Tonight, the Texas Longhorns will face the LSU Tigers in the championship game of the College World Series. Once again, Augie Garrido has his Longhorns in a position to win another national championship, yet many consider him lucky to still have a job. Garrido, who has already won five national titles with two different schools, was arrested earlier this year while driving drunk. Texas decided to suspend him for four games at the beginning of the year. The 70-year-old Garrido, who pleaded guilty to DUI and will be sentenced after the season, said he used the incident as a teaching opportunity for himself and his team. The players said that their coach’s arrest, and its fallout, only made them stronger and closer.
Garrido had met some old friends for dinner on a Friday night at a restaurant in Austin. While eating, he also had a few glasses of win. On his way home, he then stopped at a bar to see a friend. Police pulled him over just a few blocks from his condo because he had forgotten to turn on his car lights. He ended up having to spend a night in jail. Garrido said that he had drunk five glasses of wine that night.
Garrido admitted that he feared for his job. He said that he had failed to adhere to his own creed, which was to "do what's right." Garrido said, “I did not do what was right. What we lose in that situation is freedom, control, respect and trust,” he said. “Those four things went out the window.” Garrido stood up and admitted his mistake, and took full responsibility for his actions. His players had already respected him as a coach, but now they had even more respect for him as a man. “He showed us that he’s a leader by taking responsibility for it and making an example of himself,” said Longhorn's pitcher Chance Ruffin.
Tonight, Garrido will go for his 6th national championship and his third in the last seven years.
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