If Texas Longhorns athletic director Mike Perrin and president Greg Fenves make the decision that longtime head baseball coach Augie Garrido will not coach the Longhorns for the final season of his contract in 2017, it won't happen the easy way, with a face-saving resignation from college baseball's winningest head coach.
It's going to have to happen to hard way, with a termination and a buyout, as Garrido said Tuesday after his team's first loss to the Texas State Bobcats in 25 games that he would like to finish out his contract.
"I will be held accountable and I am responsible," he said, according to the Statesman. "Leadership has a price. The price can be a very good one when things are going good and it can be a very negative one when things are going bad. That's the position I'm in right now. The judgment will come from all sorts of places. At the end of the day we'll accept the final judgment."
It appears the final judgment will come with a price tag of $300,000 for the Longhorns -- the cost of Garrido's buyout. And that final judgment looks like a foregone conclusion with the baseball team in the midst of an incredible tailspin.
After beating Texas State in late April, Texas nearly made it back to .500 and sat tied for third in the conference with Oklahoma. And then everything fell apart, with the 'Horns dropping all three games at home to the Pokes and then going on to suffer a sweet on the road to a poor Mountaineers and drop the game against the Bobcats on Tuesday. That's seven losses in the last eight game.
However, Garrido doesn't believe that it's time for his illustrious career to end.
"I can fix it. ... I've fixed problems before," he said. "I've been very successful in turning things around and that's the way I'm thinking about getting this done. This has been extremely difficult for everyone involved and I understand that. The result of that, I'll accept whatever the result is. I came to serve the University of Texas, the state of Texas, and I think the body of work has been good. I know i can fix this given the chance."
Considering that Garrido does still have games to coach this season and a contract for next season, perhaps it makes sense that he feels that he can still turn things around at Texas. But, by all indications, he's not going to turn things around now or next season, so now it's time, whether he wants it to be or not.