Jim Schlossnagle Named Head Baseball Coach at Texas

Jim Schlossnagle Named Head Baseball Coach at Texas
06.25.2024 | Baseball
Jim Schlossnagle Named Head Baseball Coach at Texas
Fresh off playing for the National Championship, the 23-year head coaching veteran takes over the Longhorns program.

AUSTIN, Texas — Jim Schlossnagle, one of the nation’s premier baseball coaches who took programs at Texas A&M and TCU to historic heights over the last 21 years, has been named head coach at The University of Texas, UT Vice President and Lois and Richard Folger Athletics Director Chris Del Conte announced on Tuesday. A 23-year head coaching veteran who was twice named National Coach of the Year and led his team to the College World Series seven times, he becomes just the sixth Longhorn head baseball coach since 1911 (with the exception of the war years of 1943-45 when assistant football coach Blair Cherry was at the helm). He is the 14th head coach in 123 years of Texas Baseball.

Schlossnagle’s introductory press conference is set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. and will be streamed live on TexasSports.com.

During his combined 21-year tenure as head coach at TCU (2004-21) and Texas A&M (2022-24), Schlossnagle has led his teams to the CWS in six of the last 10 seasons. That includes trips to Omaha in two of the last three seasons with the Aggies, including earning A&M’s first-ever spot in the championship series this year. His six CWS appearances in the last 10 seasons are tied for the most of any coach (Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida), while his 50 (50-22/.694) NCAA Tournament wins during that stretch are the best of any coach. The programs he has built make it even more impressive as his six wins in two CWS appearances at Texas A&M tripled the Aggies’ all-time total of two CWS victories in the history of the program. Meanwhile at TCU, four of the Horned Frogs’ six CWS appearances came under Schlossnagle, and he led them to the final four at the CWS three times (2010, 2016 and 2017), the furthest that program has ever advanced. All totaled, his squads have been to the CWS seven times (all in the last 14 years), at least the final four on five occasions, and in 23 years as a head coach, his teams have earned NCAA Tournament bids 20 times. The resurgences of his programs all began in his first head coaching job at UNLV, where he led a struggling Rebels program to a Mountain West Conference Championship (regular season & tourney) and back to the NCAA Tournament in just his second year in 2003.

“Everywhere Coach Schlossnagle has been he’s built winners at the highest level, had a first-class program in every way and is an absolutely perfect fit to lead our baseball program,” said Kevin Eltife, Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents. “He had a historic run at TCU, took Texas A&M to heights they’d never seen, and the way he develops his players and works with his coaches and team is really something special. I couldn’t be more excited to watch him work his magic on the Forty Acres.”

Schlossnagle’s Texas A&M program reached historic levels in short order, leading the Aggies to the CWS his first year (2022) and again in 2024. What he did on the biggest stage for Texas A&M was significant, posting a 6-4 record in the two CWS appearances for a program that had just two CWS wins in its history. Before he arrived, the Aggies had six CWS appearances in program history with the most recent coming in 2017. The Aggies’ 53 wins in 2024 were tied for the second-most in school history. He took the Aggies to their best-ever NCAA runner-up finish with his patented squad built around outstanding pitching (fourth-best nationally in ERA at 3.86/nation-leading 12 shutouts/school-record 715 strikeouts), great fielding, reliable big bats (fourth-best nationally in home runs with 136) and clutch hitting. And they overcame a rash of injuries, adversity and challenges while still managing to advance to the CWS championship series. The Aggies outscored their CWS opponents 14-3 in the first three games to earn their spot in the championship series before dropping a closely contested series to No. 1-seed Tennessee, 2-1, including a 6-5 deciding final game. A&M had an all-time program-best five players earn All-America honors on the year, catcher Jackson Appel; outfielders Braden Montgomery and Jace LaViolette; reliever Evan Aschenbeck and starter Ryan Prager.

“What a home run hire,” said Jay Hartzell, UT President. “Coach Schlossnagle is the best in the business, his long list of accomplishments is incredible, and his track record of building great programs is well documented. We are the premier baseball program in the country with legendary coaches, our six national championships and record 38 College World Series appearances, so it’s certainly fitting that we hired a coach of his caliber to lead us. We’re looking forward to great days ahead with Coach Schloss leading our Longhorns.”

In Schlossnagle’s three seasons in College Station, the Aggies’ rise to dominance was marked by winning nearly 70 percent (135-62) of their games under his leadership. And the success was immediate as Texas A&M went 44-20 and advanced to the CWS in his first year at the helm in 2022. The Aggies were one of the final four teams remaining that year and won their first games in Omaha in 20 years (since 1993) that season. That was the first A&M squad to reach the final four in Omaha, and he matched the total number of CWS wins in program history in just year one. Texas A&M also won the SEC Western Division title with a 19-11 mark with Jacob Palisch and Dylan Rock earning All-America recognition, and Micah Dallas, Joseph Menefee and Rock getting selected in the MLB Draft.

Schlossnagle’s Aggies followed a trip to Omaha in his first season by pushing to the title games of both the SEC Tournament and the Stanford Regional in year two, finishing with a 38-27 mark.