After 20 years, Ty Harrington hangs up his cleats for the last time saying goodbye to the fans, friends and former coaches as well as teammates he has met along the way.
Both Harrington and Texas State’s Athletic Director Larry Teis revealed that talks of retirement had been taking place since the beginning of this month and leading up to the conference tournament. Harrington is coming off one of the most successful seasons in his tenure at Texas State.
“I chaired the search committee when Ty was hired 20 years ago,” Teis said.  “Ty mentioned to me six weeks ago that he has been a head coach all his life and wanted to try something new. I tried to talk him out of retirement then and did so up until the end.”
For Harrington, retirement means getting to spend more time with his daughters and wife. Harrington made it a point to tell the story of how his father was a head football coach while Ty was still in school and how he loved to tell his classmates that his dad was the head coach and what growing up in a locker room meant to him.
“My Dad walked in one day and he said ‘I’m done coaching,’” Harrington said. “I was mad – not at him – but I was disappointed. It took time, and I realized that he was the most courageous person because he gave up his life’s passion. He did it for my sister and I.”
Harrington made it a point to thank all the fans and boosters that had given money over the years to the program mentioned how hard it was to have people give money to athletics and what it meant for his program to be on the receiving end of that.
Harrington said his next steps are in the field of financing as he teams up with Bobcat donor Darren B. Casey working in private equity firms.
“Darren Casey and I have been friends together, and he has a bunch of unbelievable projects,” Harrington said. “So, it’s an opportunity to go out and raise money to fund these projects for people where people get the chance to make money and do different things.”
Harrington leaves the program as the winningest baseball coach in Bobcat history as well as a three-time Coach of the Year and has had 53  former players make it to the professional level including MLB All-Star Paul Goldschmidt.