Cliff Gustafson, the legendary former head baseball coach of the Texas Longhorns and one of the winningest coaches in college baseball history, has died at age of 91, his family confirmed to the Austin American-Statesman. According to the family, Gustafson died in his sleep Monday morning of congestive heart failure.
Gustafson helmed the Longhorns from 1968 to 1996 and won national championships in 1975 and 1983. As well, Texas under Gustafson claimed 22 Southwest Conference titles and made the College World Series 17 times. Overall, Gustafson's 1,466 wins rank 15th all-time among college baseball coaches -- a category he led at the time of his retirement -- and his career winning percentage of .792 is the highest ever at the Division I level.
Gustafson was named National Coach of the Year in 1982 and 1983, and he was a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame's inaugural class of inductees in 2006. He's also a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the Longhorn Hall of Honor. Along the way, Gustafson at Texas coached future major leaguers like Roger Clemens, Greg Swindell, Burt Hooten, Keith Moreland, and Ron Gardenhire, who went on to manage the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.
Prior to coaching, Gustafson was a middle infielder for the Longhorns in the early 1950s. He lettered in 1952 and ended his college playing career with a .308 batting average.
"He was very unique," Gustafson's daughter Jann Gustafson Shepperd told the American-Statesman, "and just the best dad."
