Jim Schlossnagle shares why he came to Texas

YYou absolutely have to be excited that Jim Schlossnagle and his staff have joined the Texas Baseball program regardless of the school you cheer for.

Beyond the frustration of a deep rivalry that goes back 100 years, the reason Schlossnagle took the job with Texas and left Texas A&M is for two reasons. The relationship and trust he has with Chris Del Conte and the opportunity to continue achieving personal goals as a coach.

"Everywhere Coach Schlossnagle has been he's built winners at the highest level, had a first-class program in every way and is an absolutely perfect fit to lead our baseball program," said Kevin Eltife, Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents.

Coach Schlossnagle's has an impressive resume. During his combined 21-year tenure as head coach at TCU (2004-21) and Texas A&M (2022-24), Schlossnagle has led his teams to the CWS in six of the last 10 seasons. That includes trips to Omaha in two of the last three seasons with the Aggies, including earning A&M's first-ever spot in the championship series this year. His six CWS appearances in the last 10 seasons are tied for the most of any coach (Kevin O'Sullivan, Florida), while his 50 (50-22/.694) NCAA Tournament wins during that stretch are the best of any coach.

Relationships in life matter. If someone in your life that you respect and had a long relationship with called you up to ask if you would take over a role and it was a step up, or forward, in your career, you absolutely would take the job and everyone would be happy for you. Even at a moment's notice.

Sad to see you leave, but happy for your success.

That's what this is. Schlossnagle had nothing but positive words and experiences at Texas A&M and knows he left that program better than before. This is always our endeavor no matter what profession we are in.

"What a home run hire," said Jay Hartzell, UT President. "Coach Schlossnagle is the best in the business, his long list of accomplishments is incredible, and his track record of building great programs is well documented. We are the premier baseball program in the country with legendary coaches, our six national championships and record 38 College World Series appearances, so it's certainly fitting that we hired a coach of his caliber to lead us. We're looking forward to great days ahead with Coach Schloss leading our Longhorns."

Texas held a news conference to introduce Schlossnagle as he knew head coach of Texas Baseball. Schlossnagle respectfully addressed the elephant in the room which is his reacting and comments to the young Texas Aggie reporter who asked about the job opening everyone knew to be the Texas job opening.

In a heartfelt sincere apology to the young reporter, Schlossnagle explained he should have not said those things, nor had the attitude he did. It had been just 30 minutes from taking a tough loss against Tennessee in the College World Series final game, so his emotions and head space were elsewhere. It was a genuine and sincere apology to the reporter.

Here's the problem. Texas and Texas A&M are sworn enemies, referred to as rivalries because it sounds better. A little over 100 miles separate the two like battlefields.

There are two sides of this. The sports fan rivalry side and the professional job part. The entire staff has a responsibility to their customer, the student athletes, to provide an outstanding education and a place for them to grow and develop as a player and to prepare them for life whether that is in professional sports or any job. That's the business of sports. The rivalry part is for fans and both schools for sure have fans with great zeal.

When the Longhorns play the Aggies in College Station for the last game of the football season on Nov 30, expect a great deal of rivalry to be happening, then come baseball season and the two meet up, there will be fireworks.

Schlossnagle, when approached by Del Conte after the CWS said that in order from him to come, his entire staff has to be invited, so they came too.

You see, it's the exact same thing Del Conte did with Schlossnagle and Schlossnagle did with Nolan Cain, Michael Earley, and Max Weiner who were his assistant coaches at Texas A&M.

Here is the full news conference and a link to more information from Texas Athletics.