The talk of the sports world Tuesday revolved around former Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle's controversial exit from the Aggies to take the head coach job with the rival Texas Longhorns.
Less than 24 hours after falling short of fellow Southeastern Conference opponent Tennessee in the College World Series final, Schlossnagle's move sparked plenty of discourse online, especially given comments he made following that loss to the Volunteers.
When asked postgame Monday night about being linked to the Texas job, which opened early Monday with the firing of former head coach David Pierce, Schlossnagle tore into TexAgs reporter Richard Zane, who asked the question.
"I think it's pretty selfish of you to ask me that question, to be honest with you," Schlossnagle said. "But I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. And that hasn't changed my mind."
Schlossnagle even reportedly told Zane off camera to "never speak to him again." Schlossnagle issued an apology to Zane in his introductory press conference Wednesday in Austin.
Either way, Schlossnage is now at Texas, a program that will join the SEC for the 2025 college baseball season. Also a bitter rival to Arkansas, the Longhorns will now likely be a regular opponent for the Razorbacks and head coach Dave Van Horn.
Naturally, Van Horn was asked about Schlossnagle's move during Van Horn's first offseason media availability Wednesday. Van Horn alluded to Schlossnagle's relationship with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte as something that played a role in Schlossnagle taking the Longhorns' job.
"We knew three weeks ago that Texas was going to let their coach go," Van Horn said. "Turmoil inside of their program. If you look at the wins and losses, it’s been pretty good getting to Omaha, been pretty good. Just been other problems. I think somebody was there that wanted somebody else, and there you go.
"Am I surprised? Not really. But then again, I am a little bit because of what was going to go on at A&M. They’d already made a lot of commitments to upgrade the stadium. Their fanbase is huge, passionate, they show up, they make a lot of noise, they make it really hard for you to win there, they have a lot of tradition. I don’t know."
Schlossnagle has been a head coach in the state of Texas since 2004, when he was hired to lead TCU's program. He left the Horned Frogs for the Aggies after the 2021 season, and he spent the last three seasons in College Station.
"There’s a lot of players, a lot of players to recruit right down the road in Houston, up the road in Dallas and over there and over there," Van Horn said. "I don’t know. I guess… I don’t know. Like I said, you can see me, I don’t know what to think about it. You can get involved in those situations that all you have to do is make a call or send a text, and next thing you know things are happening.
"It’s a tough situation when you jump from one school right down the road to another one. They don’t like each other in the first place. It’s going to be interesting in our coaches meetings. I don’t know who A&M is going to hire. I just know our league is really really good and when Texas comes in and OU comes in this year, it’s going to be even better."
Texas hiring Schlossnagle will not only cause a ripple effect in the coaching world, but the transfer portal will also get more interest. HawgBeat provides unmatched coverage of Arkansas baseball's roster movement, so stay tuned to The Trough premium message board.
