August 12, 2025 • 11 mins
Texas Baseball Head Coach Jim Schossnagle joined the guys as they talked about him joining the Nolan Ryan Foundation to raise money to replace the baseball fields in the Hill Country after the Central Texas floods. As for the Texas baseball coach, he tells the guys what he has been doing during the offseason. His recruiting efforts are finding guys who fit in at the University of Texas, keeping a leadership pipeline at Texas, and finding left-handed pitching in the transfer portal. He also tells the guys what it’s like to be around his fellow coaches in the athletic program.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But it's always good to be joined by the head
coach of the Texas Longhorns baseball team, a team that
was SEC regular season champs, and he just continues to
find a way to get this thing rolling. Coach, Jim Slosnagel, Coach,
how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm doing well, guys. I hope you've had a great summer.
Good to see it. Good stalk with you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
No doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Always love chopping it up with you, especially when it's
time to talk baseball. And we'll get into what you
and the Nolan Ryan Foundation are doing to help some
folks in the Texas Hill Country. But I wanted to
ask about now that all of the dust has settled,
the teams have changed a little bit. You had some
guys sound signed their major league contracts. What does coach
(00:43):
Slasnagel do.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Now, Uh, Yeah, we've been hard at work the summers
of real peak recruiting time. First, you know, right after
the season ended, as about three or four or five
weeks of recruit reading the portal and trying to fill
in some places and trying to figure out, you know,
who's going to stay off our team, who's going to
(01:06):
come in.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Off our team how the drafts can affect that.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So once we got through the draft and we kind
of had to scramble to fill a few spots that
were a little unexpected in some losses. And now we've
moved on to planning out the fall visits for the
twenty twenty seven class, which is rising juniors. I just
got off the road. I was in California, but we're
(01:31):
all back in town.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
We're gonna have a little coach's retreat for a couple
of days outside of town and plan out our entire
year and get ready for fall practice and start putting
together a team again.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Coach, you we last time we talked, we've talked about
your pitching corps and you said you wanted to improve
and get some left handers, like were you able to
accomplish that?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
In the portal we did?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
We got We got three really good ones. One of
them happened to get he actually moved here, but he
got drafted way higher than expected and got a bonus
you know, that he.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Felt comfortable with. So we lost that one, but we.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Got two really good left He's a guy named Cal
Higgins out of Western Kentucky who was one of the
best relievers in the country last year. And a kid
named Hayden la Fu la Few from Wake Forest. Really
good arm, big fastball. So those guys are going to
be important for us along with we really kept most
(02:29):
of our key freshman high school signees on the mound
in the drafts, so really like a lot of those
guys at least right out of the gate. But yeah,
those two transfers are going to play a big role.
Especially you know, we're going to look at Dylan valanis
more than likely as a starting pitcher at least in
fall practice, and see how see what that looks like.
(02:52):
You know, we want to be able to help him
accomplish his personal goals, but we also got to take
into account what's best for the team. So we'll see,
We'll see how that fall goes and see what that
looks like.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Kach Sark always said that there's a guy of guys
that are good, but they don't necessarily fit the system.
Like in your system, do you do you make an
emphasis on kids that will make the program look good,
not just on the field.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, I mean we yeah, we obviously we believe great
people make great players, right, It's not the other way around,
so you try to do as best you can in
your research and visiting with people and people you trust
over the course of time that direct players your way.
So we feel really good about the character of the guys.
You know, they're they're young people, They're they're gonna screw
(03:42):
up every now and then, but for the most part, Uh,
these guys are you know, especially get a guy like
Cal Higgins who's he's been in college four or five years.
He's he's engaged, super mature. So having guys like that
around help elevate your teams.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
We're talking to the Texas head based well coach Jim
Slosnagel going over the passing what's happening and recruiting. And
I wanted to ask you this because you brought up
Dylan Valantis and I remember when you presented him with
the Freshman of the Year and he said, I was
looking at that wall and I was looking for a
place to put my name on that wall. That's kind
(04:20):
of one of those things that you were talking about
with the personal goals and seeing what fits best for him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, you know, I think every pitcher desires to be
a great starting pitcher.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And I mean I'm I'm not going to stand in
the way of that. I mean, you know, I do
believe that. You know, it's changed a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's just like, you know, our game in the SEC
somewhat reflects what goes on in the big leagues. I
think the average start in the SEC last year was
about four and a third four and two thirds innings.
So the players are so talented, there's so much information,
and the bullpens are good, so win in doubt you
bring a fresh picture in.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
But you know, losing Jared Spencer's a big loss for us.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Getting back Ruger, Luke and Max is that those were
the three biggest recruits honestly, so we do return about
eighty percent of our innings. But it would be nice
to develop as super elite you know Friday Night starter,
which at the University of Texas you should have at least.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
One, and so we think Dylan can do that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And you know, we'll give a look this fall and
into the spring and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Before we talk about the fundraiser that you're doing, you
got a couple of them. Actually that's going on right now.
