Schlossnagle leaves Texas A&M for rival Longhorns

Jim Schlossnagle, who just led Texas A&M to its first Men’s College World Series championship series, is leaving to become the next baseball coach at rival Texas.

Schlossnagle agreed to a deal with the Longhorns just one day after a 6-5 loss to Tennessee in Game 3 ended the Aggies’ season just one win shy of their first national championship. The loss will be compounded by Schlossnagle’s defection to the Aggies’ bitter rival as they reunite as conference foes this year in the SEC.

“What a home run hire,” Texas president Jay Hartzell said in announcing the hire Tuesday night. “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.”

Schlossnagle went 135-62 in his three seasons with Texas A&M, including two MCWS visits and a 53-15 record this season, which tied for the second-most wins in program history.

“After our baseball team arrived back in College Station earlier today, Jim informed me of his desire to leave Texas A&M,” Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts said in a statement. “While we are certainly disappointed, we are grateful for his contributions in helping our baseball program reach unprecedented heights. Baseball success is important to everyone associated with Texas A&M, we will not stop in our pursuit of excellence and our commitment to baseball will not waiver.”

In a statement, Schlossnagle thanked Texas A&M president Gen. Mark A. Walsh III, Alberts and the fans “for an incredible experience during my time at Texas A&M.”

“Although I know many will be upset with my decision, I chose to make a change to join a longtime friend to continue my career as a college baseball coach,” Schlossnagle continued. “The run to the National Championship game was truly a remarkable one this year, and I will savor the memories and true friendships I have made there for a lifetime.”

In Austin, Schlossnagle reunites with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, who was his boss at TCU where Schlossnagle coached the Horned Frogs from 2004 to 2021.

“I’ve known Coach Schlossnagle for a long time, and there’s no better coach, program builder, and leader in the game, and the best part is he’s an even better person,” Del Conte said. “When we were looking for our next baseball coach, we knew Schloss would be the perfect choice, and we are beyond thrilled that he’s joining our Longhorn family. He’s a guy who obviously knows our state so well, is very familiar with our program’s rich and proud history and everything Texas Baseball is all about, and absolutely checks all the boxes for this critical position.

“He really understands every level of building a team, develops and gets the best out of his players and coaches, recruits with the best of them and is totally dialed into the holistic growth of the student-athletes in his program. Our players, our staff, the UT community and Longhorn Nation will absolutely love him.”

On Monday, hours before the Aggies and Volunteers threw the first pitch in the final MCWS game, Texas announced that Del Conte and David Pierce had made a mutual decision to part ways. Pierce was 297-162 in eight seasons at Texas, including a 36-24 record this season.

Texas had long been rumored to have interest in Schlossnagle due to his record at TCU and Texas A&M and the relationship he had with Del Conte.

Schlossnagle told ESPN last month that he knew what was coming with the heat around the rivalry.

“That’s like nuclear stuff,” Schlossnagle said. “But there isn’t a moment in my day where I think about what Texas is doing. I think if you go look at general society today with social media, everybody does the comparison game. And A&M and Texas have been doing the comparison game for a couple hundred years.”

In 23 seasons as coach at UNLV, TCU and Texas A&M, Schlossnagle has a 945-451 career record, with seven appearances in the MCWS. He has a 59-36 record in NCAA tournament games and was named Baseball America National Coach of the Year in 2016.

On Monday night, after the loss to Tennessee and with Pierce out of the picture, the focus turned to Schlossnagle in his postgame news conference, and he reacted angrily to being asked about any prospective interest in the Texas job.

“I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again, and that hasn’t changed in my mind,” Schlossnagle said. “That’s unfair to talk about something like that. … I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job, and I’ve poured every ounce of my soul in this job. And I’ve given this job every single ounce I could possibly give it. So write that.”