Is Augie's Job Safe?

Texas got swept in Stillwater this weekend, blowing a 3-2 lead in game one and getting handily beaten in the other two contests. The Horns have now lost seven straight games and are in danger of missing the postseason. In light of this losing streak, Abram and Jeff decided to tackle the question "Is Augie's Job Safe?"

Abram: The answer is, unless this 7-game losing streak turns into the most epic losing streak in history by continuing through the rest of the season, Augie Garrido will be back for 2016. It's not the same situation as Rick Barnes, who was on the hot seat a year ago, had a surprisingly good (but still not great) season, was weirdly extended on his contract, and then fired after an awful season.

Augie last year reached the baseball equivalent of the Final Four--actually, he literally reached the final four of the College World Series, finishing third nationally. Even missing the tournament this year doesn't get him fired. I know your position is that Steve Patterson has shown himself to be unafraid of getting rid of long-serving coaches, but I think that cuts both ways. After firing and replacing two of the three major men's sports' head coaches, I think Patterson would probably prefer not to make it three for three in his first year and a half on the job. It'll take a bad finish this season followed by another in 2016 for Garrido's job to be threatened.

Jeff: You know where I come down on the issue of should Augie be fired. We wrote about it in 2013 and I wrote after last season about how he can't ever be counted out to potentially win a title.

The last 2+ weeks have changed things though with regards to will Augie be fired. A loss to Wichita State on Tuesday will tie the 2015 Longhorns with the LONGEST LOSING STREAK IN TEXAS HISTORY. As in since the late 1890s.

Texas is 17-15 now and things don't get much easier as the Horns host OU, travel to Lawrence and then travel to TCU. Texas needs to win two of those series and not get swept by TCU to realistically stay alive in the NCAA tournament hunt. Obviously this team has the talent to turn things around and if they do then this discussion is moot. So let's assume this isn't an aberration and the Horns continue to struggle their way to the finish. Even playing just .500 ball over the rest of the season probably puts Texas out of the NCAA tournament.

If Texas fails to make the postseason this year then the last four seasons will have gone: missed postseason, missed postseason, 2-seed, missed postseason.

Last year's trip to Omaha was magical, but those three weeks really stand out as an outlier against the backdrop of four years of struggles. Texas probably isn't going to host a regional for the fourth straight year. Doesn't that sound a helluva lot like what got Mack and Rick fired?

The argument against Augie getting fired is that he's an even bigger legend than Mack or Rick were (he's arguably the greatest coach in college baseball history), baseball isn't a revenue generating sport so the need to make money isn't as intense, and Augie has a track record of turning things around that Mack and Rick lacked.

I still say it's unlikely, but Augie getting fired isn't unthinkable right now. That we've reached this point over the last two weeks is remarkable and extremely depressing. Hopefully things turn around and we can laugh at this post a few months from now.

What say you BONers?