
During the College World Series, Jim Schlossnagle, the former coach of Texas A&M, got into a verbal battle with a reporter.
The coach had just lost the decisive game three of the tournament when Richard Zane, a reporter for TexAgs, asked him if the rumors of his departure were true.
Questions regarding the whispers that he was planning to leave for a different employment opportunity were in the air for quite a while. But Schlossnagle rebuffed any suggestion that he was departing, saying that when he took the position at Texas A&M as a coach, he felt it would be his last job. He said he gave up a portion of his life to do so. He said his heart and soul were in the position at Texas A&M, and he didn’t plan on leaving. Nothing had changed in his mind. He then called the reporter’s question “selfish.”
Schlossnagle was lying.
He subsequently quit the Texas A&M program and signed on with their rivals, the Texas Longhorns.
Since joining the Longhorns, Schlossnagle has had no shortage of detractors in his new coaching role. Schlossnagle has tried to mitigate the anger over his actions by saying that the Aggies’ new athletic director, Trev Alberts, gave him the go-ahead to do it. According to Schlossnagle, Alberts—who took over as AD in March—told him before a regional tournament game that it would be “OK to move on.”
The move has not been smooth, with Schlossnagle ridiculed by reporters, TV analysts, former players, writers, and probably team mascots.
Social media members did not miss the hypocrisy in his treatment of Zane and his question. They let the former Aggies coach have it, and for good reason.
After the fallout, the coach groveled, saying he wasn’t thinking correctly and was only thinking about his players. A cynic would ask, “Were they Longhorns or Aggies?”
Although Schlossnagle expressed regret and apologized for his treatment of the young reporter, Zane, he could not help but look awful as he departed for an interstate rival team.