Texas baseball should make the obvious hire in Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle | Golden (2024)

Go get Jim Schlossnagle, Chris Del Conte.

Hey, Occupy Left Field. Make sure Schloss is occupying the big office at UFCU Disch-Falk Field next season.

It’s the choice that makes the most sense.

The Texas baseball program is one built on excellence and the Horns didn’t reach that standard in David Pierce's eight seasons. And his firing Monday was bigger than not getting the Longhorns over the hump in three trips to Omaha.

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It was bigger than a locker room altercation with one of his pitchers at the end of the Big 12 Tournament, which resulted in Pierce getting called to the university's version of the principal's office two weeks later. And it was much bigger than Pierce not being able to retain quality assistant coaches. And bigger than Pierce's ill-fated decision to make himself UT's pitching coach in what turned out to be his final season.

These factors all played a role, but Pierce is gone because he just wasn’tdeemed good enough to take Texas to special places as it enters the SEC, college baseball’s biggest minefield.

Texas baseball is in need of an upgrade, and Pierce's ouster on the same day that Schlossnagle's surging Texas A&M Aggies were playing for their first College World Series title was an interesting piece of timing for Del Conte, though it's obvious that the decision was made days earlier.

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Time is of the essence over at Disch-Falk and the Horns need a new direction, like, yesterday. When Del Conte said it wasn’t an easy decision, what he should have said is it’s never easy firing a coach who's experienced some success.

But it was the right move.

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The harsh but simple truth is that Pierce didn’t do enough. To steal a basketball term, he was a real tweener. He wasn’t a bad coach by any stretch of the imagination — his credentials speak for themselves — but the program had the look of being good and not great on his watch. That just doesn’t cut it around here.

“I appreciate the passion, pride and steadfast commitment he had for coaching and working with our student-athletes and am thankful for all he’s done for Texas Athletics and our entire university community as our head coach,” Del Conte said in a statement. “I wish Coach Pierce and his family the best in the future.”

Del Conte actually could have held on to Pierce for another few seasons and the Horns would have remained competitive, but if he didn’t truly believe this was the man to take the program into the deep waters of the SEC and back to the winner's circle, it was better to make the change now than be regretful later.

It's never easy replacing a legend

Pierce is a good baseball man who was an asset to the school. He and his wife Susan were great in the baseball community, particularly with the local RBI initiative. Above everything, this was a business decision based on results, fit and the future.

Augie Garrido always said “Omaha is mandatory,” but didn’t add that winning in Omaha is even more important. The Horns won two national titles and finished second twice in eight appearances during his two decades at the helm.

It’s never easy to replace a legend, and even Augie understood after his final three seasons that the program was in need of a change.

Pierce led the program to baseball’s biggest fortnight three times in his first six years — that includes the 2020 season that the pandemic wiped out — but the Horns went 0-2 in two of their three appearances, sandwiched between a 3-2 finish in 2021. The 3-6 mark in Omaha isn’t the program’s standard, though Texas’ expectations are eons above most others.

This job isn’t for everybody, and the man who takes it is most likely a proven winner.

Why should Texas hire Jim Schlossnagle?

When Texas calls, you pick up on the first ring, even if you’re in the middle of a historic postseason run at your school.

Plus, there's one thing we can all take to the bank when it comes to Del Conte. He always has a plan. Even in the best of times for a program, CDC keeps a working list of potential coaching replacements in all sports, just in case life happens, as it did a couple of years back when basketball coach Chris Beard got arrested or when he and Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife decided that Tom Herman was no longer suited to lead the football program, albeit after four winning seasons.

It’s called being prepared, the hallmark of great leadership and smart business.

Schlossnagle is the obvious choice though there are other names on CDC’s list. Schloss should have gotten the Texas job years ago when he was at TCU, but then Texas AD Mike Perrin and others didn’t appear too interested. They went with Pierce, a solid choice, but not their first.

Del Conte was Schlossnagle’s boss in Fort Worth around the time he was leading the TCU program to five CWS appearances in 16 seasons, including the 2010 team that celebrated on the centerfield logo at Disch-Falk after eliminating Garrido’s Longhorns in the Austin Super Regional to earn the program’s first Omaha bid.

Schloss would have walked from Fort Worth for this job in 2016, but for some reason or another, he wasn’t the choice after UT's month-long search. Neither was Pierce if we’re being honest about the priority list.The search committee went through several names before ultimately deciding on Pierce, Rice coach Wayne Graham’s first-year assistant on the 2003 national champions.

If anything, Schlossnagle will score a huge payday, be it here in Austin or in College Station. His current salary of $1.35 million could top the $2 million annual mark and surpass Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin as the highest paid in the country. That would also increase his buyout number, which is nearly $3 million.

We know the last thing the Aggies want is for the Hatfields in Austin to poach the most celebrated men’s head coach in College Station since Homer Norton, who led the football team to a natty just 85 years ago. Unless Schloss professes Texas as his Graceland, he’s staying. Either way, he’s about to become one of the highest paid baseball coaches on the planet.

If not Schlossnagle, then who?

CDC also should throw a line at LSU’s Jay Johnson, who led the Bayou Bengals to their seventh national title last season, one that would not have happened had he not brought in pitcher and eventual MLB top overall pick Paul Skenes from the transfer portal. LSU has a history of not losing high-profile coaches, so Johnson doesn’t feel attainable.

Texas also could look at current TCU coach Kirk Saarloos, a longtime Schlossnagle assistant in Cowtown who has led the Frogs to a CWS appearance and Big 12 regular-season title in his first two seasons.

We can’t overlook Tennessee coach Tony Vitello, another Schlossnagle mentee who's coached against his former boss for all the marbles in Omaha. They coached together at TCU from 2011 to 2013 at the same time CDC was signing their paychecks. FYI, Vitello is under contract through 2026, but he will surely renegotiate after this banner season.

Clemson’s Erik Bakich led the Tigers to two consecutive national seeds and its first super regional appearance in 15 seasons and he did it in just two seasons. He also led the Tigers to consecutive 20-plus conference wins for the first time since Clemson's 2006 CWS team.

Outside of the head coaching box, former Texas director of player development Troy Tulowitzki knows the program and is a fan favorite even though the longtime major leaguer has never been a paid coach. It would be a gamble, not one I see CDC taking for a gig of this magnitude.

The funny part about all of this is when Texas is on the prowl for new coaches, the agents are all smiling because raises are coming.

To his credit, Del Conte hasn’t made his bones with bad hires. He has already proven himself one of the best evaluators of coaching talent in the business, bringing in winners like softball's Mike White, track's Edrick Floréal and women's basketball's Vic Schaefer. That's not to mention Steve Sarkisian, who led Texas to a Big 12 football conference title and College Football Playoff appearance.

A sign hanging from the ceiling in the baseball clubhouse reads: “The winning tradition of the University of Texas shall not be entrusted to the timid or to the weak.”

Pierce was neither timid nor weak, but he wasn’t the answer.