Ty Harrington

Ty Harrington
Biographical details
Born (1964-07-16) July 16, 1964 (age 60)
Pasadena, Texas, U.S.
Playing career
1986–1987Texas
Position(s)Infielder
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1988–1991Texas (asst.)
1991–1994Arkansas State (asst.)
1995–1998Northeast Texas CC
1999Blinn
2000–2019Texas State
Head coaching record
Overall
  • 164–75 (.686) (junior college)
  • 657–516–2 (.560) (college)
Tournaments2–6 (NCAA)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • 2× Southland Coach of the Year (2009, 2011)
  • Sun Belt Coach of the Year (2019)

Ty Lee Harrington (born July 16, 1964) is an American former baseball player and coach. He served as the head baseball coach at Texas State University from 2000 through the 2019 season. Under Harrington, the Texas State Bobcats to three NCAA tournament appearances, two Southland Conference baseball tournament championships, and three Southland Conference baseball regular season championships. Harrington is the most victorious coach in program history.[1][2]

Early life and education

Ty Lee Harrington was born in Pasadena, Texas, where his parents Lee Pickens Harrington and Elaine Cezeaux Harrington were teachers in the local school district.[3] The family later moved to Waco, Texas, when Lee became an assistant coach at Baylor.[4][5] Ty Harrington graduated from Midway High School in Waco in 1983.[6]

Harrington attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he lettered with Texas Longhorns baseball in 1986 and 1987 as an infielder under head coach Cliff Gustafson. Harrington was a team captain as a senior on the 1987 team that made the College World Series.[7][1]

Coaching career

Early career (1988–1999)

From 1988 to 1991, Harrington was a student assistant and later graduate assistant coach at Texas.[1] From 1992 to 1994, Harrington was an assistant coach at Arkansas State. During his tenure, the team established many school records, and the 1994 team won the Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament and appeared in the NCAA tournament.[1]

He then served as head coach at a pair of Texas junior colleges, the first of which was Northeast Texas Community College from 1995 to 1998, where he claimed the 1996 NJCAA championship and Coach of the Year awards. Harrington went 128–53 at Northeast Texas.[8] Harrington then coached at Blinn College in 1999, going 36–22 in his lone season.[1][9]

Southwest Texas State/Texas State (2000–2019)

On December 9, 1999, Harrington became head coach at Texas State (then Southwest Texas State) University.[9] Harrington was hired after previous head coach Howard Bushong resigned to coach with the San Diego Padres organization.[9]

In his debut season in 2000, Harrington went 34–29 with an NCAA tournament appearance at Southwest Texas State.[10][1] Harrington would go on six straight winning seasons through 2005.[10] On April 27, 2005, Texas State upset no. 1 Texas 2–1 in 10 innings at Disch–Falk Field, Texas's home field.[11] Having been a member of the Southland Conference until the 2012 season, Texas State changed conferences twice, first to the Western Athletic Conference in 2013 then the Sun Belt Conference from 2014 on.

On April 23, 2011, he claimed his 400th career win over Northwestern State. During the 2012 season, Harrington led the team to their highest ever national ranking, at number 20 in the Baseball America poll on March 12.[12][13] He has also developed three All-Americans, and numerous conference players of the year.

On June 20, 2019, Harrington retired from coaching baseball.[14][15] In 20 seasons as Texas State head coach from 2000 to 2019, Harrington accumulated a 657–516–2 record.[1][10] Under Harrington, Texas State appeared in three NCAA tournaments in 2000, 2009, and 2011 and won four conference titles, with three straight Southland regular season titles from 2009 to 2011 and the Sun Belt West Division title in 2019.[1][16] Harrington was the Southland Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2011 and Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2019.[1][15]

Post-coaching career

After retiring from baseball coaching, Harrington joined the investor relations team at San Antonio-based real estate development firm Casey Development.[17]

Personal life

Harrington is married to Leila Baggett and has two children with her.[1] He also has a child from his previous marriage to Lori Groves.[8]

Head coaching record

The following section lists Harrington's year-by-year record as an NCAA Division I head coach.

