Legendary Longhorns Baseball Coach Cliff Gustafson Dies at 91

The long time coach of the Longhorns died on Monday morning, leaving behind a historic legacy.

The Texas Longhorns have had no shortage of legendary coaches, from Billy Disch and Bibb Falk, to the late Augie Garrido and Cliff Gustafson. 

On Monday morning, though, it was reported by Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman that Gustafson died from congestive heart failure at the age of 91. 

Legendary Texas baseball coach Cliff Gustafson died early this morning of congestive heart failure. He was 91.

— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) January 2, 2023

Gustafson served as the Longhorns' coach for 28 seasons, from 1968-1996. In that timespan, he won an impressive 1,466 games, which was a record eventually broken by his successor the late Augie Garrido and former Florida State coach Mike Martin.

He led the Longhorns to two national championships, in 1975 and 1983, as well as 22 Southwest Conference titles and two national Coach of the Year awards. 

Despite ranking 15th all-time in wins by a coach, and eighth among Division I coaches, Gustafson's .792 winning percentage is still the best among Division I coaches.

Not only was Gustafson a coach for the Longhorns, but he played baseball at Texas and was a member of Texas' 1952 Southwest Conference championship and College World Series team.

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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