New Texas A&M baseball head coach Jim Schlossnagle made a grand first appearance with the 12th Man, setting the stage for what the Aggies hope will be the coaching run of the century.
Texas A&M Director of Athletics Ross Bjork publicly introduced Schlossnagle on Wednesday, June 10 in an A&M Welcome Celebration. Held at the Ford Hall of Champions at Kyle Field, the event saw fans and press alike come together to show Schlossnagle what being an Aggie truly means while getting a sneak peek into Schlossnagle’s plans for the future.
Schlossnagle, the former head baseball coach at Texas Christian University, didn’t waste any time. He kicked things off with a fiery message on what the Bryan-College Station community can expect from the Aggies going forward.
“The goal is a national title,” Schlossnagle said. “There won’t ever be a day when the goal is anything less than that. Every year, I expect to go 56-0. That’s what I’m about, and you can hold me accountable there. That’s the bottom line.”
With TCU, Schlossnagle became the winningest coach in program history, holding an 811-393 record. Eighteen conference championships, 15 NCAA Tournament appearances and five trips to the College World Series secured the two-time Coach of the Year’s place among the nation’s top program managers.
Following Tuesday’s announcement of the new hire, many fans were left wondering why a coach with so much success as a Horned Frog would leave Fort Worth and join a team that failed to even qualify for this year’s SEC Tournament. For Schlossnagle, the answer was simple.
“I like a challenge,” Schlossnagle said.
Under the direction of former head coach Rob Childress, the Aggies recorded 622 wins, appearing in 13 straight NCAA Tournaments along with two College World Series. After Childress’s departure, the Brazos Valley began questioning who could take an already-dominant baseball organization to the next level.
Schlossnagle said he is prepared to do exactly that with the 12th Man.
“You have my full-on commitment that there will never be a minute or an hour or a day where I’m not doing something to better this program,” Schlossnagle said. “We’ll make it a product that you want to see and be a part of.”
The opportunity to improve the A&M legacy was not the only benefit considered in his decision. Schlossnagle said the stars aligned perfectly so that taking over for the Aggies became the best-case scenario for his career, his family and himself.
“I knew that if I was to ever leave TCU, it had to fit a perfect criteria and happen at a perfect time,” Schlossnagle said. “All of those things lined up.”
As a newcomer to College Station, Schlossnagle will need to adapt to the most pronounced code of conduct seen in collegiate athletics — the Aggie Core Values. Bjork said Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity and Selfless Service will be at the center of A&M baseball going forward, and he firmly believes Schlossnagle is capable of maintaining those values.
In addition to A&M’s guiding principles, Schlossnagle has three personal standards seen in every aspect of his own life: selflessness, excellence and energy. Schlossnagle said the first two pair well with A&M’s Core Values.
“Selflessness, to me, is knowing that this life isn’t about you,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s about what you can do for other people. In order for a team to have success, you have to give something up. You have to give yourself to the team. The more you give, the more you get back.
“Excellence is trying to be one percent better every single day. It’s the compound effect. It’s putting good days on top of good days and knowing that how you do anything is how you do everything.”
The head coach said his third principle, energy, is what he believes will help lead the Aggies to success in the 2022 season and beyond.
“You can control your attitude and your effort,” Schlossnagle said. “You don’t have to be a great player to do that. I’m going to hold my guys to that.”
After a long search process full of interviews, research, background checks and a full-blown advisory team, the Texas A&M Athletics Department finally agreed Schlossnagle was the perfect fit to don the maroon and white.
With Childress setting a precedent of dominance on the diamond over the past 16 seasons, the A&M community has come to expect a top-level performance from the Aggies. Bjork said he is confident Schlossnagle is up for the job of continuing the legacy.
“His drive, his passion, his commitment to high level baseball was exactly what we wanted,” Bjork said.
Much of Schlossnagle’s success with the Horned Frogs was rooted in his ability to cultivate relationships with his players. The Maryland native said he plans to continue this game plan with the Aggies.
“There’s nothing more important than the players,” Schlossnagle said. “The program belongs to the players. This is not my baseball program. We will continue to develop our guys to be the very best versions of themselves, on and off the field.”
This strategy has proven successful thus far. Under Schlossnagle’s guidance, TCU has routinely seen multiple players drafted by the MLB over the last seventeen years, for a total of 73 draftees, including a program record of nine in 2019.
A&M wants this success for its players during college and beyond, Bjork said.
“We believe that [Schlossnagle’s] commitment to young men on and off the field will carry us forward,” Bjork said. “That’s the vision.”
Also accompanying Schlossnagle is an “up-tempo offense” strategy, taking a step away from the Aggies’ previous slow-and-steady approach. For most of TCU’s 2021 season, the Horned Frogs led the nation in runs scored and claimed an extremely high on-base percentage. Schlossnagle said he is hopeful the Aggies can bring this offensive dominance to College Station.
For Schlossnagle, this means rounding out the offensive gameplay so the team has a multitude of strengths and zero weaknesses.
“We don’t ever want to be a team that’s one-dimensional,” Schlossnagle said. “We want to be able to win the games in multiple ways. On offense, you want to put pressure on the other team. You want to be aggressive without being reckless –– there’s a fine line there. The goal in offense is not to get hits. The goal is to score runs.”
Schlossnagle will make the permanent move to College Station later this year and officially begin his first run with the maroon and white in the spring of 2022. Until then, Schlossnagle said he is prepared to spend his time fully acquainting himself with the A&M community.
The Bjork-minted “new face of A&M baseball” closed out his first public visit to Aggieland with a promise to the 12th Man and a threat to all opponents coming to Olsen Field in the future.
“Get ready,” Schlossnagle said. “I want to be in Omaha next year. We’re coming.”
