Why Jim Schlossnagle left without telling the Texas A&M players

Texas A&M fans were NOT happy with how Jim Schlossnagle exited College Station. The new Texas baseball coach addressed that during his introductory press conference today.

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
We continue this yacht Rock Wednesday hereon the Craig WAZ showed Cameron Parker alongside
Andrew Zimmel. Andrew will close outthe last half hour of the show and
will hold it down for us tomorrowand Friday. I will be out be
back Monday. So Andrew Simmle forabout five hours each day right here on

(00:37):
this station. I'll tell you what, if you're not familiar with mister Zimmle,
you will be by by July eighth. But excited to have Andrew with
me, and glad and happy forall the hard work he has put in.
But let's let's continue with Jim's lastangles press conference from the day we
talked about at the beginning of thishour when he was asked and this is
coming from A and M reporters whodrove up from College Station to Austin to

(01:02):
ask questions about how Schlosnegel left CollegeStation. Remember he did not have a
team meeting with the players on Wednesday, and the team got back from Omaha,
I believed yesterday, and then hedrove up to Austin. I don't
be controlled up last night or thismorning, had his press conference at eleven,
but was asked about leaving without tellingplayers goodbye and telling them about his

(01:29):
decision to take the job at Texas. Yeah, I can't control that,
Like I said earlier, due tothe sensitive nature of everything that was going
on. I mean, I don'tthink Coacholko got to sit down with his
duke team before he left. Iwish I could have gotten to sit down
with the entire team. What wasthe first part? Again, I don't

(01:53):
know. No, I don't believein the money was a distraction at all.
I mean, our players are lockedin. They don't think about stuff
like that. I think college baseballplayers towards the end of every season,
it doesn't matter if you're an omahallor not. The guys who aren't playing
much have transfer portal on their mindor someone's in their ear about it.
The guys who are draft eligible arethinking about the draft. There's an agent

(02:15):
in their mind coaching stuff. Itruly believe. Oh, I know our
players were able to separate that ourroutine never wavered. I wasn't on the
phone with Chris you know, youknow before the game or I mean that
there was nothing. I was onlyto win a national championship, have been

(02:35):
there eight times seven as a headcoach, and here we are one game,
you know, the second game wewere seven outs away. And I
wanted that personally too, you know, And I wanted it. I really
wanted it for Texas A and Mbecause I believe in the Twelfth Man,
and I do. I didn't wantto be a part of the first national
championship team there. So they maysay different, but I think if you

(02:58):
were to ask our coaches, notone player on our team once we got
on the field was any focused onanything other than winning. Yeah, I
mean, I mean I get tomeet them. I think I would challenge
them to don't listen to what Isay, judge me by my actions over
the course of time. And anybodycan say one thing and do another.

(03:22):
But I'll sit down with them createa creative relationship. That's not gonna happen
in a day. It's not gonnahappen in one phone call. But I
do feel like, not just me, but our staff has a proven track
record of doing things the right way. Many people, especially on the A
and M side, will say thiswasn't done the right way. I just

(03:43):
don't know any other way it couldhave been done. There's you know,
not like we could sit around andwait for a week. That wouldn't have
been fair to text A and M, and that wouldn't have been fair to
the University of Texas. So itis what it is in today's college sports.
But I love those players. They'llget emotional and that's okay. That's
okay, It's okay for them toexpress their emotion. Hey, Jim Alex

(04:05):
Miller with the Eagle. I justwanted to go back to the timeline.
So, did you have any discussionswith anyone at Texas during the season or
the postseason run to the World SeriesFinals. No, I mean I always
Chris and I talk all the time, but we had no you know,
he had a coach. There wasno bare bones discussion of this. I

(04:26):
mean, this is always when Iwas at TCU, these rumors have always
been around because of our relationship,and I can't control that. If you
ask our coaches, they have hadto deal with it since the day I
got to Texas. A and M. I mean, I have had a
specific buyout, specifically for the Universityof Texas, and that's because of my

(04:48):
relationship with Chris and so thankfully it'sreally not a question we ever have to
answer again. And Slash also apologizedto the report of Richard zaying, I
think from tech SAgs who asked himafter game three about the conversations with the
Texas head coaching job, and hekind of lashed out the reporter, and

(05:10):
obviously Sloshchenko kind of regrets how hehandled that. He apologized to the reporter
today, but he made a fairpoint that you know, the final pitch
was thirty minutes ago, and allhe was thinking about was that game,
losing the season, his players,his staff, all of that, and
so you know, people in thetext line have texted in frustrated with the

