Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in college baseball history, is out after 20 seasons at Texas.

The decision Monday comes after the Longhorns’ first losing season since 1998. Texas will miss the NCAA postseason for the third time in five years.

The university said in a statement Monday the 77-year-old Garrido was “relinquishing his duties” as coach and will become special assistant to athletic director Mike Perrin. Garrido, who had one year left on a contract that paid him nearly $1.1 million, had said he wouldn’t resign and wanted to stay.

“Augie has long been among the best coaches in college athletics, an exceptional developer of young men, great leader and tremendous representative of our university,” Perrin said. “I have deep appreciation, admiration and gratitude for all that he has accomplished in his 20 years leading our baseball program.”

Garrido had 1,975 victories dating back to 1969 to go along with five College World Series titles. Three came with Cal-State Fullerton, 1979, 1984 and 1995, and the last two with Texas, in 2002 and 2005.

Texas this season finished 25-32. The Longhorns advanced deep into the weekend’s Big 12 tournament but ended the season with an 8-2 loss to TCU.

Florida State coach Mike Martin called Garrido an “icon.”

“I am surprised he has stepped down, but he’s a guy a lot of young coaches got information from,” Martin said in a statement. “He’s a good man.”

Texas hired Garrido in 1997. His best years with the Longhorns were from 2002 to 2010 when he won two national titles and had six 50-win seasons.

He will be inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in July. He was the first coach to reach 1,900 wins and needed just 25 to reach 2,000. He also was honored six times as National Coach of the Year.

Garrido’s coaching career included jobs at San Francisco State (1969), Cal Poly (1970-72), Fullerton (1973-87 and 1991-96) and Illinois (1988-91).

Texas hired Garrido from Fullerton in 1997 to replace Cliff Gustafson, who won two national championships with the Longhorns and had the program on a regular rotation at the College World Series.

Garrido’s personality of California cool and his aura as a Zen-master coach who talked as much about thinking about winning as swinging a bat, took some time to take root at Texas. But once he did, Garrido had the Longhorns back among the nation’s top programs.

His first team failed to qualify for the Big 12 tournament. In 1998, Garrido’s second team had the first losing season since the 1950s. Texas showed signs of life when the Longhorns went 36-26 in 1999 and made it to the postseason but finished sixth in the Big 12.

Fans who were calling for his job were soon cheering his success.

Texas went back to the College World Series in 2000. Garrido guided the Longhorns to the two national titles and three more CWS bids in a seven-year span. Garrido said he knew the high expectations at Texas: “Omaha is mandatory.”

Texas made the CWS in 2011 and 2014, but the lean years between and since had Garrido entering this season facing questions about his future.

“If they give me a chance, I’ll fix it,” Garrido said before the Big 12 tournament. “I’d like to go out on my own terms, and I’d like to go out a winner.”

No. 1 Florida among record 4 SEC teams to nab national seeds

Florida will have to break the curse of the No. 1 seed to win its first national championship in baseball.

The Gators were awarded the top seed in the NCAA baseball tournament, leading a record four Southeastern Conference teams among the eight national seeds. Florida (47-13) was ranked No. 1 in the polls for most of the season and finished runner-up to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament.

The Gators have been a national seed seven times under coach Kevin O’Sullivan, including No. 1 in 2012. No top seed has won the championship since Miami in 1999, the first year of the current tournament structure.

The other SEC national seeds are No. 4 Texas A&M (41-16), No. 6 Mississippi State (41-16-1) and No. 8 LSU (42-18).

The Atlantic Coast Conference has three national seeds in No. 2 Louisville (47-12), No. 3 Miami (45-11) and No. 7 Clemson (42-18). The Big 12 has the other national seed in Texas Tech (41-16).

The SEC also set a record when the NCAA selection committee picked seven teams to host regionals. Six ACC teams will host regionals, including defending national champion Virginia (37-20).

The 16 regionals are Friday to next Monday and include four teams playing a double-elimination format. Regional winners advance the next week to best-of-three Super Regionals, which will determine the eight teams moving on to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, beginning June 18.

The 64-team field is made up of 31 automatic qualifiers and 33 at-large selections.

Ten ACC teams are in the tournament, tying the record for most from one conference.

“I’ve never seen a league as strong as this year,” 37th-year Florida State coach Mike Martin said. “Ten teams is quite an accomplishment.”

North Carolina nearly gave the ACC an 11th entry. At No. 19, the Tar Heels (34-21) have the highest Ratings Percentage Index ranking of any team ever snubbed. The RPI is one of several metrics the selection committee uses to determine at-large teams.

Selection committee chairman Joel Erdmann said the Tar Heels were the first team left out following an 18-2 start with a 16-19 finish and fifth-place finish at 13-17 in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

“What makes it unique is they are within the top conference in the nation, but when you really break down their field of work, their resume, they within the conference struggled a bit,” Erdmann said. “You’re looking to find reasons to pull them in (but) they didn’t perform well against the best teams in the league.”

Four teams are in for the first time as automatic qualifiers: Fairfield (32-24) of the Metro Atlantic Conference, Alabama State (38-15) of the Southwestern, Utah Valley (37-21) of the Western Athletic and Saint Mary’s (33-23) of the West Coast.

Western Michigan (22-32) upset Kent State in the Mid-American Conference title game and is one of two teams that made it as automatic qualifiers with losing records.

The other is Utah (25-27), which won the Pac-12 regular-season title – the league doesn’t have a conference tournament – with a 19-11 league mark. The Utes are in their fifth season in the Pac-12 and finished last each of the previous four, never winning more than seven conference games.

Erdmann said the last three teams picked for at-large bids were Southeastern Louisiana (39-19, No. 40 RPI), Nebraska (37-20, No. 47) and South Alabama (40-20, No. 49). The next two teams left out after North Carolina were Oregon State (35-19, No. 44) and West Virginia (36-22, No. 62).

Huskies go to Nashville to face UC Santa Barbara

The Washington Huskies had some anxious moments during the announcement for the NCAA baseball tournament before hearing their name called as part of the Nashville Regional, where they’ll face UC Santa Barbara.

“It’s just such a crazy moment,” said Huskies coach Lindsay Meggs about waiting to see his team’s name revealed. “We were playing for the Pac-12 Championship (Sunday) and we’re one of the top seeds in the West going into the weekend, so common sense tells you there is no way we won’t continue to play regardless. But you’re sitting in that room and you don’t see your name up there and things start running through your mind.

“Ultimately, it’s a nice moment to see your name up there and your guys get excited. I’m really happy for them.”

The Huskies (32-21), who finished second in the Pac-12, will face No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara (37-18) in a noon PT matchup (ESPN3) on Friday. The Gauchos finished third in the Big West Conference at 13-11.

Santa Barbara holds the all-time series lead over Washington, 8-6, and won the last game between the two back in 2009.

Waiting for the Huskies will either be host and No. 1 seed Vanderbilt (43-17), one of seven teams from the SEC to earn a NCAA bid, or Xavier (30-28), winners of the Big East. Those two will meet at 5 p.m. PT on Friday. Washington has never faced either team in its history.

For the Huskies, it is the 10th time in school history they have earned an NCAA berth. They are 21-18 all-time in postseason play.

It will be the second time under seventh-year coach Meggs that the Huskies will be playing in the postseason. The Huskies were 2-2 at the Oxford Regional in 2014.