Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle is happy to be heading to Omaha for the College World Series. However, it also comes at an awkward time with the Transfer Portal.
Schlossnagle explained that while going to Omaha is always special, it can be sometimes easy to take that for granted as a coach because of the portal. So, he’s working on making sure he and his coaches appreciate the moment.
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“They’re all special,” Jim Schlossnagle said. “Yeah, I mean this is all the things that we do. I was telling Coach Max [Weiner], our pitching coach, the other day when the transfer portal opened and we just get flooded with work. We just won a regional, but all three assistant coaches are just grinding in the office. What happens a lot sometimes, and with the exception of the Ivy League guys, is in the transfer portal, it hurts you to win sometimes because all the other schools that aren’t playing are putting pressure on the kids to make decisions.”
The Transfer Portal for college baseball opened while the NCAA Tournament was underway. That means that coaches need to balance figuring out the portal while also preparing for postseason games while trying to win a championship.
“We’re like wait a second, man, we’re still playing. Don’t you want to come to somewhere to a place that’s going to Omaha? So, I called Max in and I said, listen, man, don’t fret over a guy lose we to this school or that school. We work all year for this and our entire lives,” Schlossnagle said. “So I never take it for granted. I think Nolan Ryan went to the World Series his rookie year. never went back. I’ll remind our players of that. You never know when you’re going to get a chance to go back.”
For Jim Schlossnagle, this is his seventh time going to the College World Series. The majority of those came during his time at TCU. So, he knows the value of being able to play those games in Omaha.
With all of that in mind, Schlossnagle is going to focus on Omaha and bringing a national championship to Texas A&M, not the portal and building next year’s roster.
“I’ve never been a part of the Championship Series or won it. So, I’d like to do that. For me, you try to see it through the players’ eyes. It’s like your kids, man. You’re so happy for them because hopefully, there’ll be more seasons for me but these guys, they only get a limited window of time. It’s going to be fun to pull up. It’s always fun to pull up to the stadium and when we land on Wednesday and see their eyes,” Schlossnagle said.
“It’s awesome. It’s awesome.”
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