Schlossnagle building championship program: Differences will be 'drastic'

Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview

• My kids are doing well. They're getting ready for their first day of class at TCU for this school year next week. They had successful cataract surgery a couple of weeks ago, which has helped them greatly. They have a retinal disease that currently doesn't have any treatment, but there is some excellent research going on that can hopefully help them in the near future.
   
• We've dealt with this since they were two years olf. If you're a parent, you know. I tell our players that they think they love that girl, but when you have a child, it takes love to a level that's unexplainable. For anything to be wrong, whether it be the flu or something super serious and life-threatening, it's a weight that never leaves you. I'd pop out both eyes today and walk away from this job if I could help my kids.
   
• I haven't had a chance to learn anything about this year’s team except for the kids that were here over the summer. We had our freshman class here for a bridge program, which many programs don’t have. I've specifically not watched a lot of video, but I've taken some input from Jason Hutchins, who has been here for a long time. I want to give everybody a clean slate. Once they get here, we'll take it day-by-day.
   
• The job of a leader is to design and implement a culture. We have a coaches' retreat for three days beginning today. We'll implement that culture when the players get here.
   
• We are also trying to acquire talent as best we can. There was a lot of movement with the draft this year. We have 10 or 11 transfers coming in, and that is not the way we want to build our roster. We want to build with the best high school talent in the country, but given the circumstances this year, that's the way we've had to go about it.
   
• It has been awesome being here. That first month or so, I wasn't really in College Station much. Nolan Cain was on the road for four consecutive weeks and had to put Blue Bell Park in his GPS to find the stadium. The showcase circuit is winding down. I'm getting a feel for College Station, and we're super excited. Ross Bjork and the administration have been super supportive. I want to make an impact on the program every single day regardless of the area to give our players and our team the best chance of success.
   
• Some of the changes you'll see over time if you're not inside the program yourself. I did not inherit a horrible program. Coach Childress did an unbelievable job. If the ball bounces a couple of different ways in 2015 and 2016, this is a different story. There will be differences that are drastic, whether it's the way things are run in the stadium or something else. There are things I want to do. Some things people will like; some they won't. People ask me all the time if the guys are going to wear their pants up.
   
• I'm about two things: What gives the team the best chance to win, and what gives the fan the best experience. If they're just a novice fan, do they walk away saying that was fun and want to come back to the ballpark? That's the kind of change we want to make.
   
• For young men in Texas, most of them are already knowledgeable about the power of a Texas A&M degree. How is it going to work for me over time? The closer you are to College Station, the more you know about that. The further away you are, the more we have to educate them. I didn't even realize this was one of the top-10 public universities in the country or the number of Former Students out there. We've also hired a coaching staff and are developing the facilities so we can look at a young man and tell them this is the best place for four years and for them to become a big-league player. The numbers say that the fastest round to the MLB is to go to college. Even though we went to five college world series at TCU, it was still tough to recruit against Texas A&M. Here, you're swimming in a deeper pool in the SEC West, but there are players who already want to go to school here.
   
• We haven't had many conversations as a coaching staff, but we're going to in the next few days. I've asked our coaches to present how they're going to sell development as a hitter or pitcher. As a staff, we've only been together one day. We haven't even been in the same office. We had conversations when I hired them.
   
• In general, from a pitching standpoint, it sounds elementary, but we're going to fill up the strike zone and limit the free bases. Analytics are important, but my favorite analytic is scoring one more run than the other team. Out percentage is huge. None of the other things matter if you don't get people out. I'm a big believer in a strong bullpen, and the only way to have one is to use it.
   
• Every game has value to me. I get asked how I'm going to use these games, and I say that I'm going to win it. Every game counts. I understand the value of the SEC and how tough it's going to be, but we have to try and win them all.
   
• I believe you play offense offensively. I'm conservative on defense. We don't want to be reckless or careless offensively, but we want to push the envelope. The most important stat offensively is getting on base. I want to develop good, competitive hitters that understand the strike zone and aren't afraid to hit with two strikes. Some of our best teams at TCU struck out looking a lot because they understood the strike zone better than the umpire. We're going to be aggressive on the basepaths. We stole at an 83-85 percent clip at TCU. When you screw up, it's ugly, and fans get mad. If you're 8.5 out of 10, everyone remembers the 1.5. I'm not big on the sacrifice bunt, but I like it as a weapon if we have to do it that way. I prefer to run the bases and swing the bat.
   
• I study coaches. I was reading about Tom Landry and John Wooden when I was young. Today, it's Nick Saban or Urban Meyer. Nothing is new. You can pick and choose things from different people that fit your personality and what you're doing at a particular place. I'll go to a softball practice or a basketball practice here and pick things to implement.
   
• School starts late, and we have two more weeks without it. We'll get skill hours going, and we'll start fall practice on September 21. We have two fall games, and one of them is supposed to be on the Friday night before the Alabama football game, and the other before the South Carolina football game.
   
• In terms of practice structure, we have a lot of teaching to do. Our general plan will go from 2:15ish with optional early work before that. The old days of having base running and conditioning at the end is disrespectful to the importance of base running, so we'll do that early while the pitchers are playing catch. We'll have team and individual defense before we go into a competitive offensive structure. We will use machines a lot, which has changed as the game has evolved. Velocity is up, and everybody throws 90 mph now. We'll use pitching machines to put pressure on hitters. I like to practice what happens most in a game.
   
• I met with Mississippi state in 2018 before they hired coach Lemonis. You cannot tell me that you can draw 12-14,000 fans in Starkville and we can't do that here. We have 55,000 students and a ton of living Former Students. We have to create a ballpark that allows people to have a great time, and we need to build space for people to come. We need to build these things before we have success. I'd love to have seating in the outfield and a 360-degree concourse. You need high-level areas for big donors and space for the fans that don't want to pay a lot. I'm going to push for all of those things. Ross Bjork has the vision as well, and our job is to raise money and build it. I'm hopeful that happens in the next 18-24 months.