Schlossnagle tops list of traitors after misleading A&M earlier this week
AUSTIN, Texas — Judas hanged himself.
Brutus fell on a sword.
Jim Schlossnagle had a press conference.
Unlike the other famous traitors, Schlossnagle on Wednesday wasn’t too contrite about betraying Texas A&M to become the Texas Longhorns baseball coach.
Oh, Schlossnagle did offer an apology to TexAgs reporter Richard Zane, who on Monday enquired about Schlossnagle’s future following the Aggies’ loss to Tennessee in the national championship.
Of course, you remember that heinous response.
It’ll go down in Aggie history.
It may be A&M’s version of “Et tu, Brute?”
“I think that’s pretty selfish of you to ask that question, to be honest with you,” said Schlossnagle, who wasn’t honest about anything else. “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.”
Yeah, after intentionally misleading the Aggies, Schlossnagle merely changed his mind. That makes everything OK, right?
Technically, Schlossnagle did not lie. He merely implied he wasn’t leaving A&M. False implications don’t count as lies, right? Not in Austin, anyway.
Clad in a blue suit, wearing an orange necktie and standing in front of a Longhorn-logo splattered burnt-orange backdrop in the Frank Denius Family Hall of Fame, Schlossnagle insisted he wasn’t dishonest — not on purpose, anyway.
“I didn’t intentionally mislead (A&M),” Schlossnagle said. “It’s a very fair question for you to ask because that is what I said. In that moment, that’s exactly how I felt.”
He went on to compare his exit from A&M to his departure from TCU three years ago. He expressed love for A&M. He emphasized how he gave his all to A&M to the end.
All after giving A&M the finger.
Of course, the Aggies gave it back.
“If I had left Texas A&M for some other school in a different part of the country, the interesting text messages and messages that I got yesterday probably wouldn’t have happened,” Schlossnagle said. “I get it. You can’t ask for a fan base to support you and be passionate like the 12th Man always has been but really was this year.
“Our crowds were awesome every single game. You can’t ask for that like I did and our staff did, and then expect everyone to be OK with a coach leaving for its rival school. I get it. I get it.”
He’s gonna get it.
Schlossnagle knows he’ll be a marked man when he returns to Blue Bell Park.
“It will be an experience for sure,” he said. “The midweek games we got to play this year? Awesome. The regional? Phenomenal. I can’t even imagine what a three-game SEC series will be like.
“I’m sure A&M is going to attract awesome coaches. There are great players there. The fan base, especially Section 203. I’m sure they will have a lot of really interesting things planned.”
Count on that.
Schlossnagle, now and forever, is a villain.
Indeed, having left A&M for Texas, he’s heretofore more despised than Lane Kiffin, Ken Starr, Dan Beebe, DeLoss Dodds and a couple of failed football coaches.
And perhaps detested even more than the other famous traitors.
In a lineup that includes Judas and Brutus, Schlossnagle is at the top of the order.