May 15, 2003
This is another "B" Line column, a periodic collection of news items of particular interest to members of the Baylor "B" Association. Contribute news about you or your teammates via e-mail to Lee Harrington (leenelaine@281.com), Dutch Schroeder (Dutch_Schroeder@baylor.edu), Reba Cooper (Reba_Cooper@baylor.edu) or Jack Loftis (Jack.Loftis@chron.com). The mailing address is Baylor "B" Association, P. O. Box 8120, Waco, TX 76714.
Of course, the question was loaded.
How does Lee Harrington, the assistant director of the Baylor "B" Association and also a BU baseball and football letterman, feel when Ty Harrington, his baseball coaching son, brings his Southwest Texas State Bobcats to Waco for a game against the Bears?
"Well, it feels strange," Harrington said after Baylor defeated SWT, 9-5, at Baylor Ballpark on Tuesday. The contest was a rubber match between the two teams. The Bobcats had triumphed, 9-5, in both teams' opening game in February, but Baylor came back strong to beat SWT, 12-8, in an April meeting.
"As a father I want my son to do well, but as a Baylor man I want the Bears to also have a good game," Harrington said. "I just try to consider it a baseball game. And anything can happen."
Lee says that one of the toughest decisions ever made in the Harrington household was when Ty, a baseball and football standout at Midway High School, was being recruited by several schools, including Baylor and Texas.
Phoning the Mick . . .
"We had to call (Baylor baseball coach) Mickey Sullivan, one of the best friends I have ever had and a guy who was at Ty's first Little League game, and tell him that Ty had decided to go to UT." Harrington said.
Ty played at Texas under coach Cliff Gustafson and wound up being the Longhorns' captain in his senior year.
His first coaching experience came at Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, from 1995 to 1998. In his first season, the Eagles had a 37-12 record and in 1996, they won the National Junior College Championship, finishing the season with a 48-18 record.
Harrington immediately was named National Junior College Coach of the Year and in 1999 advanced to Brenhan to become head baseball coach at Blinn College. In his only season there the Buccaneers had a 36-22 record and advanced to the Region XIV Junior College Tournament.
On to Southwest Texas . . .
The next year Harrington joined Southwest Texas and has seen his Bobcats participate in post-season play in each of his three years there.
According to SWT Assistant Athletic Director Tony Brubaker, the 2002 Bobcats posted the highest RPI, a No.57-ranking, of any team in the Southland Conference.
"In four years at SWT, Harrington has directed the 'Cats to a 126-98 record, making the coach the fastest to the 70-win mark at Southwest Texas in the 17-year history of the program, " Brubaker said. "The 70 victories also ties Harrington for the most wins in consecutive seasons in SWT history with Steve Prentice, who won 70 games from 1987 to 1988."
Last year Harrington led the Bobcats to a 36-24 record, the second most wins posted in a season by a Southwest Texas baseball team.
The team recorded 10 wins against nationally ranked teams and 12 victories against teams that would later appear in the NCAA tournament.
Ironically, Harrington's 300th career victory was recorded against Texas, his alma mater. It was a 2-0 win on April 23, 2002, and as it turned out the significant triumph came at the expense of the same UT team that eventually would win the NCAA baseball championship.
JACK LOFTIS
CHAIRMAN
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
