Former TCU and Texas A&M Coach Brings This Legendary Program into a New Era

One of Jim Schlossnagle’s fondest baseball memories took place at Disch-Falk Field in 2010. Now he’ll look to top it—repeatedly—but this time, wearing burnt orange. 

Schlossnagle was in his seventh year as Texas Christian University’s head baseball coach when the Horned Frogs knocked off Texas in Austin during the NCAA super regionals, earning the school its first trip to the College World Series.  

It was a big moment for both Schlossnagle and his athletic director, a guy named Chris Del Conte. Seven years later, Del Conte moved on to the Forty Acres, while Schlossnagle—who sent such players as Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, Matt Carpenter, and Brandon Finnegan to the big leagues from Fort Worth—left TCU to take over at Texas A&M in 2021. The Aggies were one of the final four teams in Omaha that year (including a win over Texas) and went even further this past season, losing to Tennessee 6-5 in Game 3 of the 2024 finals.   

One day later—to the delight of Longhorn Nation and the dismay of little brother—Schlossnagle succeeded David Pierce as head coach of college baseball’s winningest, most legendary program, while also reuniting with his most simpatico AD. The two men are now neighbors in Austin and get their steps in once or twice a week together, a routine that they began at TCU. The hire also continues a streak of championship-pedigree acquisitions by Del Conte (Mike White, Vic Schaefer, Steve Sarkisian, Bob Bowman, and Stein Metzger) as UT navigates its first year in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).  

Schlossnagle, 54, is a Maryland native who grew up a Red Sox fan, with especially fond memories of Roger Clemens both on the Horns’ 1983 national championship team and his 1986 Cy Young–winning season for Boston. Schlossnagle gave the Alcalde his thoughts on some of this season’s hottest topics.  

His favorite sport  

“I grew up a way bigger fan of college basketball, being from Maryland: ACC country, the Big East, Maryland basketball, and Georgetown basketball. My best chance to be a college athlete was with baseball at Elon, which had been to three NAIA World Series.  

I was a journalism major, and then my college coach called me in my sophomore year and said, ‘I think you’d make a really good coach. You need to consider changing your major to education.’ I decided to listen to his advice, got my teaching certificate, and when I graduated, I was fully planning on going to graduate school and being a high school coach and teacher. I just got super lucky. I was working a baseball camp at Clemson the summer after my senior year of college, and [Clemson baseball coach] Bill Wilhelm called me in on my last day and said, ‘Would you be willing to come down here and help me coach the pitching staff and be our volunteer coach?’ At 22 years old. I was like, ‘Where do I sign up?’”  

Chris Del Conte  

“I was the coach representative on the selection committee in the fall of 2009 when TCU hired Chris Del Conte. So that’s our little running joke. I hired him; he didn’t hire me. He had to return the favor. I didn’t take the A&M job thinking that I would ever be here. But as the saying goes, man plans, and God laughs ... The reason for my decision was just the opportunity to work at a place that had a great alignment from an administrative standpoint, with Chris obviously being a part of that. And then you throw on top of that, it is The University of Texas—arguably the premier program in the history of the sport.”   

The SEC  

“The thing that we’re trying to prepare these guys for is just the day in, day out challenge that SEC baseball is. Even Texas fans I don’t think truly understand. They’re going to see it up close and personal. I’m probably a little biased, but I would say that baseball is the deepest, most talented sport in the SEC, and that’s proven out every year by the number of teams that are in the College World Series. We all want to win the conference, but you just have to kind of survive it. And then once you get in a regional, there’s no environment that’s going to be too big for you. There’s no pitcher you’re going to face that’s better than any pitching you’ve seen in the [conference].” 

Former Longhorns coach Augie Garrido  

“I interviewed to be the pitching coach at UT in 1995 when I was 25 years old. Then I became the head coach at TCU, and Augie and I got to know each other a little bit better. In the last four or five years of his life, we became really close. He started to treat me like a former player or former assistant coach of his. He would give me a lot of advice.   

And then in the summer of 2016, he invited me to come out to Newport Beach and spend the day with him. We had a very long conversation about many things. And one of them was—he asked me at the end of the dinner, ‘How would you feel about being the next baseball coach at Texas?’ And I said, ‘Well, obviously, who wouldn’t consider that?’ That planted a seed.” 

The exclusive club  

“There aren’t too many bigger honors in this department than being the baseball coach. There’s only been six in the last 100 years, and four of them are on a mural that I stare at in this office every single day: Coach Disch, Coach Falk, Coach Gus, and Augie. The opportunity to coach at a place like this is very rare and truly an honor. It amazes me more and more every day.”  

This interview has been edited and condensed.

CREDIT: Courtesy of Texas Athletics