I was trying to put this run by TCU in perspective. When you start to rank the programs around TCU, obviously one has to start with the University of Texas. The Longhorns are, and probably will be, the premier program in the region for years to come, and likely will be nationally as well. But when you look around the Big XII South footprint, there are a lot of other talented baseball programs. Knowing what TCU did this year, where do the Frogs rank?

The following is a list of how many times the teams around us have visited the College World Series historically:

Total Visits to Omaha:
Texas – 33 times (6 National Championships)
Oklahoma State – 19 times (1 National Championship)
Oklahoma – 10 times (2 National Championships)
Rice – 7 times (1 National Championship)
Texas A&M – 4 times
Baylor – 3 times
Houston – 2 times
TCU – 1 time
Texas Tech – 0 times

As I said, the argument for Texas is pretty easy. When you attend the College World Series 33 times and win the National Championship 6 times including twice in the last 10 years, Texas tops the list.

Historically, the 2 Oklahoma teams are high on the list. Oklahoma State has attended the College World Series 19 times and has 1 National Championship while Oklahoma has visited Omaha 10 times and has won 2 National Championships. However, Oklahoma State has been on a downswing missing out on Omaha since the turn of the century. Oklahoma was in the same boat as well, but bounced back this year visiting Omaha for the first time since 1995. While each of these squads could make great cases to be at or near the top, I think Rice still comes in at number 2.

Rice has been to Omaha 7 times since 1997, including winning the National Championship in 2003. Since their run began, they have never gone more than 3 years without visiting Omaha. Head coach Wayne Graham has done an outstanding job with the small private school in Houston and they appear to be in great shape for the foreseeable future.

Take a look at the two coaches that guide these teams. Both Augie Garrido and Wayne Graham are closer to Joe Paterno in age than to 40 years old. While Texas has the resources to maintain its program long after Garrido walks away, they must learn from LSU when Skip Bertman stepped down and be concerned about the program post-Garrido. But Rice is in a totally different position because Graham is the program in many ways. I think they are going to have a tough time moving forward when Graham finally steps down.

After Texas and Rice, the field gets pretty blurry. Historically, college baseball was a good old boys sport where coaches coached at 1 program for years under little to no pressure. Schools poured a lot less money into programs and facilities were rarely refurbished or newly built. But since the turn of the century that has begun to change. And when you break down the same table from up above, the teams after Texas and Rice have experienced very little national success. In fact, until this year only Baylor had visited Omaha since 2000.

Total Visits to Omaha since 2000:
Texas – 6 times (2 National Championships)
Rice – 5 times (1 National Championship)
TCU – 1 time
Oklahoma – 1 time
Baylor – 1 time
Oklahoma State – 0 times
Texas A&M – 0 times
Texas Tech – 0 times

In my opinion, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and TCU are all fighting for that 3rd spot. Oklahoma and Texas A&M have been very competitive under fairly recent new hires. Larry Cochell stepped down and Sunny Golloway has stepped in at Oklahoma and Rob Childress took over for Mark Johnson at Texas A&M. Both have hosted regionals on multiple occasions already, but Oklahoma is the only one to make the College World Series, joining TCU this year. A&M has done well too winning 1 regular season Big XII title and 2 Big XII tournament titles. Both programs have a lot of potential to be great, but have struggled to take that next step forward.

Baylor and Oklahoma State are not in this argument to me, primarily because their body of work is actually pretty poor. Baylor fans will argue that they have been to Omaha, but that ignores the fact that they have finished better than 5th in their conference just 1 time in the last 9 seasons and with a losing conference record each of the last 5 seasons. Sure, 2005 was a special season that was huge for their program, but they have done little else.

Oklahoma State is a program that may deserve a little more credit, but they have done nothing to stand out under current coach Frank Anderson. Under Anderson, they have only hosted 1 Regional and visited only 1 Super Regional, but for a program of their stature, they have underachieved. When a program has been to Omaha 19 times, for them to go more than 10 years without a single visit means the program is down.

Texas Tech is a program that had some success under former coach Larry Hays, but the program had grown stale in the latter half of his 20+ year coaching career. Dan Spencer was brought in to turn the program around and has made the Red Raiders more competitive, but they are still behind the curve.

Houston is about to undergo the same type of transition that Tech has gone through. Raynor Noble has been the coach for nearly 15 years and led the Cougars to more Regional appearances than any of his predecessors. However, he never visited Omaha and his program has played second fiddle to cross-town Rice. Houston is in the process of replacing Noble, possibly with TCU assistant Todd Whitting, but though they are not a rebuilding project, they are lower on the pecking order than other Texas teams.

But when it comes to TCU, I think there is a lot of positives that put them near the top. A wonderful stadium that gets enhanced each offseason is a huge plus when comparing the Frogs to Oklahoma. Recent appearances in Omaha look great when you are comparing them to Texas A&M. And a talented coach who is young compares well with schools like Texas and Rice.

Where do the Frogs fit? Historically - not so great. The last decade – pretty good. The last 2 years – maybe the best. It just depends on how you want to make the argument and I will let you decide that. But what I do know is the Frogs may have the best team returning on this list and back-to-back visits to Omaha can be a program changer. All I am saying is for all those TCU nay-sayers that dismiss the Frogs, things are changing.

As an aside, BYU (1968, 1971), Colorado State (1950), Utah (1951), and Wyoming (1956) have all been to the College World Series previously. What may be more interesting is 2 of the 4 Mountain West schools no longer participate in college baseball. Kind of crazy.