Jim Schlossnagle’s move from Texas A&M to Texas caught at least some people in the broader college baseball world by surprise, with the coach of the reigning national runner-up leaving for his program’s chief in-state rival, a school it will soon be in the same conference as for the first time in more than a decade.
That group of people caught off guard by Schlossnagle’s decision apparently includes some of his own players.
On Tuesday at 1:42 p.m. CT, about 16 hours after his team lost to Tennessee 6-5 in the third and final game of the 2024 College World Series championship, Texas A&M senior infielder Ryan Targac took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to post a message expressing his gratitude for the season on which the Aggies had just embarked.
“I’ve been sitting on this for a while, but I can’t express my gratitude enough to Texas A&M University and the 12th Man,” Targac wrote. “It has been the best four years of my life and that would not have been possible without the endless support. Forever thankful! Thanks and Gig’em!”
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Within about three hours of Targac’s message being posted, news leaked about Schlossnagle’s departure to Texas, prompting one respondent to note that Targac made no specific mention of his team’s coach and, because of that, “it’s all making sense.”
From there, Targac revealed he only got so much of a heads-up himself.
“I found out on twitter probably two hours after I posted this,” he wrote in response. “I had no clue.”
Schlossnagle’s move to Texas wrapped up what appeared to be a whirlwind of a courtship, with the official announcement of his hiring coming fewer than 24 hours after the final out of the 2024 College World Series and fewer than two full days after it was revealed that the Longhorns had parted ways with coach David Pierce.
Following Pierce’s firing, Schlossnagle’s name was immediately connected to the vacancy due to Texas’ long, storied history — with six national championships, to Texas A&M’s zero — and his existing relationship with Longhorns athletic director Chris Del Conte, who he worked under for 13 years at TCU.
As speculation swirled, Schlossnagle was asked about his future at Texas A&M following the Aggies’ season-ending loss to Tennessee Monday night, with Schlossnagle chiding the reporter who asked the question and calling him “pretty selfish.”
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“I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M,” Schlossnagle said. “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. That would be like you asking [Texas A&M outfielder Braden] Montgomery if he’s going to sign in the draft. But I understand you’ve got to ask the question. But I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job. And I poured every ounce of my soul in this job and I gave this job every ounce I could possibly give it. Write that.”
Schlossnagle went 135-62 in his three seasons with the Aggies, including a 53-15 mark in 2024. In two of those three seasons, Texas A&M made the College World Series. This year’s championship series appearance was the first in program history.
He arrives in Austin less than a week before the Longhorns officially join the Aggies in the SEC. Though the two programs, unlike some of the schools’ other teams, have competed against each other fairly consistently in the years since Texas A&M’s exit from the Big 12 to the SEC in 2012, Texas and Texas A&M have been designated as permanent rivals on the schedule of the soon-to-be 16-team conference.
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