Chris Del Conte’s lengthy relationship with Schlossnagle paid off with a huge coup for the Longhorns.

One day after firing head coach David Pierce, the Texas Longhorns have shocked the college baseball world —and wider college sports world — by hiring Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle, according to a report from Chip Brown of Horns247, in a remarkable decision to leave one rival for another only days away from the burnt orange and white joining the Aggies in the SEC.

Other outlets subsequently confirmed the news and Schlossnagle was officially announced by the school several hours later with Texas A&M athletics director Trev Alberts releasing a statement about Schlossnagle’s departure less than three hours before the news broke.

“After our baseball team arrived back in College Station earlier today, Jim informed me of his desire to leave Texas A&M. While we are certainly disappointed, we are grateful for his contributions in helping our baseball program reach unprecedented heights. Baseball success is important to everyone associated with Texas A&M, we will not stop in our pursuit of excellence and our commitment to baseball will not waiver,” Alberts said.

“On behalf of Texas A&M Athletics, we wish Jim and his family well as they move on to another challenge. We will find a great leader and excellent coach to head up this proud Aggie baseball program.”

The statement from Alberts came around 22 hours after Schlossnagle responded indignantly to a question from a TexAgs reporter on Monday evening about the opening in Austin after the Aggies fell to the Tennessee Volunteers in the third game of the College World Series finals in Omaha.

“I think it’s pretty selfish of you you to ask me that question, to be honest with you. But I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. And that hasn’t changed in my mind. That’s unfair to talk about something like that,” Schlossnagle said.

The Texas A&M head coach continued, “That would be like you asking [Braden] Montgomery if he’s going to sign in the draft. I understand you’ve got to ask the question, but I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job and I poured every ounce of my soul in this job and I gave this job every ounce I could possibly give it. So write that.”

Everyone involved in covering college baseball faithfully transcribed Schlossnagle’s quote in the aftermath of the contentious press conference was telling, but perhaps the past tense used by Schlossnagle was telling regarding his eventual decision, which had a chance to play out into Tuesday evening, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle that said A&M university leadership wanted to meet with Schlossnagle in a desperate attempt to keep him in College Station.

Instead, Schlossnagle will make the short trip to Austin to take over the storied program on the Forty Acres that boasts six national championships, the most-ever College World Series appearances with 38, and the most wins of any Division I baseball program.

“Everywhere Coach Schlossnagle has been he’s built winners at the highest level, had a first-class program in every way and is an absolutely perfect fit to lead our baseball program,” said Kevin Eltife, Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, in a statement released by the school. “He had a historic run at TCU, took Texas A&M to heights they’d never seen, and the way he develops his players and works with his coaches and team is really something special. I couldn’t be more excited to watch him work his magic on the Forty Acres.”

Leading the charge to pull off the incredible coup of swiping Schlossnagle away from Texas A&M is Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte, described as Schlossnagle’s “best friend” after Del Conte served as Schlossnagle’s boss for nine years at TCU. During the three weeks between the end of the Longhorns season and Pierce’s ultimate firing, Del Conte had plenty of time to negotiate a contract with Schlossnagle’s agent behind the scenes as the Aggies surged through the NCAA Tournament bracket.

“What a great day it is to be a Longhorn,” said Del Conte. “We are absolutely thrilled to have Coach Schlossnagle joining our Longhorn Family, and like everything we do, we couldn’t have made this happen without the incredible leadership in our chairman of the board of regents and our president. Chairman Eltife and President Hartzell are a critical piece in every decision we make, they are such great friends and counsel, and together help us make great days like today happen for Longhorn Nation. I can’t thank them enough.”

“I’ve known Coach Schlossnagle for a long time, and there’s no better coach, program builder, and leader in the game, and the best part is he’s an even better person,” Del Conte added. “When we were looking for our next baseball coach, we knew Schloss would be the perfect choice, and we are beyond thrilled that he’s joining our Longhorn family. He’s a guy who obviously knows our state so well, is very familiar with our program’s rich and proud history and everything Texas Baseball is all about, and absolutely checks all the boxes for this critical position. He really understands every level of building a team, develops and gets the best out of his players and coaches, recruits with the best of them and is totally dialed into the holistic growth of the student-athletes in his program. Our players, our staff, the UT community and Longhorn Nation will absolutely love him. I can’t wait to get him started and for everyone to have a chance to meet him. The future of our program is in great hands, and I’m so excited to have Coach Schloss joining our elite group of coaches as we prepare to head into the Southeastern Conference.”

The decision from Schlossnagle to leave Aggieland comes after leading A&M to a 135-62 record over three seasons with the runner-up finish this year and a top four finish in the College World Series in 2022, Schlossnagle’s first year in College Station. Those two seasons stand as the best in program history, which dates back to 1876, but only included six appearances in Omaha until Schlossnagle arrived.

A 53-year-old Maryland product who pitched at Elon from 1986-89, Schlossnagle started his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater in 1990, eventually landing similar roles at Clemson and Tulane before receiving his first head coaching job at UNLV in 2022. After two years in Las Vegas, Schlossnagle took over at TCU, winning seven MWC Coach of the Year honors and three national Coach of the Year nods in 16 years in a Fort Worth tenure that included a 734-343 record (.682) and five appearances in the College World Series.

But despite publicly saying that he had no interest in other jobs, Schlossnagle accepted the challenge of rebuilding the Texas A&M program and did so quickly, taking the program from 29-27 in the final season under Rob Childress and going 44-20 overall while winning the SEC West, winning the first games in Omaha for the Aggies since 1993. In 2023, A&M regressed with a 38-27 record and failed to make it out of the regional round, but bounced back with a 53-15 mark this season and coming close to winning the program’s first national championship in a major sport since 1939.

Schlossnagle now becomes only the sixth head coach in Texas history since 1911, joining legends like Billy Disch, Bib Falk, Cliff Gustafson, and Augie Garrido as the Longhorns prepare to accept the challenge of entering the nation’s best baseball conference.