But I wanted to ask you about the leadership part
of it because obviously losing Jalen Flores, Galvon and a
couple other guys that were integral parts of the success
and helping you keep that foundation. What's next in that
pipeline as far as leaders.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, that's a great question. And there's no doubt there's
a vacuum there. When you lose, you don't just use leaders,
You use epic leaders. You use some of the most
elite leadership type guys. And Kimball Schusler and and Galvan
and Flores and and Balloo, you know those guys who
are super elite. I'm not worried about it on the
(06:13):
on the pitching side because because we return you know,
you know guys like Luke and Max and and Thomas
Burns is really good at that.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
But you but as.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You know, Mike as a former player, you know, it's
the pitchers are like kickers, you know, they're.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
They're kind of off doing their own thing most of
the time.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right, So, uh, we need somebody within the We need
some a group of guys within the position player group.
And I think I think we have some really good
candidates there. And I also think some of the guys
we have in common are capable of it. There's nothing
to say that once the one of these transfers comes
in and and earns their stripes and handles things the
right way, that they can't do that. Troy Klaunch did
that for me or for us at Texas A and
(06:54):
M my first year, and uh so I think there's
some of those guys are capable doing that. So we'll
be hard to work at that. And that's my job
is to develop, is to develop character and leadership through the.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Sport of baseball. And so we'll be ready. No, I
have no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So tell everybody what you have going on right now
to with the Nolan Ryan Foundation, as you guys are
putting together this challenge for some schools across the state
of Texas to kind of raise some money for those
that were affected by the Texas floods.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, so basically what we're doing is some youth baseball
fields in and around the Hill.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Country over there.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
It's just like everything else just got completely washed away
and these kids have nowhere to play. I got an
email this summer from some people over in the Ingram
area near kerk In, near Kerrville in the in the
Hill Country, and they were looking for some help. I
was just trying to think of different ways we could
use the power of Texas and then the other great
(07:54):
programs in the state of State of Texas and UH
and then started working with the Nolan Ryan Foundation, Reyes
Reed and Wendy Ryan, Nolan Ryan's children all went to TCU,
So I've known that family really well for a long
time and I'm a big believer in what they do,
so we're kind of partnering up with them.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
We have a website.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
If people just google the Nolan Ryan Foundation, you know,
you can find the link, and I know you've already
posted it on.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Your social media stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
And I just felt like it would be cool to
have the Longhorns challenge the Aggies and the Frogs and
Bears and utsa Texas State, Texas Tech, I mean, any
school DBU and just let's have baseball fans across the
state of Texas. If you can ship in five bucks,
five hundred to five thousand, you know, we're trying to
(08:45):
We're trying to raise one hundred thousand bucks, which is
going to go into the kitty of what's probably going
to be close to about a two million dollar project,
and some major league teams like the Red Sox and
Padres are helping out with that along with along with
some other oranization. So just need everybody to help chip in,
and certainly we'd like to have the Longhorn fans win
(09:06):
that contest.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I've already posted in I'm going to post a link
on AM thirteen hundred the Zone. Mark Henry's gonna post
some stuff on his social media as well, So we're
gonna definitely do our part with that.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Coach before we let you go.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Texas football, obviously is right around the corner. You were
talking about the retreat that you and your staff is
going to go on. What is it like when all
of you coaches get together on the bigger stage, Coach
Chris del Conti, and you start to see some of
this stuff come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Are you talking about the athletic department? Yep, Yeah, I
actually have a head coaches.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Meeting at noon today.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I went to football practice on Saturday and watched I'm
a huge fan of all of our sports, but I'm
actually a psychotic college football fan. If we don't have
a home game or recruiting or something like that going on,
I'm I'm up for college game Day. I'm watching games
from eleven am until whoever Hawaii plays, That's what I'm watching.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So I love college football.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I just love everything about it, and obviously with Jonah
Williams on the team.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Even more of an interest. And so I got to
see Jonah.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I hope he could get healthy soon and get out
there and help the guys. And and I'm also going
up to the shoe. I've never been to Columbus, Ohio,
so I'm a run up there. Had some nice donors
asked me to.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Ride with them.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
So I'm gonna run up there, see the game and
hopefully come back with a longhorn victory.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I like that.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Coach, Hey, coach Kim ken Hard and I get on that.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yeah, man, I want to get on the jet.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah we got yeah, I mean that's uh yeah, I
got invited.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I'm not sure how many seats there are. You got
some big boys over there.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
We may have to sit on the opposite size of
the plays and balance it out, balance it out for you.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, You're gonna have to balance it out.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And no and no baggage, back up and back, that's
all we need.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Well, I appreciate you and We'll post this U as
soon as possible to make sure that we get the
people to help with what you guys are doing to
help those baseball fields. As always, we appreciate you and
thank you for taking the time today.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You got it, fellas, have a good day, all all.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Right, I appreciate you. There he is coach Jim SLOs
Nagle breaking it down.
