Danny DavisAustin American-Statesman
In search of a baseball coach, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte found himself at a cemetery in Snook on Tuesday.
He was determined to hire Texas A&M’s Jim Schlossnagle, an old friend who he had previously worked with at TCU. But Schlossnagle and the Aggies had not yet returned to College Station from their trip to the College World Series.
Concerned with being seen inside the College Station city limits or even at a nearby gas station, Del Conte said he parked outside the quiet Snook Cemetery that sits less than 20 miles away from Blue Bell Park. He waited there for hours. As soon as the Aggies returned from Omaha, Del Conte called Schlossnagle and headed to his house.
Hours later, Schlossnagle and Del Conte were driving together to Austin. Their deal was signed later that evening. The Longhorns had their man.
"What an awesome day. I'm super thankful and humbled by this opportunity to be the baseball coach at the University of Texas," Schlossnagle said Wednesday at his introductory press conference. It was attended by current and former UT baseball players as well as fellow UT head coaches Steve Sarkisian, Rodney Terry, Vic Schaefer, Bob Bowman and Angela Kelly. And Schlossnagle's new assistant coaches — Nolan Cain, Max Weiner and Michael Earley, — also were there.
"I'm going to be really brief," Schlossnagle continued. "I believe baseball is a job you do, it's not a job you talk about, and we have a lot of work to do."
Texas tries to clarify Schlossnagle's exit from A&M
Introduced by Del Conte, Texas President Jay Hartzell and UT Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife, Schlossnagle spoke about the future of UT's baseball program. But it was his departure from A&M that quickly became the center of attention.
Pressed by College Station-area reporters about the timeline of his decision to take the Longhorns job, Schlossnagle insisted that he did not discuss a deal to coach Texas while David Pierce was still the Longhorns' coach. Pierce was fired Monday. Schlossnagle referred to Pierce as a longtime friend Wednesday, and he described any discussions between himself and Del Conte over the past few months as friendly in nature. He said that talks about the Texas opening began Monday night.
Schlossnagle also apologized to TexAgs reporter Richard Zane for his fiery response to Zane's question about the UT job during the postgame press conference of Monday night's 6-5 loss to Tennessee in the championship game of the College World Series. Asked about his future in College Station and the rumors connecting the coach to Texas, Schlossnagle told Zane that he was being selfish. "I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again and that hasn't changed in my mind," he retorted.
“He asked a question that was an obvious question. I wish I could have answered that better,” Schlossnagle said.
Del Conte also insisted that there was "nothing nefarious'' behind the decision on Monday to announce that Texas had parted ways with Pierce, who had been the Longhorns' head coach for eight seasons. That announcement came just hours before the A&M-Tennessee game. The Aggies notwithstanding, Del Conte said that making the Monday announcement allowed Pierce to talk to the players he'd be leaving and not have to worry about further speculation about his future. Del Conte said the plan for a Monday announcement had been set the previous week.
Why Jim Schlossnagle left Texas A&M for Texas
Schlossnagle leaves behind an A&M team that went 53-15 and fell one win short of a national championship. Terms of his new deal at Texas have not yet been released — he was set to make $1.35 million this year in College Station — but one selling point was his longtime relationship with Del Conte and their years working together at TCU from 2009-17.
"There's a lot of decisions in life that you don't get to choose the timing, you don't get to meet with your team as you would like, and for that I am sorry," Schlossnagle said. "This is the most uncertain time of college athletics that it's ever been in, and no one knows what the future is. Never in the history of college athletics is alignment more important between administrators, president, chairman of the board, board of trustees, board of regents, whatever.
"I yearned for a great leader. I need a great leader. I study leadership and Chris is the best leader that I've ever known. Although it was super, super hard and emotional to make this decision because of my love for the players at Texas A&M, I simply could not pass up this opportunity."
What Jim Schlossnagle is inheriting at Texas
As for what Schlossnagle's walking into, Texas went 36-24 this season and . Schlossnagle planned on meeting with his new players on Wednesday to chat about their futures at Texas. He said his staff also will need to connect with prospective players in the transfer portal as well as signees of UT's 2024 recruiting class.
"Many SEC coaches gave me some advice before I joined Texas A&M and the SEC. The piece of advice has rung very true," Schlossnagle said. "There is a top 2% of player, like the major leagues, that is better than everybody else ... but for the most part, you really don't have better players than the other team. You have to have as good of players as the other team.
"In the transfer portal era, everybody is big, strong, physical and older and everybody has that. (Competing for championships) comes down to staying healthy, playing good, sound fundamental baseball and get the breaks."
In 23 years as a head coach at UNLV, TCU and Texas A&M, the 53-year-old Schlossnagle is 946-455. Seven of his teams have advanced to the College World Series.
Schlossnagle's first season in Austin won't feature a return to College Station; he shared Wednesday that A&M will play in Austin for a conference series in 2025, but things won't be easy as Texas transitions to life in the SEC. "Beginning now we have to prepare to compete in the major leagues of college baseball," he said.
Each of Schlossnagle's six predecessors posted a winning record in his first UT season — William Disch in 1911, Bibb Falk in 1940, Blair Cherry in 1943, Cliff Gustafson in 1968, Augie Garrido in 1997 and Pierce in 2017. Falk, Cherry and Gustafson each won conference championships in their debuts, while Pierce's 39 wins led the first-year win totals in that group. Schlossnagle is the 14th head baseball coach in UT history.
