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Post by chinmusic on Nov 16, 2020 9:26:37 GMT -8
Not to belittle a good baseball coach, but this one made me chuckle. Baseball America ranked the top-25 college coaching hires since 2000. Guess who made the list at #25?
25. George Horton, Oregon (2007)
"After going to six College World Series and winning the 2004 national title with Cal State Fullerton, Horton took on a new challenge in 2007 with the restarting of the Oregon program. Horton had the Ducks in the postseason in year two, had them in a super regional in year four, and overall, had the Ducks in regionals in five of the first seven seasons he was there, an incredible run for a program entering on the ground floor."
snicker . . . . .snicker
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Post by Henry Skrimshander on Nov 16, 2020 10:22:18 GMT -8
Laugh all you want, but taking a new program, going to NCAAs in Year 2 and making a Super in Year 4 is pretty impressive. Of course, financial help that other startups could only dream about helped considerably, but George did make UO a very good program very quickly. He just couldn't sustain it.
That, and his inability to connect with, or develop, any kind of a fan base is just another reason why he pales in comparison to what Pat Casey accomplished here.
After some initial, uncharasteric blarney, no doubt encouraged by that asshole Killedwrestling, George was quite complimentary of our program. It was clear he appreciated our loud, boisterous, involved fan base to the 200 or 300 who regularly showed up at PuKe Park.
Guys like Killedwrestling and Butterstick were the a-holes around that program. Not George, for the most part.
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Post by thewizard on Nov 16, 2020 11:00:20 GMT -8
That was a good hire whether you like UofHole or not. They lured him away with the challenge of trying to build a program from ground zero. He was a big time name in College Baseball at the time of his hire.
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Post by chinmusic on Nov 16, 2020 16:07:20 GMT -8
Horton is good baseball guy, but he isn't the focus of the Oregon baseball story. The envy and financial backing of the start-up from Killkenny and PK deserve the real attention. GH was lured to Eugene with one of the best contracts in college ball. UO erected a new stadium, made quantum upgrades to facilities, provided a big recruiting budget and exclaimed, they intended to be THE PROGRAM in Oregon. Dreams of a national championship were commonplace in the UO Athletic Department.
GH took a loaded CS_Fullerton team following legendary coach Augie Garrido's departure for Texas. The Titans won a national title and Horton became a "hot property". Some early success in Eugene had the Duck program on track but then the momentum slowed, a slide followed and eventually Horton was out and they are attempting to rebuild with a new coach.
Teams have incredible years. Teams have incredible runs over a period of several years but if you can't sustain success over the long haul, you drift towards mediocrity. Take a look at Michigan, USC and Stanford football right now - it happens. In my judgement, Horton did an admirable job launching a program, but he wasn't able to put a dwelling on the foundation. Oregon wasn't an incredible program, it was a fart and fall down story.
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Post by spudbeaver on Nov 16, 2020 20:10:29 GMT -8
A lot of apologists for a guy that had the table set, got paid, and didn’t get it done. Perhaps the moral of the story should be to start a program for the right reasons, not revenge, or one-upmanship. Just a thought.
