Jim Schlossnagle was officially introduced as the head baseball coach at Texas on Wednesday.
He spent much of that introduction issuing apologies.
Most notably, Schlossnagle apologized to reporter Richard Zane, whom he berated two days prior for asking a standard question.
In case you missed it, Schlossnagle scolded Zane on Monday when Zane asked him about his future. Zane asked the question shortly after Schlossnagle’s then-team Texas A&M lost a winner-take-all Game 3 to Tennessee for the College World Series national championship.
This was Schlossnagle’s response to Zane’s question:
“I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again and that hasn’t changed in my mind.” – Jim Schlossnagle last night after the College World SeriesReports are he just accepted the Texas job (via @nicolegriff_)pic.twitter.com/GMXEXYFdgs
Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) June 25, 2024
“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 in my mind. That’s unfair to talk about something like that. …
“I understand you’ve gotta ask the question. But I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job, and I’ve poured every ounce of my soul in this job. And I’ve given this job every single ounce I can possibly give it. Write that.”
Less than 24 hours later, Schlossnagle left Texas A&M after three seasons for the head coaching job at rival Texas. On Wednesday, Schlossnagle faced media for the first time as the Texas head coach. He issued an apology to Zane.
Jim Schlossnagle apologies to @RichardZane32 of @TexAgs for his response to Zanes question following the Aggies game three loss in the CWS Finals.BUY or SELL Schlossnagles apology? pic.twitter.com/nlIxkD7skb
SEC Unfiltered (@SECUnfiltered) June 26, 2024
“I want to publicly apologize to Richard Zane from Tex Ags,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s a young reporter. He asked the question that was an obvious question. I wish I could have answered that better. But in the moment 30 minutes after the last pitch all I could think about was our players.
“I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about myself or the future. So apologize for that to Richard.”
Zane wasn’t the only recipient of an apology from Schlossnagle. The ex-Aggies coach also apologized for failing to meet with his former players about his decision to leave to coach their rivals.
“It was obviously very hard,” Schlossnagle said. “There’s a lot of times in life you don’t get to choose the timing. You don’t get to meet with your team like you’d like. For that I am sorry.”
Schlossnagle was then asked by Zane’s Tex Ags colleague, Olin Buchanan, what he would say to Texas A&M supporters who felt like he “intentionally misled them” by saying that he would “never” leave Texas A&M.
Here’s what Schlossnagle had to say:
Nice question from @olinbuchanan on if Jim Schlossnagle was invested in the Texas A&M program (postgame remarks) then what changed within that certain period. Wish these guys would just say the obvious pic.twitter.com/CAerGL5Bcm
Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) June 26, 2024
“I didn’t intentionally mislead them,” Schlossnagle said. “That’s a very fair question for you to ask because that is what I said. In that moment, that’s exactly how I felt.”
Schlossnagle went on to discuss his prior decision to leave TCU for the Texas A&M gig before directly addressing the question.
“If I had left Texas A&M for some other school in a different part of the country, the interesting text messages and messages that I got yesterday probably wouldn’t have happened,” he continued. “But I get it.
“You can’t ask for your fan base to support you and be passionate like the 12th Man always has been but really was this year. … You can’t ask for that like I did and our staff did and then expect everybody to be OK with a coach leaving for its rival school. And I get it.
“All I can say is, I have a career too. I have a personal life as well. I have goals. I just simply felt like no negative at A&M just the positive of the alignment and frankly my relationship with [Texas athletic director] Chris [Del Conte]. … As hard as that decision was, I could not walk away from it.”
After all of that, Schlossnagle stepped outside alongside Texas cheerleaders to take his turn firing Smokey the Cannon.
Jim Schlossnagle FIRE THE CANNON pic.twitter.com/zvUKMwcNJ5
Tyler Feldman (@TylerFeldmanTV) June 26, 2024
Consider the page officially turned.
Schlossnagle won’t have to wait long to face his former program, fans and players. Texas will join Texas A&M in the SEC next season.