This offseason, Jim Schlossnagle shocked the college baseball world by moving on from being the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies, to becoming the head coach of their arch-rival, the Texas Longhorns.
Jim Schlossnagle officially leaves Texas A&M to become head coach of the Texas Longhorns pic.twitter.com/OReiz6vXrZ
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) June 25, 2024
This dramatic coaching carousel move came right after Schlossnagle led Texas A&M to the College World Series and a national runner-up finish.
In year one in Austin, the new head coach of Texas has a star-studded team ready for 2025. This includes big-time returners up and down the lineup.
Max Belyeu is back in the lineup as the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year. In 2024, he batted .329, had an on-base percentage of .423, and hit 18 home runs.
Jalin Flores is another big name back in the Longhorn lineup. In 2024, he was first team All-Big 12 and received All-American accolades across many media outlets. He enters 2025 after a season batting .340 and got on base at over a .400 rate. Like Belyeu, he also hit 18 home runs.
College baseball fans should also not sleep on sophomore Will Gasparino. He was a part of the Big 12 All-Freshman team. He flashed his power in 2024 with 12 home runs. If his plate discipline comes together in 2025, he will be a player to watch that can play a big role in a great season for Texas.
Pitching wise, Max Grubbs returns to the starting rotation following a breakout 2024 season. In 12 starts, he finished with a 3.67 ERA and gave up just 18 walks out of 323 batters faced.
Ace Whitehead is a left-handed returner to the starting rotation. In 2024, he finished with a 4.16 ERA and allowed an opposing batting average of .237.
Schlossnagle also brought in two big transfers to the pitching staff from the SEC in Aiden Moffett (LSU) and Connor McCreery (South Carolina). Both arms will be solid bullpen options for Texas this season.
The talent will make a good mixture with the winning pedigree Schlossnagle has developed within himself.
He has coached teams to Omaha and the College World Series seven times (five times at TCU and two times at Texas A&M).
This experience getting teams to the College World Series is not only a good combination with the talent, but also a good combination with a program that has a storied history in baseball.
The Longhorns have made it to the College World Series 38 times in their history. This has led to six national championships. However, they have not won a national title since 2005.
With Schlossnagle having yet to win a national championship in his career, this made the hire that happened last summer a partnership toward accomplishing a championship.
The talent is there in Austin for Schlossnagle to accomplish this goal in season one wearing burnt orange. Thus, it gives the Texas Longhorns a national title ceiling in their first season in the SEC.
Texas’ first game of the season will be at Globe Life Field in Arlington for the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. They will face off against the Louisville Cardinals at 7 p.m. E.T. on Feb. 14.
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
