Analyzing Jim Schlossnagle Moving to Texas
ANALYZING JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE MOVING TO TEXAS — It wasn’t even 48 hours after then-Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle watched his team come up one run short of the school’s first national championship. And yet, there it was, another example of one of the worst things about college sports.
Schlossnagle was changing schools. More specifically, Schlossnagle was moving from Texas A&M to Texas. And to make matters worse, Schlossnagle did so less than two days after insisting he’d come to Texas A&M to make it his last job.
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To his credit, Schlossnagle didn’t run from what he had done when he traded maroon for burnt orange. He acknowledged that he was wrong to take umbrage at reporter Richard Zane’s question about his future in College Station. That’s a lot more than most coaches do.
And to be fair, Schlossnagle isn’t wrong that he’s got a career to think about. He’s 53, so he’s young enough that he didn’t have to make Texas A&M his last job. He could have written his own ticket in College Station as the architect of a national runner-up, but he was also working for an athletic director who hadn’t hired him.
At the same time, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte is one of his best friends in the business. The Texas job doesn’t come open often — Schlossnagle will be just the fifth person to coach the Longhorns since World War II. If he replicates what he did at College Station in Austin, he’ll be able to spend the rest of his career working for an AD he knows and likes. From that standpoint, what he did makes complete sense.
Collateral Damage
That said, the timing is just awful on everyone’s part. Texas has had three weeks to process its season ending — in College Station against Schlossnagle, no less — but Texas A&M didn’t get that. The Aggies gave a brilliant effort to reach the College World Series title game, against all odds. They overcame injury after injury and came one run shy of beating Tennessee two out of three. What they did was incredible and should have been celebrated.
And Schlossnagle and Del Conte’s decisions prevented that from happening.
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Not only did the Aggies barely have a day to come to grips with defeat, but they found out that their entire coaching staff will be in an opposing dugout next year. After all, it’s not like Schlossnagle left for a job in another part of the country. He went to Texas, which will be another SEC school next season. On top of that, Texas A&M has long been the little brother in the Lone Star Showdown. Texas is a baseball blue blood; Texas A&M was a good but not great program until Schlossnagle arrived. It’s a gut punch for a team and a fan base that deserved so much better.
Fixing The Problem
The worst part is that much of this could have been avoided. Nothing would stop the pain of Schlossnagle going to Texas, but some rule changes would have made it easier to stomach.
The main change is one I’ve been advocating for in other sports: give these players and coaches a real offseason. The reason for the timing is that Texas had to worry about recruiting and the transfer portal once it fired David Pierce. But the Longhorns won’t play a game until February. There was no need for Del Conte to immediately head to College Station to talk to Schlossnagle, other than the need to build a roster for next season.
What the NCAA should do is declare Selection Day until two weeks after the final game to be a dead period, in every sport. No contact between coaches and any players who don’t already play for them. No contact between athletic directors and coaches who don’t already work for them. This gives every team a real chance to come to grips with their season, celebrate any accomplishments and turn the page for next year.
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Then, and only then, recruiting and the portal can open. This would have given A&M a full two weeks to recover before Schlossnagle made his move. He could have looked his players in the eye, thanked them for the season and told them he was moving to Texas. That’s a much better way to go out, and it would have meant fewer hurt feelings.
The professional leagues get this right. College needs to follow suit. If we’re going to treat them like pros, we should at least treat them like pros in a way that helps them.