But it's always good to be joined by the head
coach of the Texas Longhorns baseball team, a team that
was SEC regular season champs, and he just continues to
find a way to get this thing rolling. Coach, Jim Slosnagel, Coach,
how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm doing well, guys. I hope you've had a great summer.
Good to see it. Good stalk with you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
No doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Always love chopping it up with you, especially when it's
time to talk baseball. And we'll get into what you
and the Nolan Ryan Foundation are doing to help some
folks in the Texas Hill Country. But I wanted to
ask about now that all of the dust has settled,
the teams have changed a little bit. You had some
guys sound signed their major league contracts. What does coach
(00:43):
Slasnagel do.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Now, Uh, Yeah, we've been hard at work the summers
of real peak recruiting time. First, you know, right after
the season ended, as about three or four or five
weeks of recruit reading the portal and trying to fill
in some places and trying to figure out, you know,
who's going to stay off our team, who's going to
(01:06):
come in.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Off our team how the drafts can affect that.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So once we got through the draft and we kind
of had to scramble to fill a few spots that
were a little unexpected in some losses. And now we've
moved on to planning out the fall visits for the
twenty twenty seven class, which is rising juniors. I just
got off the road. I was in California, but we're
(01:31):
all back in town.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
We're gonna have a little coach's retreat for a couple
of days outside of town and plan out our entire
year and get ready for fall practice and start putting
together a team again.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Coach, you we last time we talked, we've talked about
your pitching corps and you said you wanted to improve
and get some left handers, like were you able to
accomplish that?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
In the portal we did?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
We got We got three really good ones. One of
them happened to get he actually moved here, but he
got drafted way higher than expected and got a bonus
you know, that he.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Felt comfortable with. So we lost that one, but we.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Got two really good left He's a guy named Cal
Higgins out of Western Kentucky who was one of the
best relievers in the country last year. And a kid
named Hayden la Fu la Few from Wake Forest. Really
good arm, big fastball. So those guys are going to
be important for us along with we really kept most
(02:29):
of our key freshman high school signees on the mound
in the drafts, so really like a lot of those
guys at least right out of the gate. But yeah,
those two transfers are going to play a big role.
Especially you know, we're going to look at Dylan valanis
more than likely as a starting pitcher at least in
fall practice, and see how see what that looks like.
(02:52):
You know, we want to be able to help him
accomplish his personal goals, but we also got to take
into account what's best for the team. So we'll see,
We'll see how that fall goes and see what that
looks like.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Kach Sark always said that there's a guy of guys
that are good, but they don't necessarily fit the system.
Like in your system, do you do you make an
emphasis on kids that will make the program look good,
not just on the field.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, I mean we yeah, we obviously we believe great
people make great players, right, It's not the other way around,
so you try to do as best you can in
your research and visiting with people and people you trust
over the course of time that direct players your way.
So we feel really good about the character of the guys.
You know, they're they're young people, They're they're gonna screw
(03:42):
up every now and then, but for the most part, Uh,
these guys are you know, especially get a guy like
Cal Higgins who's he's been in college four or five years.
He's he's engaged, super mature. So having guys like that
around help elevate your teams.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
We're talking to the Texas head based well coach Jim
Slosnagel going over the passing what's happening and recruiting. And
I wanted to ask you this because you brought up
Dylan Valantis and I remember when you presented him with
the Freshman of the Year and he said, I was
looking at that wall and I was looking for a
place to put my name on that wall. That's kind
(04:20):
of one of those things that you were talking about
with the personal goals and seeing what fits best for him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, you know, I think every pitcher desires to be
a great starting pitcher.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And I mean I'm I'm not going to stand in
the way of that. I mean, you know, I do
believe that. You know, it's changed a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's just like, you know, our game in the SEC
somewhat reflects what goes on in the big leagues. I
think the average start in the SEC last year was
about four and a third four and two thirds innings.
So the players are so talented, there's so much information,
and the bullpens are good, so win in doubt you
bring a fresh picture in.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
But you know, losing Jared Spencer's a big loss for us.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Getting back Ruger, Luke and Max is that those were
the three biggest recruits honestly, so we do return about
eighty percent of our innings. But it would be nice
to develop as super elite you know Friday Night starter,
which at the University of Texas you should have at least.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
One, and so we think Dylan can do that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And you know, we'll give a look this fall and
into the spring and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Before we talk about the fundraiser that you're doing, you
got a couple of them. Actually that's going on right now.
