Exclusive: Jim Schlossnagle explains his move from Texas A&M to Texas
By Stefan Stevenson June 28, 2024 5:27 PM
When Jim Schlossnagle left TCU after 18 seasons three years ago, he told me he expected to retire there. He was 50 then and had no desire to coach into old age. He wanted a new challenge, something on a grand scale, and few places in college baseball offered such a place as Texas A&M. But three years and two College World Series appearances later, including one win shy of the CWS National Championship on Monday night in Omaha, Schlossnagle, now 53, shocked the college baseball world and beyond when he left the Aggies for the rival University of Texas Longhorns. The move came a day after Schlossnagle had led A&M to within a run of the College World Series national championship. It was the greatest moment in the history of Aggies baseball, and 12 hours later, he left College Station for Austin. Schlossnagle knew the move would send shockwaves between the rivals, but he didn’t anticipate irate Aggies posting his cell phone number, Venmo account, and home address on social media. During an interview with the Star-Telegram, Schlossnagle explained what transpired to set up the move, including his deep friendship with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, his mounting concerns about A&M athletics’s financial instability, and his relationship with the Aggies’ new athletic director, Trev Alberts.
Q: How has this past week been for you?
Schlossnagle: Well, it’s been a whirlwind of work and emotion. Our staff is working 18-hour days trying to get to know the [Texas] players, the incoming class and diving into the transfer portal.
Q: Have you been surprised by the reaction to the move? Been on social media much?
Schlossnagle: I knew this would be a controversial move, leaving Texas A&M for Texas. But I didn’t anticipate the venom that my family, our staff, and their families have received … death threats, endless text messages, and other things. I do believe that most Aggies are really good people, and I have heard many positive things from many of them, but the vocal minority certainly has been aggressive, to say the least.
Q: When you left TCU for A&M, you said you expected to retire there.
Schlossnagle: I loved my time at TCU and truly wanted to try something new at a big SEC school. I met with [then A&M AD] Ross Bjork and his team, and we agreed on a vision to grow the program on a grand scale, including a ballpark, aggressive on the NIL front, and we went to work.
Q: What changed at A&M? What led to this decision?
Schlossnagle: I would say that with everything that was going on within the department financially, the agreement we made to begin construction on the ballpark in June of 2024 began to slow down, and that was disappointing since I had recruited a coaching staff and recruits thinking we would be in a new ballpark by 2025 or 2026. Then we had the football coaching change [with Jimbo Fisher’s firing and subsequent near $80 million buyout]. That eventually led to a new athletic director, which always makes any coach wonder what direction things are going. In late April, they laid off my sport administrator Chris Park, during the season when we were ranked No. 1 in the country. That created a vacuum of leadership for our program just on a daily basis. The sport administrator for a program plays a big role in our daily operation.
Q: How was your relationship with [Texas A&M athletics director] Trev Alberts?
Schlossnagle: Trev was very nice and supportive. I think he will do really good things at A&M. He came to visit with me a few days after being hired and said that baseball was important at Texas A&M, and he knew the stadium was a priority for me and the program and that he wanted to keep that moving forward. He told me that we’d have to build it without taking on any more debt. I understood that, but also knew that raising $85 million would be challenging given all the things that happened in the past year financially. I have no doubt that A&M is committed to baseball and will eventually do something great, though.
Q: Was the Texas job on your radar? How far back was it something you were considering?
Schlossnagle: Ever since Chris Del Conte left TCU, we’ve had to deal with it both at TCU and Texas A&M. Because of my close relationship with him, people always naturally thought that we would work together again. But I took the job at Texas A&M thinking it would be my last job, and I signed a contract with a massive buyout if I left for any other school in Texas. I signed that willingly with no intention of leaving.
Q: So what changed?
Schlossnagle: Trev came to me the day before the regional to have a conversation. He asked me if I was frustrated. I told him that I had some frustration with how slow the ballpark process was going and that it was tough to operate without a sport administrator, but I was committed to working through it. He then made a comment to me — kind of comparing his situation of leaving his alma mater, Nebraska. He said to me, ‘You know, Jim, if you ever don’t feel like this is the place for you, that’s OK, and it’s OK to move on.’ I was a little taken aback by that, and that was the moment that I began to think that maybe this wasn’t going to work out. No one ever contacted me or my agent about a new contract for our staff, so I just decided to focus on getting our team to Omaha and winning.
Q: When was the deal finalized with Texas?
Schlossnagle: Chris and I have always talked pretty regularly over the years as friends. We never talked seriously about me going to Texas until the very end. We landed back in College Station after Omaha, I met with the few players I could face to face to let them know this could happen and that, due to the NCAA rules, I wouldn’t be able to talk to them again. Chris met me at my house that day. We spoke for about two hours, and then I made the decision and went to Austin. Stefan Stevenson is a freelance writer who is a former TCU staff writer.
Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/article289608132.html#storylink=cpy
By Stefan Stevenson June 28, 2024 5:27 PM
When Jim Schlossnagle left TCU after 18 seasons three years ago, he told me he expected to retire there. He was 50 then and had no desire to coach into old age. He wanted a new challenge, something on a grand scale, and few places in college baseball offered such a place as Texas A&M. But three years and two College World Series appearances later, including one win shy of the CWS National Championship on Monday night in Omaha, Schlossnagle, now 53, shocked the college baseball world and beyond when he left the Aggies for the rival University of Texas Longhorns. The move came a day after Schlossnagle had led A&M to within a run of the College World Series national championship. It was the greatest moment in the history of Aggies baseball, and 12 hours later, he left College Station for Austin. Schlossnagle knew the move would send shockwaves between the rivals, but he didn’t anticipate irate Aggies posting his cell phone number, Venmo account, and home address on social media. During an interview with the Star-Telegram, Schlossnagle explained what transpired to set up the move, including his deep friendship with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, his mounting concerns about A&M athletics’s financial instability, and his relationship with the Aggies’ new athletic director, Trev Alberts.
Q: How has this past week been for you?
Schlossnagle: Well, it’s been a whirlwind of work and emotion. Our staff is working 18-hour days trying to get to know the [Texas] players, the incoming class and diving into the transfer portal.
Q: Have you been surprised by the reaction to the move? Been on social media much?
Schlossnagle: I knew this would be a controversial move, leaving Texas A&M for Texas. But I didn’t anticipate the venom that my family, our staff, and their families have received … death threats, endless text messages, and other things. I do believe that most Aggies are really good people, and I have heard many positive things from many of them, but the vocal minority certainly has been aggressive, to say the least.
Q: When you left TCU for A&M, you said you expected to retire there.
Schlossnagle: I loved my time at TCU and truly wanted to try something new at a big SEC school. I met with [then A&M AD] Ross Bjork and his team, and we agreed on a vision to grow the program on a grand scale, including a ballpark, aggressive on the NIL front, and we went to work.
Q: What changed at A&M? What led to this decision?
Schlossnagle: I would say that with everything that was going on within the department financially, the agreement we made to begin construction on the ballpark in June of 2024 began to slow down, and that was disappointing since I had recruited a coaching staff and recruits thinking we would be in a new ballpark by 2025 or 2026. Then we had the football coaching change [with Jimbo Fisher’s firing and subsequent near $80 million buyout]. That eventually led to a new athletic director, which always makes any coach wonder what direction things are going. In late April, they laid off my sport administrator Chris Park, during the season when we were ranked No. 1 in the country. That created a vacuum of leadership for our program just on a daily basis. The sport administrator for a program plays a big role in our daily operation.
Q: How was your relationship with [Texas A&M athletics director] Trev Alberts?
Schlossnagle: Trev was very nice and supportive. I think he will do really good things at A&M. He came to visit with me a few days after being hired and said that baseball was important at Texas A&M, and he knew the stadium was a priority for me and the program and that he wanted to keep that moving forward. He told me that we’d have to build it without taking on any more debt. I understood that, but also knew that raising $85 million would be challenging given all the things that happened in the past year financially. I have no doubt that A&M is committed to baseball and will eventually do something great, though.
Q: Was the Texas job on your radar? How far back was it something you were considering?
Schlossnagle: Ever since Chris Del Conte left TCU, we’ve had to deal with it both at TCU and Texas A&M. Because of my close relationship with him, people always naturally thought that we would work together again. But I took the job at Texas A&M thinking it would be my last job, and I signed a contract with a massive buyout if I left for any other school in Texas. I signed that willingly with no intention of leaving.
Q: So what changed?
Schlossnagle: Trev came to me the day before the regional to have a conversation. He asked me if I was frustrated. I told him that I had some frustration with how slow the ballpark process was going and that it was tough to operate without a sport administrator, but I was committed to working through it. He then made a comment to me — kind of comparing his situation of leaving his alma mater, Nebraska. He said to me, ‘You know, Jim, if you ever don’t feel like this is the place for you, that’s OK, and it’s OK to move on.’ I was a little taken aback by that, and that was the moment that I began to think that maybe this wasn’t going to work out. No one ever contacted me or my agent about a new contract for our staff, so I just decided to focus on getting our team to Omaha and winning.
Q: When was the deal finalized with Texas?
Schlossnagle: Chris and I have always talked pretty regularly over the years as friends. We never talked seriously about me going to Texas until the very end. We landed back in College Station after Omaha, I met with the few players I could face to face to let them know this could happen and that, due to the NCAA rules, I wouldn’t be able to talk to them again. Chris met me at my house that day. We spoke for about two hours, and then I made the decision and went to Austin. Stefan Stevenson is a freelance writer who is a former TCU staff writer.
Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/article289608132.html#storylink=cpy
