Fallout of Texas hiring A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle
Horns247's Chip Brown was the first to report on June 25 that Texas baseball hired Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle as the replacement for David Pierce.
Texas baseball pulls off a huge move to hire Jim Schlossnagle away from Texas A&M
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte pulled the ultimate heist by hiring away the head coach of its in-state rival program just one day after the Aggies were playing for the program's first National Championship on June 24. The Longhorns completely stole the Aggies' spotlight on the day of and after them playing for the College World Series final against the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers.
It was first reported earlier in the day on June 25 that Schlossnagle was legitimately considering taking the Texas job just after the conclusion of Texas A&M's 2024 season.
Schlossnagle rejoins CDC after the two worked together in the late 2000s and throughout much of the 2010s with the TCU Horned Frogs.
He reportedly has a buyout that runs just north of $2 million since he took another job in the state of Texas with the Longhorns. This is the third job in the state of Texas that Schloss has taken in the last two decades.
Shloss really made a name for himself during his 18 years at TCU, where he made five College World Series appearances and won three Big 12 regular season titles. He also won a whopping seven straight Mountain West Conference regular season titles between 2006 and 2012 early in his time at TCU before they joined the Big 12 in 2013.
This news comes just over 24 hours after CDC and the Longhorns released a statement mutually parting ways with Pierce after eight seasons at Texas. Pierce made three appearances in the College World Series and won three Big 12 regular season titles in seven full seasons at Texas.
But the program was trending in the wrong direction in the last three seasons, causing the Longhorns to lack momentum entering the SEC in 2025. This hire helps the Longhorns correct course roughly one week before the July 1 ceremony to join the SEC.
What the hire of Schlossnagle means for Texas
Outside of the obvious that this is a huge day for the Longhorns to poach the marquee head coach of the in-state rival Aggies in Schlossnagle, this hire means that Texas can be nationally competitive again in the SEC in 2025.
Texas struggled on the NIL front in the last few years under Pierce, causing issues with transfer portal and high school recruiting in the modern day and age of this being so prevalent in college sports. Adding a big-time coach to the fold like Schloss can get the engine going for the Longhorns to get stronger NIL support and more appeal from top guys in the transfer portal.
It took no time at all for the Longhorns to get their first big portal addition of the offseason immediately following the hire of Schloss on June 25. On Texas Football reported that former Penn grad transfer pitcher Eli Trop is joining Schloss with the Longhorns via the portal this offseason.
This portal cycle is going to move extremely fast for the Longhorns. Since there was almost no portal movement at all for the Longhorns in the first couple of weeks of their offseason, Texas got behind a good bit constructing the roster for the SEC in 2025.
Getting Schloss will give the Longhorns some juice to boost their recruiting efforts in the portal this summer, before this transfer window closes early next month.
That's not to mention how much better the Longhorns should be able to recruit and develop top talent from the high school level under a coach the caliber of Schloss. He's consistently recruited top 20 classes nationally from the high school level in the last decade at TCU and then Texas A&M.
Schloss gives Texas the juice to get back to the College World Series consistently
As Texas enters the SEC for the 2025 college baseball season, Schloss gives the Longhorns the momentum to navigate that difficult schedule in the best conference in that sport in the nation. Schloss has elevated the Aggies to one of the top contenders in the SEC in the last few seasons
Texas A&M won the SEC West in 2022 and finished second in the division under Schloss in 2024. He can not only help the Longhorns get more competitive in the SEC in conference play, but also help this team return to the College World Series since 2022.
Schloss has been a consistent presence in the College World Series in the last decade. He led the Horned Frogs to back-to-back-to-back-to-back CWS appearances from 2014-2017. Texas A&M has also made the College World Series two out of the last three seasons, which also happens to be Schloss's entire time there as the head coach since he came over from TCU.
That makes it seven out of the last 10 years it was possible for Schloss to make it to Omaha that he took his team to the College World Series at either TCU or Texas A&M.
Rivalry with A&M is about to get insane in the SEC
If you thought the rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M was already going to be bitter with the Longhorns joining the SEC in 2025, that hatred just got dialed up so many notches. Texas A&M has all the motivation to make College Station a living hell for the Longhorns to play in the SEC in 2025.
What's next for Texas and Schloss after the hire?
The next steps for Schloss and the Longhorns will now be to assemble his coaching staff in Austin and start pulling together the best roster possible in the short portal window left this summer. Since Schloss is such a big splash hire for the Longhorns, I don't think it will be as difficult as some might think for him to get the guys he wants on the roster for the inaugural season in the SEC in 2025.
This portal cycle will be something we follow consistently on the site as the Longhorns baseball roster comes together this offseason under Schloss.