(05:30):
way Slawndschninkle did kind of reach outto that reporter after the game. But
glad to see him apologize because there'sa lot going on, and also his
point is fair about the timing ofit. Wouldn't look at any hiring in
college sports when this happens. Youdon't have time to throw a parade for
the coaches leaving in Texas. Aand M would not want to do that
either way. And if your Texasyou haven't had a coach for a couple

(05:54):
of days. But also the transferreportal is open. You got kids who
need to this their future. Ifthey're going to go to the portal,
we're gonna come back. Some whohave MLB draft decisions to make, like
Gage Bains. So time is ofthe essence here because other teams have been
rebuilding their program already adding pieces likea Clemson they have already had some added

(06:15):
some pieces from the portal, TexasState picking up a Texas A and M
former player today. So you don'thave a lot of time to sit here
and like, yeah, you knowit takes to take a week's loves go
the Bahamas think about it. No, No, these decisions are made like
this for a reason. And lookat the timeline of CDC's pass hires.
Right with Sarkejian after Tom Herman waslet go, I think within twelve hours,

(06:36):
and the same thing with Fick Schaefferwhen he was hired as the next
women's basketball coach. Okay, nowabout this rivalry with A and M.
Obviously the next season in the SEC, it's going to be absolutely bonkers when
Texas returns to Kyle Field, whenthey return the Bluebelt, and when A
and M comes back to Dishfalk andcomes back to DKR. But now with

(06:58):
this, which ost Egle taking theTexas job, the return the college station
is going to be taken up evento a higher notch. It's already awesome.
The midweek games we got to playthis year awesome, the regional phenomenal.

(07:19):
I can't even imagine what a threegame SEC series will be like.
The first one is here, Ibelieve next year. The second one is
at Olsenfield, and so I'm sureA and M is going to attract awesome
coaches, coaches. There's great playersthere and the fan base, especially Section
two O three. I'm sure they'llhave a lot of really interesting things planned.

(07:43):
But that's I didn't do this despiteanybody, and I did this for
the reasons I've talked about. Andyou know, when you go into an
SEC environment, it's already crazy.I'm sure that won't be as crazy,
just it's just further evidence that willhave to be prepared, not physically but

(08:05):
mentally to be able to handle that. My job as the coach is to
help our players handle that, andall it does is prepare for a national
championship in omaholl And. Even Texasfans can admit that A and M's on
a great job with the portal andthe NIL and it's going to be a
big emphasis for Slaschnegel here at Texas. Yeah, I mean NIL is certainly

(08:28):
a part of us right now atthe absolute highest level. What that looks
like beyond the future and revenue sharingall those things. That's why mister Delcante
is here to answer those questions andfigure that stuff out. Texas A and
M was fully committed in that area. I know the University of Texas will
be fully committed in that area.But here's the I don't know about the

(08:48):
other sports, but when I talkedabout the three things that kids make their
choice on, they actually still makethem on that. In our sport,
the NIL stuff kind of put youin the game, I guess, But
there's a lot of people in thegame, and once you get in the
game, then it actually does.In baseball boils down to academics, player

(09:11):
development, and team success. AndNolan and Max and Mike and I have
been on zoom calls during the CollegeWorld Series two years ago where the conversation
the player only wanted to talk aboutNIL and we will not be recruiting those
players. We want play. Weget it, We get what the game
is today, but we want playerswe want We want winning players that are

(09:35):
winning people that are going to representthis university at the absolute highest level so
we can win championships. And Ithink it's creating a team. You can
still do that if you have standardsand core values and you stick to them,
you can still do that in thisera. If you're a Texas fan,
you got to feel pretty pretty goodabout where the Applex program is headed,

(10:00):
coming off another Director's Cup title andlooking like a good chance to repeat
again next season. Of course,this Sunday will be the SEC celebration.
Myself and my cards will be outlive at the forty Acres from three to
five pm. Make sure to stopby and say a low. We have
a slew of guests coming on theshow before Texas is introduced into the Southeastern

(10:24):
Conference. Andrew Simmle will close outtoday's show here on The Craig Way Show.
I will be back Monday, butAndrew will continue more with this conversation
from Slashnego as he accepts the headcoaching job for Texas Baseball, as he
tries and brings the Longhorns back toOmaha, back to Gloria we'll continue here
with out number three on the GregWay Show.