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Since the year 2000, head coach Ty Harrington has produced a great baseball team for Texas State, but in 2009, Harrington went beyond great and turned out the greatest. Last season, Harrington led the Bobcats to a 41-17 overall season, marking the most wins in a single-season for the baseball program. Texas State finished 24-7 against Southland Conference opponents, en route to their first-ever SLC Championship Title. Harrington garnered the 2009 league Coach of the Year honor after the successful run, but Texas State was not finished with the season. With its stellar overall record, Texas State received an at-large bid to the NCAA Regional Championship Tournament; another first of its kind, as the No. 2 seed to compete in Austin alongside 2009 College World Series contender Texas, and Army and Boston College.
Harrington not only produced a successful team, but successful individuals, as well. Kane Holbrooks, Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler Sibley became the first-ever All-Americans for the Texas State baseball program. Holbrooks and Goldschmidt earned three All-America nods, while Sibley was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American team. The Bobcats dominated Southland Conference postseason teams, placing seven on all three teams combined. Goldschmidt was named Southland Conference Player of the Year, Hitter of the Year and Student-Athlete of the Year. Holbrooks was named the league's 2009 Pitcher of the Year and Keith Prestridge was earned SLC Newcomer of the Year honors.
As Harrington enters his 11th season at the helm of the Bobcat baseball program, he looks to continue with his success. Harrington spouts a 337-252 overall record, the most wins ever recorded by a coach in the Texas State baseball program. During the season, Texas State opened Southland Conference play against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a 7-4 decision over the Islanders handed Harrington his 300th win at Texas State.
A decade long of baseball in the Harrington era has brought about many milestones. In 2008, he led Texas State to his eighth 30+ win season and coached two players selected in the Major League Draft.
Both Thomas Field and Mike Hart played three years for Harrington, and in their tenure helped rewrite the Texas State record books. Field scored 168 career-runs for the all-time record and hit seven triples in 2008, a single-season record in itself. On the mound, Hart recorded 89 strikeouts, a team-best for the '08 season; and with a three-year total of 227, made him the No. 3 all-time career strikeout leader at Texas State.
In 2007, Harrington coached his squad to a 37-23 finish, a then-best mark of his career. Texas State opened the season with an 8-3 win over Oklahoma and returned to Bobcat Field for a 3-2 upset of No. 1 Rice in front of a record crowd.
In 2006, Texas State defeated three teams that made appearances in the 2005 College World Series (Texas, Nebraska and Baylor) and in 2005, Texas State's final victory over Lamar marked Harrington's 200th win of his career with the Bobcats.
The win made Harrington one of just two coaches with 200 or more wins as the Bobcats' skipper, with Prentice in second at 222. Harrington reached the milestone in his sixth season, while Prentice got his 200th in the fifth game of his seventh season as head coach of the Bobcats.
In 2004, Texas State defeated No. 16 Texas A&M during the regular season, and played 14 games against ranked opponents, finishing with a 32-26 overall mark and a third-place, 16-10 record in the Southland.
The 2003 campaign was a successful one, as the Bobcats finished second overall in the league, just one game behind regular season champion Lamar. Texas State posted a 30-28 overall record and a 19-7 Southland mark, with Harrington guided the team to wins over defending nation champion Texas, as well as 2004 preseason Top 25 pick Baylor.
In 2002, Harrington led the Bobcats to a 36-24 record, the second most wins at the time posted in a season by a Texas State baseball team in 17 years. His club collected 10 wins against nationally ranked teams, including a 2-0 shutout in Austin against the eventual National Champion Texas Longhorns. The win was a monumental moment for Harrington who claimed his 300th-career collegiate victory with the win on April 23, 2002 at his alma mater.
In ten seasons as head coach, Harrington has led the team to its third Southland Conference Tournament Championship (1997, 1999, 2000), one Southland Conference Regular Season title and two NCAA Regional Championship Tournament appearances. Forty-nine athletes have been named to the All-Southland Conference teams under Harrington's watch, eight named to the South-Central Regional team and most recently three given All-American honors.
Prior to taking command of Texas State's baseball program, Harrington served as the head coach in 1999 at Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas. In one season with the Buccaneers, Harrington guided the team to a 36-22 record and advanced to the Region XIV Junior College Championship.
From 1995-1998, Harrington was the head coach Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, Texas. In his first season, the Eagles finished with a 37-12 record and in 1996; Harrington led the team to a 48-18 overall record and captured the National Junior College Championship. Along with the championship title, Harrington received NJC Coach of the Year honors for his successful season.
In his four years at the helm of the Northeast Texas CC program, Harrington recorded a solid .705 winning percentage, winning 165 of 234 games. While at NTCC, Harrington also assisted in the development of an academic accountability system that resulted in a team grade point average above 3.0 for three consecutive years.
Harrington began his coaching career at the University of Texas, where he served as a student and graduate assistant from 1988-1991. He then moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas, as an assistant coach at Arkansas State. Harrington helped the Indians establish several school records, including most wins in a single-season. In 1994, Arkansas State won the 1994 Sun Belt Conference Championship and made an appearance in the NCAA Regional Tournament.
In his playing days, Harrington was a two-year letter winner at the University of Texas, where he played in the Longhorn infield under collegiate coaching legend Cliff Gustafson.
Harrington was a member of Texas' teams that advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1984, 1985 and 1987. He also served as team captain on the 1987 Longhorn squad.
As a player and coach, Harrington has been a part of collegiate baseball teams that have advanced to post-season play in 22 of 24 seasons.
Harrington is married to the former Leila Baggett. The couple resides in San Marcos, Texas with their three daughters, Melaine, Emma and Alle.
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