Turned down twice for UH job, Graham ended up just fine
Legendary Rice coach faces his beloved rival one last time tonight
The University of Houston always has been a special place for Wayne Graham.
For nearly three decades, Graham and his Rice Owls have waged a sometimes-intense baseball rivalry with the crosstown Cougars.
Even further back, Graham received his master’s degree in physical education in 1973 and, if a couple of job hires had gone in a different direction, he might have ended up in the home dugout on Cullen Boulevard.
Twice, Graham, the Hall of Fame coach who will not return to the Owls after this season, interviewed for the vacant headcoaching job at UH.
The first time came in the mid-1970s while Graham was a teacher and the head baseball coach at Scarborough High School.
“Still have the application letter,” Graham said recently as he prepared for his final game against the Cougars at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.
Even though the job went to Rolan Walton, Graham likes to think he had a hand in the direction of the UH program.
“A lot of things I suggested they should do, Rolan did it,” Graham said. “First of all, I told them they should start charging for games. They weren’t charging for games. Secondly, they needed to recruit righthanded power hitters at the University of Houston because the wind blows to left field. He did those things.”
The second time Graham expressed interest in the UH job came in the late 1980s, when he was in the middle of a junior college dynasty that produced five national championships at San Jacinto College. That time, UH hired Bragg Stockton.
“They’ve always had good talent (at UH),” said Graham, who has a career record 85-36 against the Cougars. “When I was at San Jac, it was where I wanted to go coach, but I never got the opportunity.”
A few years later, at age 56, Graham got his first Division I head-coaching job at Rice. In 27 years with the Owls, Graham has won more than 1,100 games, a national championship (2003), made seven trips to the College World Series and has a streak of 23 consecutive NCAA regional appearances.
The UH-Rice series goes back to 1948, although the two schools did not begin the Silver Glove Series —a best-of-three regularseason series —until 1998. The Owls have mostly dominated the series, winning 15 of the first 16 years. The span included a streak of 16 consecutive wins from 200912. Only recently has the series favored UH, with the Cougars winning three of the last four years. The two teams have split a pair of games this season.
“The rivalry has elevated college baseball in the city of Houston,” UH coach Todd Whitting said. “Wayne’s had a lot to do with that peaking the interest in college baseball because of the great run he’s had at Rice. We’ve had great battles over the years.”
Among recent memorable games were Rice’s comeback to win the final two games after dropping Game 1 of an NCAA super-regional series on the way to the 2003 national title; Anthony Rendon’s offensive onslaught in a 24-3 rout of UH in the 2010 Conference USA tournament; and the Owls’ outlasting the Cougars 3-2 in 20 innings in a 2015 regional game — the fourth-longest NCAA Tournament game in history. UH swept the series for the only time in 2014 and exacted some revenge with a 24-6 victory in 2016.
“We were behind the eightball,” Graham said of the loss in the 2003 super regional. “If they had beaten us, they might’ve won the national championship. They were that good.”
Through the years, Whitting has enjoyed his visits with Graham.
“When you have an opportunity to have conversations with one of the greatest college baseball coaches of all time, it’s really special,” Whitting said. “I’ve learned a lot from him over the years by speaking with him before games, after games, really just watching from the other dugout on how he does things.
To honor Graham, Whitting and UH plan to present Graham with the original Silver Glove trophy in a pregame ceremony. A replica will be made to give to the annual winner of the series.
“That series has meant a lot to him over the years,” Whitting said. “It’s only fitting to let him keep that trophy.”