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Post by Henry Skrimshander on Nov 16, 2020 20:55:51 GMT -8
A lot of apologists for a guy that had the table set, got paid, and didn’t get it done. Perhaps the moral of the story should be to start a program for the right reasons, not revenge, or one-upmanship. Just a thought. Not apologizing for him. But I also can appreciate what he did in the first seven years. Garrido left CSUF after the 1996 season. Horton took the Titans to the CWS in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So unless some of Garrido's guys played for at least five seasons, and as many as 10, Horton was responsible for recruiting the players for the 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 CWS teams, and the 2004 CWS champions. He was already a hot property when he won the 2004 CWS. I don't care why UO started a program. I'm just glad they did. The rivalry has been fun to watch. |
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Post by spudbeaver on Nov 16, 2020 21:18:14 GMT -8
A lot of apologists for a guy that had the table set, got paid, and didn’t get it done. Perhaps the moral of the story should be to start a program for the right reasons, not revenge, or one-upmanship. Just a thought. Not apologizing for him. But I also can appreciate what he did in the first seven years. Garrido left CSUF after the 1996 season. Horton took the Titans to the CWS in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So unless some of Garrido's guys played for at least five seasons, and as many as 10, Horton was responsible for recruiting the players for the 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 CWS teams, and the 2004 CWS champions. He was already a hot property when he won the 2004 CWS. I don't care why UO started a program. I'm just glad they did. The rivalry has been fun to watch. Perhaps the article should have cited CSUF as the school with the good hire! |
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Post by jdogge on Nov 16, 2020 21:36:36 GMT -8
A lot of apologists for a guy that had the table set, got paid, and didn’t get it done. Perhaps the moral of the story should be to start a program for the right reasons, not revenge, or one-upmanship. Just a thought. Not apologizing for him. But I also can appreciate what he did in the first seven years. Garrido left CSUF after the 1996 season. Horton took the Titans to the CWS in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So unless some of Garrido's guys played for at least five seasons, and as many as 10, Horton was responsible for recruiting the players for the 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 CWS teams, and the 2004 CWS champions. He was already a hot property when he won the 2004 CWS. I don't care why UO started a program. I'm just glad they did. The rivalry has been fun to watch. Stirred up a hornets nest, did ya'? |
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Post by ee1990 on Nov 17, 2020 3:08:42 GMT -8
Key line there that the OP conveniently ignores in his chase to hate all things Duck, is "entering on the ground floor". I don't think there's any argument that they haven't had an impressive return to baseball. Are they elite? Heck no. Have they done a really good job starting from scratch? Obviously.
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Post by Henry Skrimshander on Nov 17, 2020 13:09:25 GMT -8
Not apologizing for him. But I also can appreciate what he did in the first seven years. Garrido left CSUF after the 1996 season. Horton took the Titans to the CWS in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So unless some of Garrido's guys played for at least five seasons, and as many as 10, Horton was responsible for recruiting the players for the 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 CWS teams, and the 2004 CWS champions. He was already a hot property when he won the 2004 CWS. I don't care why UO started a program. I'm just glad they did. The rivalry has been fun to watch. Perhaps the article should have cited CSUF as the school with the good hire! Article says post-2000. CSUF hired George in 1997. |
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Post by spudbeaver on Nov 17, 2020 19:58:14 GMT -8
Perhaps the article should have cited CSUF as the school with the good hire! Article says post-2000. CSUF hired George in 1997. Yeah, pretty obvious, and pretty obvious I was just trying to be funny, but I forgot there are folks that are only totally serious on this board. My apologies for the technical error. |
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Post by Werebeaver on Nov 17, 2020 21:35:36 GMT -8
A lot of apologists for a guy that had the table set, got paid, and didn’t get it done. Perhaps the moral of the story should be to start a program for the right reasons, not revenge, or one-upmanship. Just a thought. Not apologizing for him. But I also can appreciate what he did in the first seven years. Garrido left CSUF after the 1996 season. Horton took the Titans to the CWS in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So unless some of Garrido's guys played for at least five seasons, and as many as 10, Horton was responsible for recruiting the players for the 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 CWS teams, and the 2004 CWS champions. He was already a hot property when he won the 2004 CWS. I don't care why UO started a program. I'm just glad they did. The rivalry has been fun to watch. I kinda enjoyed the OSU UO wrestling rivalry. More state of Oregon kids on both sides. But that's history and it's never coming back. |
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Post by flyfishinbeav on Nov 25, 2020 12:21:05 GMT -8
Fan sign that floats around whenever we play the quacks.......
"You can't buy your way to Omaha"
And that, my friends, is the single greatest fan sign in the history of sports, as far as I'm concerned. It says so much in one sentence....
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Post by spudbeaver on Nov 25, 2020 13:29:06 GMT -8
Fan sign that floats around whenever we play the quacks....... "You can't buy your way to Omaha" And that, my friends, is the single greatest fan sign in the history of sports, as far as I'm concerned. It says so much in one sentence.... What about “Die, D.....”, um, never mind. |
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Post by Werebeaver on Nov 25, 2020 14:37:19 GMT -8
Article says post-2000. CSUF hired George in 1997. Yeah, pretty obvious, and pretty obvious I was just trying to be funny, but I forgot there are folks that are only totally serious on this board. My apologies for the technical error. In the end I think he just ran out of pencils  |
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