Getty Image / Michael Warde
College baseball has turned into an absolute soap opera over the last few days. After Texas A&M fell one win short of their first-ever College World Series title, arch nemesis Texas swooped in to hire away their coach, Jim Schlossnagle.
There’s a lot of speculation about when exactly contact was first made between Schlossnagle and Texas brass, and if Schlossnagle had already taken the Texas ob before the conclusion of the College World Series on Monday. Obviously, that would be a pretty low thing for a coach to do, especially when a rival is involved.
Given the circumstances surrounding poaching a coach like this from your in-state rival, Texas had to operate in pretty much complete secrecy. And, a new report claims they went to great lengths to do just that.
Chris Del Conte said he waited at the Snook Cemetery to meet with Jim Schlossnagle later at the coach’s house Tuesday, figured no one would know him at the cemetery.
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) June 26, 2024
Snook Cemetery, in Snook, Texas, is about 20 miles from College Station, home of Texas A&M University. He was *really* trying to be secret.
Schlossnagle has come under fire for making the move. Part of it is moving from a rival to another rival, especially after such a great season. But, comments he made after Monday’s Game 3 loss to Tennessee really seemed to make it sound like he wasn’t going to leave Texas A&M.
“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.”
Jim Schlossnagle left for Texas less than 24 hours following this press conference
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 25, 2024
Yeah, those comments are going to play in the minds of Aggies for a long time. But, it’s another sign of just how secret Texas and Chris Del Conte were to get this done.
I’m sure the behavior between the two fan bases at this fall’s regular season finale between Texas and Texas A&M at Kyle Field won’t be very cordial.