three-year stint at Illinois. In the next six years the Titans posted a 264-99 record and made three trips to the CWS, winning the 1995 crown with a phenomenal 57-9 season. Horton had input on virtually every aspect of the Fullerton program with his primary concern being the development of the pitching staff. His organizational skills, patience as a teacher and his attention to detail provided the backbone of the Titan coaching staff. During the years Horton was responsible for the pitching staff, seven pitchers received All-America honors and Matt Wagner (1994) and Ted Silva (1995) won Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. Dan Naulty became the first Titan pitcher under Horton’s guidance to reach the major leagues when he made the 1996 opening-day roster for the Minnesota Twins. He later earned a World Series ring in 1999 with the Yankees. Another Horton product, Brent Billingsley, made two appearances for the Florida Marlins early in the 1999 season. Last year, Horton saw four of his former pupils – Mike Lamb, Steve Sisco, Matt Wise and Frank Charles – make their Major League debuts. Position players recruited and coached by Horton include Mark Kotsay (Florida Marlins), Jeremy Giambi (Kansas City Royals and Oakland A’s) and Dante Powell (San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals). Horton also coached Phil Nevin (San Diego Padres), who in 1992 was the Golden Spikes Award winner, Baseball America player of the year, baseball’s No. 1 draft pick (by Houston) and the College World Series MVP. Kotsay and Nevin along with Brian Loyd, Jason Moler and Bret Barberie – all tutored in part by Horton – were Olympians and Kotsay was chosen the college player of the decade by Baseball America. Horton, 46, began his head coaching career at Cerritos College in Norwalk, where he guided the Falcons to three junior college state championships in six years. He compiled a 226-53 record and won the California titles in 1985, 1987 and 1989. Each of those years he was selected National Junior College Coach of the Year. His best season was 1987 when the Falcons went 46-5. He had a South Coast Conference record of 102-28 (.785) and was a four-time South Coast Conference Coach of the Year (1985, 1987, 1989 and 1990). He had many players graduate to the major leagues including Brian Hunter, who played for the Atlanta Braves in the 1991 World Series. Other names include Mike Benjamin, Craig Worthington, Ever Magallanes, Al Osuna, Joel Adamson, Dan Patterson, Luis Medina and Jeff Hearron. Horton was a player on the Cerritos College teams in 1972 and 1973. As the Falcons’ team captain in 1973, he won the Dallas Moon Award and was a member of the state championship team. Horton played two seasons for Garrido at Cal State Fullerton in 1975 and 1976 and won All-PCAA honors as both a junior and a senior. He was on the first Fullerton team to go to the College World Series in 1975. He batted .308 as a junior and .290 as a senior while playing first base. He graduated in 1978 and went on to earn a master’s degree in 1980 at Cal Lutheran. Horton’s coaching career began as an assistant at Cerritos in 1976-77 and he went to Los Angeles Valley College the following three seasons where he coached with current Long Beach State Coach Dave Snow. In 1980, he moved back to Cerritos as an assistant to Gordie Douglas before taking the head job in 1985. In addition, he coached during the summer for the Fairbanks Goldpanners (1981 and 1983) in Alaska and the Hutchinson Broncs (1982) in Kansas. A few famous names played for him on those summer teams such as Shane Mack, Oddibe McDowell, Joe Magrane, Dan Plesac, Phil Stevenson and Roger Clemens. In 1994, Horton was inducted into the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Horton was born on Oct. 5, 1953. The Yorba Linda resident and his wife, Francie, have four daughters: Michele (20), Heather (16), Loyal (11) and Rebecca (9) and a granddaughter, Angelica (1).
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