Is Horton’s move good or bad for the SGV?

Unless you were out of town over the Labor Day weekend, like me, you probably heard that Cal State Fullerton baseball coach George Horton has decided to leave Southern California and become the new coach at Oregon, which is reviving its baseball program, beginning in 2009.
Now the comings and goings of an out-of-area college coach usually isn’t expected to get much play on a blog that covers SGV prep sports. But in recent years, Cal State Fullerton was practically Cal State SGV. Several of the Titans top players in recent years came from SGV high schools, including former Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year Wes Roemer (Glendora) and all-conference players Sergio Pedroza (Northview), Brett Pill (Covina), Danny Dorn (Diamond Bar) and Richie Burgos (Bishop Amat). Horton played a big part in that. When Augie Garrido was at the helm, Fullerton rarely recruited outside the OC borders. But Horton changed that. He recognized the SGV for what it is – a baseball hotbed. The results speak for themselves. With some SGV flavor, Fullerton became an elite program, making six College World Series appearances and winning one national title during his 10-year reign. But even better, the Titans were clearly the SGV Titans.
The question now is what effect will his departure mean to SGV baseball? Will they still be the SGV Titans or will SGV’s best follow him to the Pacific Northwest? Or worse, will they be spread throughout the land, losing that name recognition of showing the nation at the CWS how good the baseball in the SGV really is.
The anwer, probably, will not come soon enough.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email