Former Texas A&M Aggies baseball head coach Jim Schlossnagle has been in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons as of late. And on Wednesday, he issued a public apology to the reporter who asked him about his future that was caught in the crossfire.
After Texas A&M’s loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in Game 3 of the College World Series Finals on Monday night, Schlossnagle was asked about his future at the program by Aggies reporter Richard Zane of TexAgs.com.
Schlossnagle proceeded to call out Zane for the question, calling him “selfish” for asking that so shortly after the game. He proceeded to claim that he accepted the Texas A&M job three years ago to “never take another job again”.
“Yeah, I mean I think it’s pretty selfish of you to ask me that question, to be honest with you,” said Schlossnagle. “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. That would be like you asking (Braden) Montgomery if he is going to sign in the draft.
“I understand that you have to ask the question. But I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job. I have given every ounce of my soul to this job. And I have given this job every single ounce I can give it. Write that!”
"I gave up a big part of my life to come take this [Texas A&M] job, and I've poured every ounce of my soul into this job, and I've given this job every single ounce I can possibly give it. Write that!"
-Jim Schlossnagle on his interest in the Texas job opening #HookEm pic.twitter.com/Kre7JqU0D5
— Jeff Jones (@JeffJonesSports) June 25, 2024
He would then of course go on to take the Texas coaching job just one day later, proving that the question coming from Richard Zane was very much a warranted one.
This led to many around the sports media landscape calling for Schlossnagle to issue Zane an apology for publically attacking him after the question. And to the surprise of some, he did just that on Wednesday during his introductory press conference for his new Texas job.
“I want to publically apologize to Richard Zane from TexAgs,” said Schlossnagle in a video shared by SEC Unfiltered on X. “He’s a young reporter. He asked the question that was an obvious question. I wish I could have answered that better. But in the moment, thirty minutes after the last pitch, all I could think about was our players. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about myself or the future. So I apologize for that to Richard.”
Jim Schlossnagle apologies to @RichardZane32 of @TexAgs for his response to Zane’s question following the Aggies game three loss in the CWS Finals.
BUY or SELL Schlossnagle’s apology? pic.twitter.com/nlIxkD7skb
— SEC Unfiltered (@SECUnfiltered) June 26, 2024
Even in this apology, it is a bit of a slap in the face to call Zane a “young reporter.” While that may be true, the notion that Zane’s age somehow affected the very sensible question that any reporter could and probably should ask a coach who could potentially leave their team is pretty ridiculous.
This entire situation could have been avoided if Schlossnagle had just responded by saying that it wasn’t the right time or place to discuss this matter. But instead, Jim Schlossnagle’s reputation has seemingly taken a bit of a hit due to this situation.
