Texas baseball head coach Jim Schlossnagle is off to a hot start in his first year at the helm, leading the Longhorns to No. 2 in the national rankings and a 26–4 record through 30 games.
Hoping to be the next great Texas baseball head coach, The Daily Texan took a look at how Schlossnagle’s first season compares to former Texas baseball head coaching greats.
Billy Disch (1911-39) and Bibb Falk (1940-67):
With a combined 55 years as head coaches, Billy Disch and Bibb Falk were pioneers for Texas baseball. Taking over the program in 1911, Disch was the first of only six head coaches to be hired by Texas over the past 114 years.
Finishing with an impressive 513–180 win-loss record over 29 seasons, Disch set the stage for the following century of Texas Baseball. Despite an impressive career as head coach, Disch’s first season with Texas was not indicative of the success that would follow.
In his first season, Disch led the Longhorns to an overall 13–12–1 record, with the tie coming against Texas A&M late in the season. Despite a slow start to his career, Disch would go on to help organize Southwest Conference baseball and win 20 conference championships.
Falk, a player under Disch’s tenure, took over as head coach in 1940. To begin an impressive career, Falk’s first season with the team was a good indicator of what was to come.
In his first season at the helm of Texas baseball, Falk picked up where Disch left off, finishing with a 20–4 record and yet another conference championship for Texas. The Longhorns started the 1940 season 10–0 before dropping its first contest of the year to Rice 7-6. Texas would go on to finish with a 14–1 conference record and end the season on a four-game winning streak, two of which came against Texas A&M.
Falk would go on to finish his career with a 478–176 record, 20 conference titles and two national titles.
Cliff Gustafson (1968-96):
A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Gustafson pushed Texas baseball to impressive heights, winning 22 more SWC titles, two national titles and finishing an illustrious career with an overall record of 1,466–377 in 29 seasons.
Similar to his predecessor, Gustafson also won a conference championship in his first year as head coach of the baseball team. Off to a slow start, the 1968 Longhorns were 6–6 through its first 12 games of the season, dropping five of its six losses by a single run.
However, less than midway through the season, it was a series against Texas Tech that began the turnaround of the 1968 team. Sweeping the Red Raiders was the start of a 10-game win streak and led to a trip to the college world series, where Texas eventually dropped two of three games. Despite a slow start to the year, Gustafson found a way to find success in his first season.
Augie Garrido (1997-2016):
The second most total wins in college baseball history as a coach, Augie Garrido makes a compelling case to be considered the best coach on this list.
In his 20 years as head coach of Texas baseball, Garrido dominated college baseball and finished his career with 824 wins with the Longhorns.
Garrido’s first season with Texas was a slow start to his impressive tenure, posting a 29–22 record and going 12–15 in conference play. Despite a 7–4 start, the Longhorns faltered throughout the remainder of the season, losing 18 of the next 30 games and failing to make a college world series appearance. The 1997 Longhorns struggled in conference play, winning only three of the season’s nine series against conference opponents.
But Garrido would turn it around, going on to win seven Big 12 conference titles and two national championships with Texas.