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Southwest Texas State/Texas State Bobcats (Southland Conference) (2000–2012)
2000 Southwest Texas State 34–29 16–11 3rd[18] NCAA Regional
2001 Southwest Texas State 36–22 15–11 T–3rd[18]
2002 Southwest Texas State 36–24 14–13 6th[18]
2003 Southwest Texas State 30–28 19–7 2nd[18]
2004 Texas State 32–26 16–10 3rd[18]
2005 Texas State 32–26 15–12 3rd[18]
2006 Texas State 29–30 20–10 T–2nd[18]
2007 Texas State 37–23 20–10 2nd (West)[18]
2008 Texas State 30–27 19–11 2nd (West)[18]
2009 Texas State 41–17 24–7 1st[18] NCAA Regional
2010 Texas State 38–22 23–10 1st[18]
2011 Texas State 41–23 24–9 1st[18] NCAA Regional
2012 Texas State 32–24 19–14 T–3rd[18]
Texas State Bobcats (Western Athletic Conference) (2013)
2013 Texas State 29–29 16–11 3rd[19]
Texas State Bobcats (Sun Belt Conference) (2014–2019)
2014 Texas State 30–28 16–14 4th[20]
2015 Texas State 24–30–1 14–16 T–6th[21]
2016 Texas State 31–28 16–14 T–5th[22]
2017 Texas State 29–30 13–17 4th (West)[23]
2018 Texas State 30–28–1 16–14 2nd (West)[24]
2019 Texas State 36–20 20–10 1st (West)[16]
Texas State: 657–516–2 (.560) 355–231 (.606)
Total: 657–516–2 (.560)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Ty Harrington". TXStateBobcats.com. Texas State University. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  2. ^ Nevarez, Adrian (April 5, 2011). "Q&A With Coach Ty Harrington". baseballtrenches.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  3. ^ "Lee and Elaine Harrington". Waco Tribune-Herald. January 21, 2006. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  4. ^ "Former Baylor Linebacker Harrington, Wife Killed In Car Accident". Baylor University. January 23, 2006. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  5. ^ "Proclamation declaring May 13, 2014 as Ty Harrington Day". Hays County, Texas. May 13, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  6. ^ Hill, Jerry (May 26, 2000). "Divided loyalties". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved March 10, 2022 – via Newslibrary.
  7. ^ "Honors & Awards" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
  8. ^ a b "Baseball Coaches". Blinn College. Archived from the original on October 3, 1999. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c "Southwest Texas State opts for top juco baseball coach". Austin American-Statesman. December 10, 1999. p. C2. Retrieved March 10, 2022 – via Newslibrary.
  10. ^ a b c "Ty Harrington". NCAA. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  11. ^ "'Cats Knock Off No. 1 Texas". TXStateBobcats.com. Texas State University. April 27, 2005. Archived from the original on May 6, 2005. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  12. ^ Jason Gordon (November 20, 2012). "Studdard stays close to home, signs TXST baseball scholarship". Hays Free Press. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  13. ^ "College Top 25 Rankings". Baseball America. March 12, 2012. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  14. ^ Alex Miller (June 20, 2019). "Texas State baseball coach Ty Harrington retires after 20 seasons". San Antonio Express-News. Hearst. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  15. ^ a b Ciardello, Keff (June 23, 2019). "Harrington: University 'enriched my life'". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  16. ^ a b "2019 Baseball Standings". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  17. ^ "Ty Harrington". Casey Development. 10 December 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 2022 Southland Conference Baseball (PDF). Southland Conference. 2022. pp. 18–19. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  19. ^ 2022 Baseball Record Book (PDF). Western Athletic Conference. 2022. p. 31. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  20. ^ "2014 Baseball Standings". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  21. ^ "2015 Baseball Standings". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  22. ^ "2016 Baseball Standings". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  23. ^ "2017 Baseball Standings". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  24. ^ "2018 Baseball Standings". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved March 13, 2022.