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, a source told ESPN on Tuesday, confirming multiple reports .
Schlossnagle reached an agreement with the Longhorns just one day after a 6-5 loss to Tennessee in Game 3 ended the Aggies' season just one win away from their first national championship. The loss will be compounded by Schlossnagle's defection to the Aggies' bitter rival when they meet again as conference foes this year in the SEC.
Schlossnagle was 135-62 in his three seasons with Texas A&M, including two visits to the MCWS and a 53-15 record this season, which tied for the second-most wins in program history.
In Austin, he will reunite with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, who was his boss at TCU when Schlossnagle coached the Horned Frogs from 2004-2021.
On Monday, hours before the Aggies and Volunteers threw out 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 was long rumored to have interest in Schlossnagle due to his history 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 tension surrounding the rivalry.
“That's like nuclear material,” Schlossnagle said. “But there's not a moment in my day where I think about what Texas is doing. I think if you look at society in general today with social media, everyone plays the comparison game. And A&M and Texas have been playing the comparison game for a couple hundred years.”
In 23 seasons coaching at UNLV, TCU and Texas A&M, Schlossnagle has a career record of 945-451, with seven MCWS appearances. He has a 59-36 record in NCAA tournaments and was named Baseball America's National Coach of the Year in 2016.
On Monday night, following the loss to Tennessee and with Pierce out of the picture, the focus turned to Schlossnagle at his postgame news conference, and he reacted angrily when asked about any potential interest in the Texas job.
“I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job and that hasn't changed in my opinion,” Schlossnagle said. “It's unfair to talk about something like that… I gave up a lot of my life to take this job and I've given it my whole soul. I've given this job everything I could. So write it down.”
