Wayne Graham’s incredible legacy for Rice will never be forgotten • D1Baseball

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Kendall Rogers – September 4, 2024

Former Rice head baseball coach Wayne Graham, one of the most decorated coaches in college baseball history, passed away at the age of 88 this week.

“Coach Graham was the greatest baseball coach at any level of baseball,” Former Rice assistant and Texas coach David Pierce told D1Baseball. “He influenced, guided and encouraged the coaches and players to be the best they could be. He was a baseball player, and he will be missed. “

Graham, during his career, did one of the best coaching jobs the game has ever seen. Most fans in Division I Baseball know Coach Graham for what he did at Rice. But what he accomplished at San Jacinto (TX) CC at the junior college level is also impressive.

The student from Yoakum, Texas, began his coaching career at Scarborough High School in Houston before moving on to Spring Branch High School for a season. That year would forever change the trajectory of his life and career. The next year, 1981, he was the head coach at San Jacinto.

It took some time for San Jac to move forward, but the program finally did in 1984. Graham’s program went on to compile seven consecutive 50-plus seasons, including five NJCAA national championships in six seasons. It’s really remarkable.

That success led one local program, Rice, to target his services. Before his arrival, it’s safe to say the Owls weren’t a baseball juggernaut. They played their games at Cameron Field, which at the time was a glorified high school stadium and easily the worst venue in the conference. The program also had never made the NCAA tournament and had only seven winning seasons in 78 years. It was the hardest job of all.

Graham didn’t mind the challenges. If you knew Coach Graham at all, that shouldn’t surprise you.

It took some time for Graham to find the owls. They won 29 games in his first season in 1992, 36 in his second year, and 34 in his third year – no NCAA Tournament appearances. But everything changed for the Owls, and Graham, when the program finally made the NCAA tournament in 1995 with an overall record of 43-19.

That campaign would change Rice Baseball for decades, and turn Graham into a legend at the Division I level.

Graham went on to win 1,173 games as the Owls’ head coach, lead the program to 23 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, all seven of the program’s College World Series appearances, and reached the pinnacle of our sport in 2003 by beating Stanford. in the first ever College World Series.

That year, Graham had the most decorated weekend rotation in sports history with Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend and Philip Humber not only all first rounders, but also all selected in the first eight picks of the MLB draft. He also had a consummate spark plug at the top of the list in Chris Kolkhorst.

“Coach Graham was an old school coach, that’s for sure,” Kolkhorst told D1Baseball. “He showed his love by writing your name on the daily list. His winning streak was contagious. He would drive you crazy sometimes and just turn around and take it out on the other team. My appreciation for Coach Graham has grown as I’ve gotten older. I just want to thank coach Graham. I was always running against the wall because of that man.”

Graham had many fond memories of the Owls after that 2003 campaign. His tenure of the program continued for another 15 seasons.

When his tenure at Rice ended, Graham moved to Austin to follow the career of one of his longtime assistants at Rice, David Pierce. Graham was a Texas Longhorns baseball player himself. And Pierce, his friend, the head of the Longhorns, wanted to stay involved in college baseball in any way he could — as Pierce’s sounding board, and as a regular visitor to UT practices and games. You would often see Coach Graham holding the court at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. I last saw Coach Graham at last year’s Orange-White series in Austin. Right there in the production, he was operating on some arms of the Longhorns.

“Many people have influenced me as a player and coach. “None other than my father, my father-in-law and coach Graham,” Pierce said. “His main goal was to create growth and development with all his players and coaches. He was a man of integrity and character who loved baseball, players and winning.

“I loved working for coach Graham. Trust me, there has never been a difficult moment with so many challenges. But coach G was the best.”

Baseball was life for Coach Graham, and his career, for my money, will go down as one of the best of all time, along with Augie Garrido, Skip Bertman and Pat Casey, among others.

As hard-nosed and demanding as Graham was on the field, he had a soft exterior off the field.

Graham and his personality are one of the few reasons I enjoyed covering college baseball at such a young age. We’ve had a great relationship over the years – so much so that when I played a game at Reckling Park back in Rice’s first season, I would stay 30-45 minutes longer than usual because I knew Coach Graham would want to talk shop. .

Coach Graham liked to tell me about his father. He also liked to tell me how old he was until he played for Casey Stengel. He told me a lot of Stengel stories, but to be honest, some of them are still confusing at the moment. Perhaps the strangest thing about our relationship is that after games, we rarely talk about the game or his team for a good 20-30 minutes. Instead, he’d turn his back on me, read the scores on the D1Baseball scoreboard (formerly owned by Rice graduate Jeremy Mills) on his computer monitor, and, five minutes later, I’d want my take on the Aggies, Longhorns, and more. other teams around college baseball.

Then … we’ll talk about owls. The man really loved college baseball. Even with his status in the game, he wanted to soak up any information he might have.

Another thing I know well about Coach Graham was the love of his wife, Tanya. When the owls played the game, Graham’s best friend and his wife Tanya were in the house. Sometime after Rice recently played Mark Appel with Stanford, Graham and I were melting (it was cold that day) in his office talking about Appel’s fastball and game, among other topics. An hour or so passed and Graham received a call from his wife. First, he wanted to know where he was. More than an hour had passed. Second, he said they had plans that night.

Graham, looking at me worriedly, said: “On that note, I’d better go home.” I’m going to be in trouble.”

I could go on all day with stories about coach Graham, but you get an idea of ​​who he was as a coach and a person.

Wayne Graham was hard on his players. He wanted his coaches by force. But he knew how to win at the highest levels in baseball, and deviating from that process was not in his DNA.

“I’m grateful and indebted to coach Graham for a lot in my life,” UTSA coach and former Rice assistant Pat Hallmark told D1Baseball. “In terms of doing the best for the player and the team, he’s the greatest college baseball coach ever. His will to compete was second to none. It was an honor and a privilege to play for and coach him.”

He was one of the best ever, and I will miss seeing him in football.

His indelible marks on our game will never be forgotten.