But I wanted to ask you about the leadership part
of it because obviously losing Jalen Flores, Galvon and a
couple other guys that were integral parts of the success
and helping you keep that foundation. What's next in that
pipeline as far as leaders.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, that's a great question. And there's no doubt there's
a vacuum there. When you lose, you don't just use leaders,
You use epic leaders. You use some of the most
elite leadership type guys. And Kimball Schusler and and Galvan
and Flores and and Balloo, you know those guys who
are super elite. I'm not worried about it on the
(06:13):
on the pitching side because because we return you know,
you know guys like Luke and Max and and Thomas
Burns is really good at that.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
But you but as.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You know, Mike as a former player, you know, it's
the pitchers are like kickers, you know, they're.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
They're kind of off doing their own thing most of
the time.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right, So, uh, we need somebody within the We need
some a group of guys within the position player group.
And I think I think we have some really good
candidates there. And I also think some of the guys
we have in common are capable of it. There's nothing
to say that once the one of these transfers comes
in and and earns their stripes and handles things the
right way, that they can't do that. Troy Klaunch did
that for me or for us at Texas A and
(06:54):
M my first year, and uh so I think there's
some of those guys are capable doing that. So we'll
be hard to work at that. And that's my job
is to develop, is to develop character and leadership through the.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Sport of baseball. And so we'll be ready. No, I
have no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So tell everybody what you have going on right now
to with the Nolan Ryan Foundation, as you guys are
putting together this challenge for some schools across the state
of Texas to kind of raise some money for those
that were affected by the Texas floods.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, so basically what we're doing is some youth baseball
fields in and around the Hill.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Country over there.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
It's just like everything else just got completely washed away
and these kids have nowhere to play. I got an
email this summer from some people over in the Ingram
area near kerk In, near Kerrville in the in the
Hill Country, and they were looking for some help. I
was just trying to think of different ways we could
use the power of Texas and then the other great
(07:54):
programs in the state of State of Texas and UH
and then started working with the Nolan Ryan Foundation, Reyes
Reed and Wendy Ryan, Nolan Ryan's children all went to TCU,
So I've known that family really well for a long
time and I'm a big believer in what they do,
so we're kind of partnering up with them.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
We have a website.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
If people just google the Nolan Ryan Foundation, you know,
you can find the link, and I know you've already
posted it on.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Your social media stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
And I just felt like it would be cool to
have the Longhorns challenge the Aggies and the Frogs and
Bears and utsa Texas State, Texas Tech, I mean, any
school DBU and just let's have baseball fans across the
state of Texas. If you can ship in five bucks,
five hundred to five thousand, you know, we're trying to
(08:45):
We're trying to raise one hundred thousand bucks, which is
going to go into the kitty of what's probably going
to be close to about a two million dollar project,
and some major league teams like the Red Sox and
Padres are helping out with that along with along with
some other oranization. So just need everybody to help chip in,
and certainly we'd like to have the Longhorn fans win
(09:06):
that contest.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I've already posted in I'm going to post a link
on AM thirteen hundred the Zone. Mark Henry's gonna post
some stuff on his social media as well, So we're
gonna definitely do our part with that.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Coach before we let you go.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Texas football, obviously is right around the corner. You were
talking about the retreat that you and your staff is
going to go on. What is it like when all
of you coaches get together on the bigger stage, Coach
Chris del Conti, and you start to see some of
this stuff come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Are you talking about the athletic department? Yep, Yeah, I
actually have a head coaches.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Meeting at noon today.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I went to football practice on Saturday and watched I'm
a huge fan of all of our sports, but I'm
actually a psychotic college football fan. If we don't have
a home game or recruiting or something like that going on,
I'm I'm up for college game Day. I'm watching games
from eleven am until whoever Hawaii plays, That's what I'm watching.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So I love college football.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I just love everything about it, and obviously with Jonah
Williams on the team.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Even more of an interest. And so I got to
see Jonah.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I hope he could get healthy soon and get out
there and help the guys. And and I'm also going
up to the shoe. I've never been to Columbus, Ohio,
so I'm a run up there. Had some nice donors
asked me to.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Ride with them.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
So I'm gonna run up there, see the game and
hopefully come back with a longhorn victory.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I like that.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Coach, Hey, coach Kim ken Hard and I get on that.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yeah, man, I want to get on the jet.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah we got yeah, I mean that's uh yeah, I
got invited.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I'm not sure how many seats there are. You got
some big boys over there.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
We may have to sit on the opposite size of
the plays and balance it out, balance it out for you.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, You're gonna have to balance it out.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And no and no baggage, back up and back, that's
all we need.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Well, I appreciate you and We'll post this U as
soon as possible to make sure that we get the
people to help with what you guys are doing to
help those baseball fields. As always, we appreciate you and
thank you for taking the time today.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You got it, fellas, have a good day, all all.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Right, I appreciate you. There he is coach Jim SLOs
Nagle breaking it down.
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