Jim Schlossnagle lead the Texas A&M Aggies all the way to just a win away from the 2024 National Championship in baseball. They fell just short of the national crown, losing to the Tennessee Volunteers. And in a surprising move, Schlossnagle didn’t waste any time in infuriating the Texas A&M fan base, not even a day after the CWS Finals ended. He decided to leave Texas A&M to join the Texas Longhorns to become their head baseball coach.
And on Sunday, during Longhorns’ celebration of joining the SEC, Schlossnagle addressed the fan reaction of him leaving Texas A&M. He spoke to the broadcast crew with the SEC Network. And while the reaction was predictable to a degree, the Longhorns new head man didn’t think it was going to be quite as bad as it’s been.
“I had an idea that it would be nuclear but I didn’t know it would be apocalyptic. But that just shows you the passion of the 12th man, to be honest with you. I mean, I think you can’t ask people to be passionate and support your program the way I did when I was there or the way you do when you’re at a great school like that. And then when something negative happens or a change then there’s gonna be a reaction to that,” Schlossnagle explained.
“So, it wasn’t by design. I don’t wish anybody a bad future. Certainly, they just hired one of our assistant coaches and I’m excited for Coach Earley. But, this was just an opportunity for me to be with Chris [Del Conte] and do something special at a place that’s been to more College World Series than any other school,” Schlossnagle finished.
Later in the interview, Schlossnagle did point out that it’s a tricky position to be in as a coach, considering a potential career-advancing move while weighing your responsibility to your current team and players.
It’s not a fun position to be in.
“The timing’s never clean in any of these things,” Schlossnagle said. “I think coach (Mike) Elko didn’t get to meet with his team when he left Duke for A&M. And there’s just no way to meet with the entire team before you do that.”
On3’s Thomas Goldkamp also contributed to this article.
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