Augie Garrido

Distant Pod pint-sized episode.

Right, I'm going to pick Augie Garrido.

I like to think he's the American Steph Guerrero.

Augie Garrido was the most successful NCAA or college baseball coach in American history.

I think he's been surpassed now.

But certainly when he retired, he had the best record.

This is Augie Garrido with a post-game dressing down for the University of Texas.

I love baseball.

It can happen in the background or the periphery.

It can be your focus, but it's also something that I, I have started talking more and more to people about and, and like our, my boys about is, um, You know, there are great coaches like Augie Garrido was the coach at the University of Texas at Austin.

And I before that Cal State Fullerton, like I would always read about his philosophy.

And he was a very flawed person outside of that.

It's called the Saban approach.

I think this team has to approach this game like I heard Augie Garrido approach baseball many times.

You can't think about the scoreboard.

You can't think about the outcome.

And that's the reason you were able to get a Cliff Gustafson who could take it to the next level.

And an Augie Garrido come get us a couple of national championships, too.

Because of Billy Dish and Ben Falk.

There you go.

If you're a baseball fan, my new show for baseball America skippers, I think it's going to come out next week.

If not the week after the first episode is going to chronicle the career of Augie Garrido by talking to those who played for him, coached with him, covered him.

Uh, it was a lot more work than I thought it'd be.

So please go watch it.

They beat them at every facet.

It, it reminds me of, of Augie Garrido and that Texas speech where he's like, "They beat us at every fucking facet of the game.

I'm sorry.

I have failed you guys." [chuckles] Like, that's what this reminded me of, a team that just got beat from start to finish.

Since taking over the Oklahoma program in 2018, Johnson has established the Sooners as a consistent national contender, leading the program to multiple NCAA tournament appearances, conference championships, and two trips to the College World Series championship finals, including a national runner-up finish in 2022.

Johnson spent 10 seasons at the University of Texas, working alongside legendary head coach Augie Garrido, helping the Longhorns reach three College World Series, while establishing himself as one of the top pitching coaches in the country.

Prior to Texas, he spent 13 seasons as the head coach at Navarro College, where he accumulated 450 wins, nine conference championships, and four regional titles.

Let's welcome Skip Johnson to the podcast.

I mean, she's a sweetheart.

She goes, hey, what's going on, you know? And I go, well, I'm just waiting on Max Paxson to show up, you know? Everybody goes, I got probably more texts that day than any, you know, that was pretty crazy.

Was that an adjustment for you being a head coach for all those years at Navarro and then going to be an assistant, or was it pretty seamless because you're going to work for Augie Garrido?

No, it was pretty seamless because I was the head coach of a pitching staff.

I'll, I'll, I'll just say this, you know.

There, there's a lot I took from, from being around Augie Garrido, the years I spent around Augie, and one quote that just kind of, I think sums up where Texas football is right now.

The game knows when it's being disrespected.

And if you continue to be sloppy in two phases, and one of those you're downright abysmal, which is the kicking game, and you continue to rack up the penalties, and you turn the ball over, a- at some point, your talent, uh, isn't gonna be enough to mask those deficiencies.