August 31, 2007

Coach leaving CSF baseball
George Horton took the Titans to the college baseball World Series six times in his 11 years.
By JANIS CARR
The Orange County Register

All indications point to Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton leaving for the Northwest.

Horton, 53, has accepted an offer from the University of Oregon to resurrect its baseball program. A news conference is set for Saturday morning in Eugene, Ore., and he met with his Titans players Friday to tell them of his impending departure.

But since the contract has not been signed — a reported multiyear deal that would make Horton the nation's highest-paid college baseball coach — Horton has declined to comment on his job situation. He ducked out the back door after an emotional team meeting in which he apparently told his players that he still had Friday night to think about the job.

He was expected to leave for Oregon late Friday.

UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano said he doesn't think Horton will change his mind.

“There was real relief in his voice when I talked to him. He felt really good about his decision,” Serrano said.

Once all the details are hammered out, Horton will leave behind an 11-year legacy in which he took the Titans to the College World Series six times, winning the national title in 2004. The Titans finished as one of the final four teams in 2006.

This past season he led a team with a 38-25 record to another World Series berth, but the Titans were eliminated after two games. UC Irvine sent the Titans home with an extra-inning victory.

He will finish his tenure at Fullerton with a 490-212-1 overall record and a hefty list of major-league players produced, including Mark Kotsay, Kurt Suzuki and Chad Cordero.

Steve DiTolla, CSF's associate athletic director, called it a “tremendous loss for Fullerton.”

“What's remarkable is that he's maintained and elevated the program here in every shape and form,” DiTolla said. “It will be difficult to replace him.”

Fullerton athletic director Brian Quinn also was reluctant to discuss the soon-to-be vacant baseball job until Horton's contract is finalized. He declined to designate an interim coach to handle the team until a successor is found, which could be difficult given the late date. Most schools have started, and fall baseball workouts are under way.

Quinn said he probably would meet with Fullerton vice president Robert Palmer early next week to discuss a coaching search.

“This is one of the finest programs in the country, and we know that,” Quinn said. “So we would want to make sure we get the best coach in the country.”

Horton will be taking over a program that was dropped in 1981 amid financial cuts and Title IX restrictions. The Ducks will not begin playing until the 2009 season, giving Horton a year to recruit and set the foundation for the program, much like UC Irvine did when it resurrected its program in 2002.

Horton, 53, will be building a program from scratch with a budget and financial resources that surpass those at Fullerton. Nike founder Phil Knight recently gave the Oregon athletic department a $100 million gift, and a new stadium is in the works.

Initially, the outline for the program called for only four or five scholarships to be awarded in the first year with the full allotment of 11.7 reached over a four-year span. Oregon spokesman Dave Wiliford said that could change, depending on the coach.

The school does not have an on-campus stadium, meaning the Ducks would have to play home games at Civic Stadium, a 6,800-seat facility built in 1938 that is home to the Eugene Emeralds, a Class-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.

Horton's hire ends a two-month search in which several coaches resisted Oregon's overtures, including Serrano.