Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball

Horton played for Garrido in 1975 and 1976, before beginning his coaching career. Horton began his coaching career immediately after the 1976 season, but left Cerritos College after 1990 to return to Fullerton as an assistant under Garrido. He would remain in that position, until after the 1996 season. When Garrido left Fullerton for the second time, George Horton was named head coach of the baseball program.

The Titans finished 39–24–1 in Horton's first year, and 47–17 winning the Big West South title in his second year. Even though he had success in first two seasons, the Titans failed to make it to Omaha. In 1999, Horton led the Titans to their first 50 win season since 1995, and made his first appearance as head coach in the College World Series. The Titans lost their opening round game to Stanford, but bounced back to beat Texas A&M to give Horton his first career win at the CWS. That would be the end of the road though for the 1999 Titans, as they lost their next game to Florida St. and were eliminated from the CWS. Horton would go on to lead the Titans back to Omaha again in 2001 and 2003, but did not reach the championship round.

In 2004, Horton and Titans had an up and down regular season, but breezed through conference play. The Titans compiled an overall record of 36–20, including an impressive 19–2 record in conference play. The Titans were awarded a host regional site in the 2004 NCAA Division I baseball tournament and the No. 2 seed at their regional. In regional play, the Titans won their opening round game, but were forced into the loser's bracket after losing to the No. 4 seed, Pepperdine, 7–6. Facing elimination, the Titans beat No. 1 seed Arizona St. 5–0, who was all the No. 7 national seed that year. In the championship round, Fullerton left little doubt, defeating Pepperdine 15–1 and 16–3 to advance to the super regional round of play.

Fullerton hosted Tulane in the super regional round after Tulane won the Oxford regional. Once again, Fullerton completely dominated the games. They advanced to the College World Series after winning, 9–0 and 10–7. In the College World Series, the Titans advanced through the winner's bracket beating South Carolina 2–0 and Miami 6–3. After Carolina advanced through the loser's bracket, they would have to defeat the Titans twice to advance to the championship round. The Gamecocks won the first contest 5–3, but the Titans fought back the next day to win the second game 4–0. Fullerton advanced to the championship round for the first time since winning it all in 1995.

The championship round saw Horton face off against his mentor and former Fullerton coach Augie Garrido. Garrido led Texas back to the championship after previously winning it all with the Longhorns in 2002. The Titans won the first game in the best-of-three series, 6–4. On Sunday June 27, 2004, the Titans defeated the Longhorns 3–2 to claim their 4th national title. The Titans finished the season 47–22 overall.

After the 2004 national championship, Horton coached the Titans for 3 more season. After the 2007 season, Horton left his alma mater to become head coach of the Oregon Ducks. Oregon did not field a baseball team from 1982 until they played their first game in 2009. Oregon reportedly made Horton one of the highest paid coaches in Division I baseball at the time. Fullerton was left in a similar situation after losing Garrido to Texas after the 1996 season. [3] During his 11 seasons as head coach of the Titans, Horton compiled a record of 490–212–1.

After losing another great coach to a school that offered a better financial situation, Fullerton was back in the same position it was 11 years earlier. A program that was only 3 years removed from its fourth national title was once again in search of a new head coach. Once again Fullerton went after another former player. In early September 2007, Dave Serrano became just the fourth head coach of the Cal St. Fullerton Titans baseball program. Serrano also played under Augie Garrido during his first tenure as Titans coach, and then followed a similar path as Horton. He began his coaching career at Cerritos College as an assistant, and after a short stint at Tennessee as an assistant George Horton hired him at Fullerton. Serrano became Horton's top assistant and remained in that position until 2004. In 2004, he left Fullerton to become head coach at UC Irvine. After four seasons with the Anteaters, Serrano departed to return to Fullerton. Serrano had just led the Anteaters to their first ever College World Series.[4]

In his first year as head coach, Serrano posted a 37–19 mark during the regular season. That mark was good enough to earn the Titans the No. 5 national seed in the 2008 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. After winning the Fullerton regional, the Titans hosted Stanford during the Super Regional round of play. The Cardinals won the first game by a single run, and went on to eliminate the Titans the following day. Overall Serrano posted a 41–22 mark during his first year as head coach of the Titans.

Serrano's improved on the 2008 season success during the 2009 campaign. Although they finished second in the Big West in 2009, the Titans still finished the regular season with a mark of 42–14. That record was good enough to earn the Titans the No. 2 national seed during the 2009 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. The Titans breezed through the Fullerton regional, winning it in 3 games by scores of 18–2, 7–4, and 16–3. Louisville traveled to Fullerton during the super regional round, and once again Fullerton had no problem with the Cardinals. Fullerton eliminated Louisville in two games with scores of 12–0 and 11–2. Serrano earned his first trip to the College World Series as Titans head coach, and his second overall as a head coach. The Titans failed to meet expectation in Omaha though. They were quickly eliminated losing their first two games. They lost their opening round game to Arkansas 10–6, and lost in an elimination game to Virginia 7–5. The Titans completed the 2009 season with a 47–16 overall record.

Serrano was announced as the Tennessee Volunteers baseball head coach on June 15, 2011. He became the 24th head coach of Tennessee baseball, replacing Todd Raleigh.[5] Much like Garrido and Horton, it is believed that Serrano left for a better financial situation. According to reports, Serrano made approximately $140,000 at Fullerton, while Tennessee was reportedly offering around $500,000.[6] During his 4 years as head coach, the Titans compiled a 175–73 record overall.

On June 24, 2011, CSUF named Rick Vanderhook head baseball coach, the fifth coach in the program's esteemed history. He played on the Titan's 1984 national championship team and was an assistant coach from 1985–88 and 1991–2007, at which point he departed to become an assistant coach at UCLA. Three years later, Vanderhook accepted the job on a three-year contract at Fullerton. Coach Vanderhook's accomplishments to date include NCAA tournament appearances in almost every year (except 2019) he has been the head coach, the program's second highest single season winning percentage at .836 in 2013, and guiding the 2015 club back to Omaha thus ending a 5-year drought that was the longest lapse in Titans representation at the CWS in 40 years. In 2017, CSUF made its 18th appearance at the CWS, 2nd in the past three years, after winning the Stanford regional and beating Big West rivals CSULB at the Long Beach super regional. Vanderhook retired after the 2021 season.[7]